Earl Kruser
30 May 2005
Surf's up for three Cape Town girls who are preparing to hit the beaches of California for the world junior championships.
Chantelle Rautenbach, Tarryn Chudleigh and Lisa Mace, all aged 15, will fly the South African flag along with Nikita Robb of East London in the under-18 division of the ISA World Junior Championships at Huntington Beach in October.
The rise of female surfing has been phenomenal over the past few years, and the 2002 surfer-girl movie Blue Crush has played a significant role.
The three blonde girls, who are all in Grade 10, are unanimous in their praise for the movie.
Lisa Mace said: "This movie did so much for women surfing here in SA and it has become an inspiration to us."
"We dream of riding those big waves one day and we are slowly getting the respect of the male surfers."
Lisa, who lives in Somerset West and attends Parel Vallei High School, says she wants to be "the best in the world".
"I sat on the beach for a whole year, through wind, rain and everything else, watching my brother, Daniel, surf and eventually, when he got a new surfboard, I decided to use his old one and give it a go."
Lisa, who bears a striking resemblance to women's surfing legend Lisa Anderson, is looking to emulate her namesake in and out of the waves.
"Anderson has really set the benchmark for us young women surfers and she has made surfing not only more competitive, but more fashionable," she said.
The girls say they get lots of stick from the "surfer dudes" on the beach.
"When I started out it was like I was from another planet. Guys look at you like you don't belong in the water," said Chantelle, who lives a stone's throw from the beach in Melkbosstrand and attends Table View High School.
The trio have pretty much made up their minds about what to do once they hit the shores of California.
"The first thing I'm going to do is find (Hollywood heartthrob) Brad Pitt," said Chantelle.
"I'm definitely going to Disneyland," Tarryn of Scarborough chirped, and the ever-committed Lisa made her intentions clear: "I'm heading straight for the water."
The girls intend to make it big in the world of professional surfing and have no intentions of being distracted by usual teenage activities.
"No boyfriends for me right now - they're a bit of a mission - and besides, boys think they own the water. I want to change all that," said Tarryn.
She has missed quite a bit of schooling as a result of her surfing commitments and has now enrolled in a home schooling programme run by Fish Hoek Middle School.
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