In the early 1960s, Candy Calhoun became the first woman to bodysurf both the Newport Wedge and the Banzai Pipeline.
Note: Hawaiian women likely bodysurfed Pipeline long before Calhoun, but there is no record of it.
Former world champion surfer Mike Doyle once said of Calhoun, “Candy was like a seal. She liked being in the water more than on land. She rode surfboards, but she liked to be more in touch with the water. That’s why she rode her Paipo board or bodysurfed. Less gravity, more sensual and intimate.”
Candy Calhoun was a legendary waterwoman
Not only was Candy a gifted and fearless bodysurfer, but she was also one of California’s top female surfers. Calhoun won the West Coast Surfing Championships in 1963 and placed third in the 1965 ISA World Championships in Peru.
Candy Calhoun was featured bodysurfing in Bud Browne’s 1962 film Cavalcade of Surf. Her bodysurfing prowess was mentioned in a 1971 Sports Illustrated article, and in Robert Gardner’s 1972 book The Art of Body Surfing.
Gardner described Calhoun as “one of the very few good female body surfers.” He then recounted a story about Candy and a female friend, Nancy Corfman, bodysurfing the Wedge on “Big Tuesday” (August 1962) while the men sat on the beach watching:
“Both girls rode the huge surf then pounding at the Wedge. Candy and Nancy had surfed but a few moments when, by unspoken agreement, most of the rest of the good surfers left the water to watch the two girls. Estimates vary as to the size of the surf that day. Some say 18 feet, some say 20 feet. There was common agreement that Nancy took one free fall of at least 12 feet. Every camera at the beach tried to take the shot, but they were all fogged up with flying spray. But whatever the size of the surf, the girls rode the biggest the Wedge had to offer, to the cheers of an all-male audience.”
Calhoun described bodysurfing as “the ultimate in onesmanship”
Calhoun also wrote several articles about bodysurfing for Surf Guide magazine, including “Body Surfing” (August 1963), and “Bodysurfing the Pipeline” (July 1964).
Here’s what Candy had to say about her favorite pastime in one of the articles:
“Each individual has his own reasons for being drawn to body surfing; preferences as to techniques vary greatly from one person to another, but there is one thing that anyone strongly attached to the sport will agree with and that is this: the most gratifying moment of all comes when, through sensitive timing and maneuvering, the body surfer achieves the beautiful effortlessness of movement that means he is one with the water.”
Special thanks to Matt Warshaw at The Encyclopedia of Surfing for compiling historical information about Candy Calhoun.