short girl appreciation day * girl midget * waterwoman ‘Tis the shortest day of the year, and marks a day of appreciation for our womanfolk who hover around the five foot or so mark. And given that midget is by all accounts a pejorative term, we as surfers will do our darnedest to pay our deepest respects to a young girl that (rightly) acquired the nickname, “Gidget.” By most accounts it started when a young man by the name of Terry Tracy came to the conclusion that it was time to trade in his savings & loan suit for the bucolic promise of surf, sun and sand. And again by most accounts ‘twas by his self proclaimed might of eminent domain that he took title to a small piece of shoreline real estate smack dab and central to the famed Malibu Surfrider Beach. Early on he erected the proverbial wooden surf shack, replete with palm frond roof and bamboo thatched sleeping mat for his beach friendly little hut, and of which was prolly just a bit well and clear of the mean high tide line. |
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He came to fame, or at least by his better known moniker, after showing up to the requisite beach (blanket bingo) BBQ, and not with steaks, but with hotdogs, and to the dismay of his fellow surf cats and dogs. He again proclaimed, and perhaps as only a former footballer turned surfer could, that he had not let a one soul down, and had indeed delivered the goods, of which he crowned them “tubesteaks.” The name stuck, and as some might proffer that the true king wears no crown, he lorded over the waves on top of his 10’6” balsa, which might as well have been called the SS Tubesteak with the way he rode it. And then once upon a time there was a younger woman by the name of Kathy Kohner who made an appearance at the “door” of his beach abode. She had been on the receiving end of the usual beach boy heckling, but was hell bent on learning how to surf. She was all of five feet and 95 lbs, and loved to tag along to the beach in her mom’s Model T. Upon the hullaballoo at his beachfront “estate,” Tubesteak emerged from his beach digs, and promptly made order of things. It wasn’t long before he ushered her in to Malibu’s inner circle, albeit perhaps more so as mascot than any beach betty wannabe. He was the one to crown her “girl midget,” and of which was soon shortened to Gidget. In effect she was the proverbial king’s daughter and was now privy to a rare audience. Her and her pony tail held court with the likes of Mysto George, the Fencer, Mooondoggie (Bill Jensen), Golden Boy, Scooter and the Beef Council, aka Meatball, Meat Loaf and Tubesteak. It was a collaboration that soon brought beach happy to America and shared of a surf Americana that had been ‘til then an untold story. |
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The fifteen year old schoolgirl bought her first surfboard from Mike Doyle for thirtysomething dollars. She was pert and spunky and as the Malibu muse of surfing’s lore became an indelible part and parcel to surf history. She went from stereotypical sunbather to archetypal surfrider, and was in turn a very well publicized bit of eye candy that actually got up and got wet. At sweet sixteen she was thee surfer girl. |
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To be a waterwoman is a great responsibility. She gives birth to the feminine within our male dominated surfing world. The waterwoman is a seed that has flowered. She is a new moon rising, our return to grace. She garners silent reverence, and adds a needed dimension to surfing, if not to our lives. Surfers have been wanting and waiting. She has a balanced presence, and is deeply connected to surfing and her ocean mother. The waterwoman teaches us to give of ourselves as surfers, and to share of our love of the ocean. Her voice is of a soft ocean tone, caressing like sea foam, a soft rolling wave over others. She is the “kiss of life,” like water to shore. She nurtures an emotional connection to water, sensitive to waves, movements and variance. She upholds our Mother Ocean in her very body. Sea water flows through her veins. Her lineage is of the ancestral sea goddess, and as water daughter, acts from the ancient wisdom of her water peoples. |
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She is surfernatural, mother ocean incarnate. The waterwoman is aroused by the elements, surfing with a sensual freedom, as if only she, “knows the feeling.” Aesthetic in action, she is beauty and the wave, wild and pure, sheer poetry in creative union with the incessant rhythm of the sea. She is a wish for harmony. She is surfing’s mother lode star. It’s a natural attraction. She is all love, lifegiving and entrusted with creation. In community, she is caring and comforting. We confide in her. She has healing energy, and lifts our tribal spirit. We take her as unto our lawfully wedded life. She’s beloved and cherished because she enriches our souls. We yearn for the heartfelt warmth of her supportive sanctuary. She is emotionally responsive and engaging, a fertile soul who brings factions together in harmonic convergence. She is our creative oasis. She is of heaven, ocean and earth, and turns the invisible to visible. As our vivifying Venus, her erogenous zone is of a mellifluous goodness; like ocean mother, like water daughter. |
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However as one knows of our Mother Ocean, one also suspects of the waterwoman. As surf diva, and modern day mermaid, it is not beneath her to conjure up her siren call of the sea. She is sentimental and forgets not her bikini bewitched nor the fervent sway held by her beach blanket. If susceptible to the girl midget, surfer girl stereotype, she can be defensive and even hypersensitive. As “sea cow” she can be bull dyke in boardshorts, or just robust and overbearing. The waterwoman is sometimes moody and vulnerable to discharge and the unfortunate miscarriage. As her body gravitates towards earth, she becomes evermore, an ocean and earth woman. And when she’s feeling maternal, as in matriarchal, she can act out as “militant environmentalist.” |
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Be environgentle. The waterwoman suggests that soft is stronger than hard, that love is stronger than aggression. The feminine balances. She is a natural woman with a love for nature. As “a woman’s nature is essentially intuitive, sensing things before they happen is a natural byproduct of a quiet mind.” The waterwoman knows that if she does not see herself as part of nature, she will not understand her relationship to nature. She has been known to be a surfing chameleon. She is adaptable where others are staunch and refuse to change. Her “female principle” is regenerative. She knows flow. As waterwoman, she is a handholder, and has gotten in “touch.” She is not afraid to get wet. She surfs with a feline smoothness and an amazing grace. The waterwoman has come into her own. Surfing is her joy and her life a joyride. Those who know the ride, ride well, and enjoy it. Enjoy your life. |
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