Rochelle Ballard
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Rochelle Ballard is a professional female surfer who is a 10 year veteran the Association of Surfing Professional’s (ASP) World Championship Tour. She is considered the best female tube rider in the world and has been a pioneer to the advancement of women’s surfing in the past two decades. Ballard's mastery of big waves and support of women's surfing rank her among the surfing most elite. She also co-founded International Women's Surfing (IWS) and has appeared in several movies, most notably Step Into Liquid and Blue Crush.
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[edit] Biography and Highlights
According to imdb.com, Rochelle Gordines was born in Montebello, CA. on February 13, 1971. Her parents moved to the island of Kauai in Hawaii when she was six months old. The waves in Kauai are considered as some of the best in world and with the encouragement of four-time World Champion and Kauai resident Margo Oberg, she started surfing at 12 years old. Oberg had been a top surfing professional for more than three decades and was a mentor to Ballard when she was first learning to surf the massive and dangerous waves that seasonally come to Kauai’s north shore.
“I really admired her big wave surfing,” said Ballad in Christina Lessa’s book Women Who Win. “She received so much respect for what she did. She took me out surfing quite a bit one year, spent time with me, gave me pointers, and encouraged me to brave larger waves. I developed a love for surfing, a love that is almost impossible to express. There’s an energy in the water that gives you every kind of feeling: peace, excitement, fear, a huge adrenaline rush, discouragement, frustration. The nature of surfing is such that you can’t control the waves. You have to flow with them and find the rhythm of the ocean in order to work with it and experience what the ocean has to offer. Surfing is an art—we draw a new line on each wave we ride. It’s also a science. You need to study the patterns of the ocean. And it’s an ongoing lesson, because every few years, the tides completely change.”
Ballard began surfing local competitions and then advancing to state competitions, and then on to nationals, and then on to the world amateur titles where she placed fourth in the World in 1988 and 1990. Her successes qualified her to surf professionally on the World Championship Tour in 1991.
Ballard is mainly known for her mastery of the tube (the hollowed-out area of a breaking wave) and is considered the best female tube rider in the world. Her legend grew to mythical proportions in 1998 when she made women's surfing history at Burleigh, Australia during a semi-final clash with Australian Layne Beachley, scoring two perfect 10-point tube rides. 10-point rides have been rarely scored in women’s contests and many believe her performance in Burleigh to be one the finest displays of tuberiding by a woman ever. As women’s surfing began to move from smaller beachbreaks to more challenging Outer Reefs like Cloudbreak and Teahupoo, Ballard lead the way, often at risk of her own health. She has had many injuries over the years, some of which have postponed her surfing career.
In 1991, the same year she went pro, she married cinematographer Bill Ballard. When she wasn’t competing she was appearing in and helping her husband to produce a long string of women’s only surf movies including the original Blue Crush.
Since then she has been featured on local and national news as well as magazines such as Surfing, TW Surf, Surfer, SG Magazine, Surfing Girl, Women Outside, Women's Sports and Fitness, Fit Magazine, Sports Illustrated Women, People, National Geographic as well as some international magazines. She received multiple awards over the years by the surfing community and in surfer magazine polls for best female performance, best tube ride, most influential women surfer and most popular women surfer.
Ballard served as a stunt double in Universal Pictures motion picture titled Blue Crush in 2002. She also starred in A Girls Surf Addiction, a surf film that O'Neillreleased in 2004. She also helped produce a "yoga for surfers" video series. She co-founded International Women's Surfing (IWS) and, together with O'Neill, launched the successful Rochelle Ballard Surf Camp series which focuses on advanced surfing techniques, cross training and education.
Although Ballard never won a world title, she came close in 2002 winning second, she is has been a top 10 finisher since 1994. Her passion for the ocean and fearlessness in huge waves has made her an icon of women’s surfing.
“I feel like I have accomplished as much as I can at the moment,” she said her featured article. “I’ve won quite a few contests, and I’ve influenced women’s surfing in ways that I’ve always wanted to: inspiring young girls to get out in the water and just express themselves and enjoy what God has given us.”
Ballard now lives back on the north shore Kauai where she is working with O’Neil to help encourage the next generation of women surfers.
[edit] Other Interests
Photography, journalism (she has been a contributing writer to many surf magazines) yoga, cooking and music.
[edit] Contest Highlights
2004
3rd Rip Curl Pro, Malibu
2nd Billabong Pro, Teahupoo, Tahiti
2nd Roxy Pro, Fiji
2nd Roxy Pro, Australia
2003
2nd Billabong Pro, Teahupoo, Tahiti
3rd Magnolia Girls Pro. Portugal
9th Roxy Pro, Australia
9th Roxy Pro, France
2002
3rd Roxy Pro, Tavarua, Fiji
3rd Roxy Pro, France
7th Billabong Pro, Honolua
2001
2nd Billabong Pro, Teahupoo, Tahiti
5th Roxy Surf Jam, Fiji
9th Billabong Pro, Maui, Hawaii
2000
1st OP Boat Challenge
1999
1st Gotcha Girl Star Pro, USA
1st Hossegor Rip Curl Pro, France
1997
1st Billabong Pro, AUS
1st Kana Beach Lacanau Pro, France
1st Wahine Women's (WQS)
1st Gunston 500 Women WQS), South Africa
1st Wahine Women's (WQS), USA
1996
1st Wahine Women's, USA
1st Town &Country, Hawaii
1995 1st Body Glove Surfbout VIII, USA
