“All I know is my favorite color is blue.” That’s what eight year old Carissa Moore tells me when I ask her how long she has been surfing, does she know who Rell Sunn is, and would she like to be a world champion surfer one day. We hang out on the beach talking about her favorite cartoon The Power Puff Girls and how lame Pokemon really is. I try to get her to teach me to hula dance, after all she was born and raised in Hawaii Kai on the South Shore of Oahu, but she just giggles at me instead.
We just went for a surf together in Honolulu at her favorite spot In Betweens with her all time favorite surfer and Dad, Chris Moore. I ask her what she thinks about the high rise hotels and tourists that busy the streets. “I guess people just like it here. It’s nice and hot and when you want to cool off you can just get in the water,” says Carissa, simple as that. She then tells me her house is in a much quieter neighborhood where she can ride her bike around with friends.
Carissa can’t remember when she started surfing, and her Dad said it was pretty much at age one. He took her tandem riding for a few years and when she was four he pushed her into the waves solo. After that it progressed to her going from a long to shortboard and she now struts around with her own 5’1” fully equipped with sponsor stickers from Roxy, Da Kine, Turbo Surf, and Eyecatcher. Of course Dad is still in the line-up with her, helping her with the paddle out, (which can be up to ten minutes) and fetching her after she catches a long ride. And when the crowd gets thick, he’ll give her an extra push into the wave so she has a fighting chance. He admits how much he really wanted Carissa to enjoy surfing. “I guess I just didn’t want to be a soccer Dad,” says Chris. “I figured it would be a lot more fun to get her surfing, so we could do it together.”
I’m not the only one impressed with Carissa’s surfing. A whole group of girls are ecstatic, pointing and chatting about the “cute little girl who is ripping!” Carissa can turn, cutback, and throw a little spray. She has a budding style, takes off right in the pocket, and manages herself well in a crowd, even if she is the youngest one out there. Heck she’s even entered a few contests and gotten some great results.
Recently, Carissa placed fourth in peewee shortboard at the China Uemura Wahine Contest at Queens. She placed first in a few others, but at eight years old we can’t expect her to remember all their names. Next year she’ll join HASA and surf with the boys, which her Dad says, will be no problem.
Carissa doesn’t have big goals for her surfing just yet. Maybe at eleven she’ll make the paddle out alone if her mom Carol can stand it. She’ll help teach her little sister Kayla to surf and for now, she’s stoked to surf with Dad and put some trophies on a shelf “I have a few trophies up in my room,” boasts Carissa. “I dust them off every night. I feel really proud when I look at them.” Justifiably so.
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