The contest began in 1997 under the leadership of Tammy Kennedy. Tammy, a Florida native, was a wildly successful competitor in the Eastern Surfing Association, and her move to Wilmington, NC didn't stop her winning streak. She inspired and encouraged many local girls to surf in competition and wanted to see an event special to them. With the backing of the Southern North Carolina ESA, she organized the first wahine championships and 76 girls from several states competed.

In 1998 Tammy moved on to California and Anne Beasley, Karen Allison, and Paula Bushardt tried to fill her shoes. Anne was also an ESA surfer in Southern North Carolina and she just recently moved to California to pursue a career writing and promoting women's surfing. She spent the past year as the associate editor for Surfing Girl magazine and at present is working as a freelance writer and helping to implement a west coast Wahine Surf Series with Mary Lou Drummy of the Western Region Surfing Association. Anne implemented this website for contest information, photos, and results and is in charge of sponsor support for the wahine championships. She makes the trek back east every August and misses her home and friends tremendously!

Paula is the technical director. With a degree in Mechanical Engineering and 20 years of experience in design and technical management in Aerospace and Commercial applications surely gives her the qualifications to organize the heat sheets, process the entry forms, layout the beach setup, and anything else technical! She's also a longtime surfer with a cute little surf grom daughter, Alea, who has charged every wahine contest since 1997. Karen Allison is our party planner! Not only is she a successful real estate agent, she helps run her husbands shaping business, Allison surfboards. The best part about Karen getting the party in gear is she knows everyone in town!

In 1998, the second annual wahine contest had 111 competitors coming from New Jersey to Florida. The third year, 1999 was even more successful with 176 girls traveling from New York to Miami. In 2000 we had a wahine from every state on the eastern seaboard, Texas, California, and one gal all the way from Australia! We have received national coverage from surfing magazines, websites, newsprint, and television. In 2000 we were blessed with the first named hurricane of the season, and scored head high plus surf!

The contest format features shortboard, longboard, and bodyboard divisions with a novice division for beginners.  The contest lasts two days and entry fee includes a Saturday night banquet with dinner, slide show, and fashion show.