Carissa Moore’s historic WSL win: How the surfing legend is redefining motherhood on the tour

Emerging from the water to thousands of cheering spectators after days spent carving up the waves in Raglan with near-perfect scores, US surfer Carissa Moore planted a kiss on her 15-month-old daughter, 'Olena.

"We did it, bubba," she said, holding her toddler aloft as she was hefted on the shoulders of supporters for a victory lap at the New Zealand Pro World Surf League Championship Tour event. Moments later, there wasn't a dry eye in Manu Bay as Olympic gold medallist and five-time world champion Moore spoke of her first win since she took two seasons off for 'Olena's arrival.

"This is for the mums," she said. "I doubted that I could do this again, that I would ever get this feeling, to stand in front of a crowd and score 9s and be able to surf at a high level. My daughter has given me a strength that I didn't even know I had."

Moore's skillful, fearless backhand surfing on Raglan's world-class left hand point break has been spellbinding in a competition that this year has the most women ever on its roster, 24 up from a field of 18 last year. Now, her spectacular post-baby comeback, coming as a younger crop of snap at her heels-including New Zealand 15-year-old Alani Morse-is being hailed as a game-changer for women in sport.

"They're your heroes growing up who have taken time off, they're coming back and they're dominating," Australian surfer and WSL commentator Jesse Starling said, as Moore paddled back to the jet-ski after her historic win, a full circle moment after her first ever Championship Tour win in Taranaki in 2010, as a 17-year-old.

Starling told RNZ the surf community was already thrilled Moore was returning post-baby, but her performance had smashed all expectations. "It's rewriting the script for women, not just in surfing but in sport across the world that anything is possible," Starling said.

Moore isn't the first mum to win in the CT's history. Fellow Hawaiian Melanie Bartels won two events after returning post-baby in 2008, while four time world champion Lisa Anderson won 15 events as a single mum, the last in 2000. But structural change at the WSL is widening this pathway-Moore was competing on a season-long maternity wildcard, which the WSL in March announced would be a permanent fixture to allow surfers like Brazil's Tatiana Weston-Webb and France's Johanne Defay and to return to the tour up to two years after pressing pause for pregnancy and childbirth.

Moore is doing it while making parenting visible, documenting the mother-daughter surfing journey on Instagram with pics of 'Olena on the beach, or waving from the arms of her dad, Moore's husband Luke Untermann. Her feed is flooded with comments, from "I swear, your surfer is stronger AFTER baby," to "Motherhood is not a limitation."

"It's taken a community of strong women to make the change, but more than anything it's these surfers performing at their highest and taking risks on some of the scariest waves-think of that Maui pipeline-they really are redefining what women in sport look like," Starling said.

Raglan 15-year-old Alani Morse surfed as a wildcard in the WSL event, gaining the only women's spot after winning the Queen of the Point event in Raglan in April. She lost against world number 12 Bettylou Sakura Johnson, of Hawaii, in the first 44 minute heat of the comp. Surfing alongside her heroes was "inspiring" but even more exciting was seeing women adapting their own style, and the sense of community, she said.

"For a long time we were trying to do it similar to the men, I grew up competing with boys. People always say we're not as strong as men but we have a better flow, it's different but we've figured out how to make it strong and feminine," Morse said.

"It went from people saying it looked weak to being like 'It's a really powerful dance on a wave', and it's incredible to see that in real life."

Watching Moore smash it after having 'Olena showed there was a pathway to both career success and family, she said.

"I grew up watching Carissa, seeing her on tour with her baby is incredible and she just does things differently-she's using her mum life as an asset rather than something that's pulling her back."

After her surf Morse was mobbed by "little grommets," and she could tell watching the comp was meaningful for the younger girls. "I've been those little girls on the beach. You can't explain what it means, even if you don't want to be a professional surfer it feels like you can do things. For me, it's clearer now. I can actually believe it."

Surfing New Zealand chief executive Ben Kennings said it was leveraging off the popularity of the WSL to expand its women's programmes, with help from Sport New Zealand's event activation funding. This would include a beefed-up Women's Surf Festival in Pauanui this March, surf coaching and structured training of surf officials like commentators and judges.

"It's just phenomenal for women's surfing - if you can't see it, you can't dream it. Surfing has been a male-dominate sport, so it's important we show that it's possible."

In the past decade, there had been a 40 per cent increase in women participating in surfing according to their national survey, Jennings said. Along with Morse, her peer Lola Groube, 15, was one to watch, with Olympian Saffi Vette and fellow Gisborne surfer Tayla Green among those leading the international charge. The top three women and men's surfers in the country would head to the World Surfing Games in Peru in November.

For those watching the sport's progression, it can't happen fast enough. Rick Lasch, a former professional surfer in the early '90s who runs Backdoor Surf and works with Morse, said women's surfing was more hotly contested every year. "It was completely different in my day. Men and women didn't surf together, they surfed on different days. Lisa Anderson is still one of my heroes, she was the original mama on tour but it was quite low key back then, I think it was downplayed and it is lovely to see everyone making a big deal of this."

Moore was the performer of the event, he said. As for Morse, who told her mum and dad aged six she was going to be a world champ, he expected great things. "Just look at her out there. She's surfing with the best and she's not intimidated by it - the world is going to hear a lot more from her."

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