Central Coast-based, women-led surf collective Grrrlsonboards expanded its mission to Isla Vista as of Jan. 31st, through a club aimed to support women in the surfing community.

Grrrlsonboards was established in San Luis Obispo in 2022. Morgan Guest / Daily Nexus

The collective was established in 2022. Currently, they have another chapter in San Luis Obispo. Surfing has always been embedded in Isla Vista culture, but it wasn’t until fall of 2024 that fourth-year environmental studies major Josie Yon and I.V. local Hali’a Hibbitt pitched expanding the club to Santa Barbara. 

The collective plans to host workshops and block parties, creating a community that fosters a safe space for women in male-dominated board sports, like surfing and skating. The surfers emphasize that teamwork has been essential to growing the club. To promote their expansion, ambassadors hosted a block party on Jan. 31.

“A big part of our group is overcoming fear. At skate clinics, we’ve taught girls how to drop in for the first time. At surf meetups, we paddle out together on big days when it feels scary to go alone,” San Luis Obispo (SLO) chapter co-founder Sabine Heid said.

The SLO co-founders, Heid and Lauren Leach, explain that Grrrlsonboards is about a fresh aesthetic, breaking down stereotypical flower-crowned barriers and fostering an inclusive environment where emerging female surfers and skaters can thrive. 

“A lot of women’s surf collectives are oriented around a certain kind of girl — soft, hyper-feminine, maybe the ones with flowers all over their car. And those girls are amazing, but this is for the ones who are a little rougher around the edges,” Leach said. 

“The name, with the written three Rs, comes from the ’90s feminist punk movement, Riot Grrrl. A lot of what they did was about showing that women in music, and in counterculture, could look different, be different and take up space their own way,” she said. 

In the early 1990s, Riot Grrrl challenged sexism and empowered women through music, zines and activism. Bands like Bikini Kill and Bratmobile led the charge, inspiring a generation to create and reclaim space both onstage and in life. Riot Grrrl was raw and unapologetically political, voicing issues such as representation, body autonomy and gender-based violence.

“I’m most excited for the opportunity, for there to be a safe space for women getting into these male-dominated sports. As someone who grew up surfing, grew up skating, it’s really, really intimidating,” surfer, skater and third-year environmental studies major Taylor Brocoum said. “Usually you’re the only girl at the skatepark, and you’re one of a couple of girls in the lineup surfing.”

Students at UCSB live only steps away from surf spots like Devereux Beach, Sands Beach and Campus Point.

According to Brocoum, Grrrlsonboards expanded to I.V. under one condition — no flowers. 

“Just because its ‘girls on board’ doesn’t mean it has to be girly — why can’t we do this in a ‘badass we rip’ kind of way? Not in a, ‘Oh my god let’s paint everything pink,’ you know. I love it, it should be badass and it should be raw, and you should be falling on concrete and loving it. That’s the thrill of the sport, this isn’t delicate. It’s raw and powerful,” she said. 

Cassandra Kellum, fourth-year sociology major and applied psychology minor,  emphasized that this collective is as much about sisterhood as it is about catching waves and riding rails.

“Step outside of your comfort zone with such an uplifting community. I always looked up to women like this when I was younger so to see it flourish in a community that I’m part of is just amazing,” Kellum said. 

Grrrlsonboards is a space where women belong in the lineup, not as an exception, but as a force. 

“The biggest thing is helping girls feel more comfortable taking up space,” Darnell said. “Hali’a and Kylie really spearheaded starting the [Santa Barbara] chapter.”

Leach emphasized that to witness authentic boarding talent and skill, you can’t be exclusive. 

“Definitely not all of women’s surfing or skating looks one way. It can take on a lot of different forms and have a lot of different kinds of people,” she said.

The collective intends to redefine what it means to belong in the water or at the skate park.“Grrrlsonboards is not just me, and it’s not just Sabine. It’s a collective movement. The more we work together as a community, the farther we will get. It’s all of us, and that’s really, really important,” Leach said.