I've uncovered another impressive photo of Laura Blears Ching, younger sister of Jimmy Blears, who won title of Hawaii's number one amateur female surfer, won the women's division in 1972 Makaha Invitational surfing competition, became only female to compete in the Smirnoff men's championship in 1973 and won title of world's number one lady surfer.
Once again, surfing nude, without wax or leg rope, at a North Shore Hawaiian reef break, allegedly pipe, on her famous red Lightning Bolt single fin.
Her photos are some of the most re-blogged surfing photos on the Internet, making her red bolt one of the most famous surfboards in the world.
“As a little girl, I used to surf against the boys, because there were no girl surfers,” she says in a recent interview. When not on boards, Laura, before she was ten, paddled in canoes and rode on catamarans.
“As little kids, we helped the beach boys when they needed an extra paddler. They didn’t even have to say Laura and Carol. They just waved their hands and we jumped in. It was just a way of life,” she said.
Encouraged to surf by her father, Lord James Blears, known to beach boys as Tally Ho, Laura entered her first competition at 12. She lost.
“I ended up being asked by surfing legend Fred Hemmings to enter my very first contest for money. My brother Jimmy was a finalist in that very first pro contest,” she recalled.
Laura was an alternate, but the next year she was a real participant.
“It was billed as ‘325 men and Laura.’ That was the advertising. I beat one guy in my heat, but I never advanced. And I never ended up on the circuit,” she said. Against women, however, she had at least ten wins.
“When you are on the board, you forget about everything,” Laura noted. To be a surfer “requires desire, a love of swimming and the ocean, and balance and agility. If you want to do it, you can do it. It is such a good feeling to be able to dance on the waves.
“My Dad used to surf 365 day a year, with surf or without surf. He didn’t just practice when there was surf. You have to do it a lot. You just have to keep practicing.”
Once again, surfing nude, without wax or leg rope, at a North Shore Hawaiian reef break, allegedly pipe, on her famous red Lightning Bolt single fin.
Her photos are some of the most re-blogged surfing photos on the Internet, making her red bolt one of the most famous surfboards in the world.
“As a little girl, I used to surf against the boys, because there were no girl surfers,” she says in a recent interview. When not on boards, Laura, before she was ten, paddled in canoes and rode on catamarans.
“As little kids, we helped the beach boys when they needed an extra paddler. They didn’t even have to say Laura and Carol. They just waved their hands and we jumped in. It was just a way of life,” she said.
Encouraged to surf by her father, Lord James Blears, known to beach boys as Tally Ho, Laura entered her first competition at 12. She lost.
“I ended up being asked by surfing legend Fred Hemmings to enter my very first contest for money. My brother Jimmy was a finalist in that very first pro contest,” she recalled.
Laura was an alternate, but the next year she was a real participant.
“It was billed as ‘325 men and Laura.’ That was the advertising. I beat one guy in my heat, but I never advanced. And I never ended up on the circuit,” she said. Against women, however, she had at least ten wins.
“When you are on the board, you forget about everything,” Laura noted. To be a surfer “requires desire, a love of swimming and the ocean, and balance and agility. If you want to do it, you can do it. It is such a good feeling to be able to dance on the waves.
“My Dad used to surf 365 day a year, with surf or without surf. He didn’t just practice when there was surf. You have to do it a lot. You just have to keep practicing.”
