Live to surf

Teal Hogg’s eyes are the same shade as her name, cool and clear as the ocean. They regard you intently as you talk to her, but they positively glow when she talks about her passion: surfing. The 17-year-old lives to surf.

Her bottle blonde hair streams behind her like a ribbon as she looks down Chartwell Drive, to where just a glimpse of the ocean can be seen. “It’s so gorgeous down there today,” she says. “I should be down there on the waves,” her grin widens and she bounces up and down a few times, as though she could run down to the beach at a moment’s notice.

Teal is in her final year at Crawford College North Coast and calls herself a ‘Rocks Girl’, being born and bred in Umhlanga. Teal started learning to surf when she was five years old. That might seem young to some, but she believes if she could walk, then she could surf. “My father was a rugby player, but he couldn’t really teach me to play
because it’s too rough for a girl. So, he taught me to surf.” Teal enrolled in the Roxy Learn 2 Surf Programme and
signed up for her first competition at nine years old – it was the ChemSpec Junior Surfing Champs and she won
the U12 division. But Teal was not a natural on the waves; quite the contrary, in fact. She says she was ‘goofy’ – a term used by surfers to describe newbies who surf with their left foot on the back of the board. “It might sound funny, but when I was little I really wasn’t a fan of the beach. I couldn’t handle the sand in my toes. I would rather have watched cartoons. But something changed when I got on the board and saw the world from the water.”

Teal won her first South African title in 2013 and is the current under-17 South African champion, a title she
has held for two consecutive years. She recently participated in the Ballito Women’s Pro, where she placed third.
Her victories are not just down to undeniable inbred talent, but to hard work and unceasing training. When
she is not on the water, Teal boxes or trains with mixed martial arts to improve her fitness, co-ordination and reaction time. She also enjoys running, water polo, hockey, soccer and swimming. She tells me that her ultimate goal is to surf professionally which, boasting sponsorships from big brands like Rip Curl and Hurricane, she is well on her way to achieving. Teal will represent South Africa at the World Junior Surfing Championships in California, in October.

Her role model is Australian pro-surfer and current world number one Sally Fitzgibbons. “Women like Sally are
showing the world that girls can also surf. I think we do it better than guys, for sure…we just need to up our game
a bit,” Teal nods emphatically. I ask her what surfing means to her and her response is: “sho!” She pauses for a
bit, then says: “Surfing has taught me about life. Every wave is like a choice, you have to think quickly…are you
going to let it close out on you or run it all the way to the beach? When I’m in the water, nothing else matters. It’s
just me and my board.”