Sirenas del Surf, a Wave of Sisterhood in Ecuador
Sirenas del Surf is a surf community and blog for women who surf or want to learn how to surf based in Ecuador. This group aims to encourage women to get together and surf together. Below you can read more about how Iva, founder of Sirenas, came to the idea of founding her group and website.
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Today I write from my soul. Sirenas means so much to me, not sure I will be able to put into words my feelings.
But let’s start from the beginning.
Sirenas del Surf means Surf mermaids in Spanish. It was an idea born during the pandemic, like many other good things. It was a rough year, but many of us found inspiration and decided to do something good with so much time isolated.
I asked myself: -What can I do if I cannot surf?
So, I started a blog for women who surf or want to learn: Sirenas del Surf, a wave of sisterhood.
I narrated my experiences about fears, wipeouts, surf etiquette, choosing the right board, and so on.
Later, when the pandemic was getting less severe, we were able to go to the closer beach with my friend Yami.
We met with Yami by divine coincidence. ✨ I was looking for someone with a car to drive to the beach (there were no buses allowed at that time, of course), and Yami was looking for someone to teach her to surf. Voilà!
We escaped every weekend of this pandemic and had the best times of our lives, in a remote fishing town in Ecuador. Free of masks, and with few locals.
We surfed. We laughed. We drank mate. We watched sunsets. We became sisters. ☀
And I found more inspiration to create content and motivate other surf girls, that we all soon would be on the water together.
Long story short, I quit my job, moved to the beach and started working on growing this community and giving surf lessons.
Now, I look back in time, and my heart explodes with joy. 🥰
I created Sirenas with 2 purposes:
- Encourage other girls to not surf alone – organize meetings, make contacts with those who are in the same town or city but don’t know about each other. Sometimes I receive messages from women saying thanks for helping them find their crew even if they are in other countries! Inspiring these women to to communicate in the language of the ocean makes me happy–Creating genuine bonds with love, free of envy or competition.
- Give the amazing experience of surfing to those that never have had it.
When you focus on giving, life brings you back better:
I got my surf girls crew, and not only in my spot, anywhere I go someone contacts me to surf or just to have a coffee in the city. We are not alone. We just need to talk to each other. To seek each other.
From the women I taught to surf, I get new genuine friends. They teach me more about life, empowerment, empathy, fears, patience, compassion, and that even though we don’t know what the other person is going through, we can see how much surfing helps them. I learned that surfing is therapy, even more for those women that are having a tough time.
I don’t know about you, but I used to think there were not many women that surf, because I learned here in Ecuador where there are more men in the water, I was always alone, in fear, thinking if I should paddle to the lineup or stay in the white wash.
And now I discovered that we are so many! We just need more communities for women who surf to form networks.
It’s the greatest sisterhood.
Peace & love, sisters!
Sea you on the water!
Iva, Sirenas del Surf.
*All Photos Courtesy of Sirenas del Surf
