Los Angeles Times | Hannah Fry | May 10, 2024
Battle in Huntington Beach after transgender surfer barred from longboard competition
Advocates such as surf equity activist Sabrina Brennan say a ban has nothing to do with athleticism or competition.
“It’s a Republican and religious agenda that’s playing out and, frankly, harming people,” Brennan said. “The entire LGBTQ community is being negatively impacted. There’s a lot of damage happening.”
The video quickly caught Brennan’s attention, and she contacted the California Coastal Commission.
“I think discrimination on public property, on public lands, is completely unacceptable,” Brennan said. “To do this in a surf competition is absolutely not right. The ocean belongs to all of us.”
Brennan, who runs Surf Equity, which aims to improve access, equity and justice in pro surfing, said forcing a transgender athlete to “compete in a gender category that they don’t identify with is just really wrong.”
It’s also not in compliance with current policy, she said.
California Coastal Commission staff wrote in a letter Tuesday to Messick that if he wants to host the event, he will have to allow transgender athletes to participate. Banning those individuals violates the Coastal Act, a landmark law that declared the beach as a public treasure to be shared by everyone, according to the letter.
“Prohibiting or unfairly limiting transgender athletes from competing in this or any surf competition that takes place in the coastal waters of California does not meet the requirements of the public access policies of the Coastal Act and impedes access by discriminating against transgender surfers,” Coastal Commission Executive Director Kate Huckelbridge wrote.
The letter was written to formalize a conversation staff had with Messick in which he agreed to allow transgender participants in the contest, according to the document.
Brennan and others have long fought to make surfing — traditionally a male-dominated sport — more inclusive in California. And this isn’t the first time the California Coastal Commission has stepped in.
In 2016, the commission required the Titans of Mavericks, a famous big-wave contest near Half Moon Bay, to have a heat for women if it wanted a permit. For decades, the contest had invited only men.
In 2018, the State Lands Commission indicated it would lease the public beach for Mavericks only if women and men were awarded the same prize money. Historically, women have been paid less than male surfers participating in the same contests. Commission staff wrote in a report at the time that “the waves do not discriminate.”
Washington Post | Les Carpenter | May 8, 2023
The famed Mavericks surfing contest drowned in acrimony. Can it be saved?
Sabrina Brennan, who moved to the neighborhood on top of Pillar Point’s bluff not long before the first Mavericks contest, probably has battled Jeff Clark more than anyone over the years. Her anger goes back to those first weeks in her new home when she saw a big story about the coming competition in the local paper under the headline: “Men Who Ride Mountains.”
“What about women who ride mountains?” she thought.
At the time, Brennan was an avid snowboarder with a creative design business and a side interest in pushing for equality in women’s sports. Though she really doesn’t surf, her wife does, and as she watched the all-male Mavericks contest over the years, she became more outraged.
Brennan pulled some of the best female surfers together, started a group called Surf Equity and stormed after surfing’s male establishment, demanding equal competitions with equal pay for women.
“There was this discrimination right in my backyard,” she says.
Here’s one of hundreds of reader comments on the WashPo story:
New York Times Magazine | by Daniel Duane | Sunday, Feb 7, 2019
The Fight for Gender Equality in One of the Most Dangerous Sports on Earth
Soul watched the live webcast of the November 2015 coastal commission meeting and was thrilled by Brennan’s presentation. Two days later, Soul met Brennan in California. Soul, who is transgender, and Brennan each had decades of experience in LGBT. political activism. Soul introduced Valenti to Brennan, who encouraged her to organize an advocacy group. Valenti then reached out to Kennelly, Moller and Alms while Brennan enlisted yet another ally, Karen Tynan, a labor lawyer who offered to help pro bono. In February 2016, Tynan joined Valenti, Brennan and others in a visit to the coastal commission’s offices in San Francisco, where Tynan pointed out that the California Coastal Act of 1976 forbids discrimination in all use of public resources. Commission staff members were sympathetic and encouraged Valenti to make their case for a nondiscriminatory Maverick’s contest.
Brennan, with the help of Valenti and the other surfers, worked out contest details during the spring and summer of 2016. In September, the six women formed the Committee for Equity in Women’s Surfing. Cartel, meanwhile, submitted a written application for a four-year extension of its exclusive permit from the coastal commission. The company also posted a list on Instagram that same month of 56 prospective invitees for 2016-17, including four women: Alms, Moller, Gabeira and Emily Erickson, the daughter of Roger Erickson, a famous big-wave surfer in the 1970s, but neither Kennelly nor Valenti. Nine days later, Cartel posted a shorter list with every woman’s name gone.
In November 2016, the coastal commission held its permitting meeting at the Oceano Hotel at Pillar Harbor, next to Maverick’s. Optimism electrified the room as it filled with female surfers from around California who had come to support the women’s big-wave cause. By that point, Cartel had amended its permit application to include a women’s heat at Maverick’s, albeit with only six athletes and a prize purse far smaller than that for men. Brennan stepped to the lectern and listed the main demands of the Committee for Equity in Women’s Surfing: at least 12 female athletes and six alternates invited to compete; one woman on the athlete-selection committee chosen by female surfers; and the same cash prizes for the men and the women.
Photo by Dina Litovsky | Feb 2019 | New York Times Magazine
A parade of women followed Brennan to the microphone. Jennifer Savage, California policy manager for the Surfrider Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates conservation of the coastal and marine environment, said that teaching her children to surf had been a highlight of her life as a mother. Savage urged commissioners to recognize the culture-changing power of women in giant surf. “My younger daughter has continued to push herself into bigger and bigger waves in Santa Cruz, and my son takes for granted that women can charge because he learned to surf in the shadow of his sisters,” she said.
The next woman to the lectern was Delia Bense-Kang, who had driven seven hours from near the Oregon border to speak, as she put it, “on behalf of the neighboring surf community of Humboldt County and as part of the greater women’s surf movement.” Bense-Kang said that she grew up “where the waves are big, the water is cold and we wear wet suits instead of bikinis.” As a young girl learning to surf big waves in cold water, Bense-Kang struggled to find female pro surfers to idolize. “Today that has changed,” she said. “There is now a tribe of women big-wave surfers who have dedicated their lives to surfing big waves and want to showcase their talent.” She continued: “We need to show this next generation of girls and boys that all of us are equal and have equal opportunities.”
Mira Manickam-Shirley, the founder of a community organization called Brown Girl Surf, which is based in Oakland and dedicated to connecting girls and women of color to the ocean and surfing, addressed the audience. “Bianca Valenti is literally their hero,” she said of the girls in her program.
The coastal commission voted to approve only a one-year extension, with renewal again contingent on still greater inclusion of women. Commissioner Martha McClure evoked Mount Everest — women were once told they did not belong there either. Then Cartel finalized its list of six female invitees: Alms, Moller, Kennelly, Gerhardt, Erickson and Jamilah Star, a veteran big-wave surfer living in Hawaii. Valenti, the only active female Maverick’s regular and the winner of the only women’s big-wave contest in the previous five years, was iced out. She kept her composure until she was alone in her car, driving home. Then she began to weep. When I told Clark recently that Valenti felt as if somebody was sending her a message, he replied: “She was not crazy to read meaning in that.”
In July, the Committee for Equity in Women’s Surfing effectively declared war against the World Surf League, sending a letter to the coastal commission arguing that the league was in violation of state civil rights law, not just at Maverick’s but, as a California-based company, in all operations worldwide. (The league denies that it has done anything illegal.) Later that month, Sophie Goldschmidt, chief executive of the World Surf League, met with Brennan, Tynan, Valenti and others at a hotel near the San Francisco airport. Brennan focused on Maverick’s, demanding the inclusion of 10 female athletes with equal pay and noting that this would cost the World Surf League less than $35,000, in a contest for which it had spent half a million for one permit.
According to Brennan, Tynan and Valenti, Goldschmidt accused them of exploiting the #MeToo movement and used the words “poor performance” to describe women’s big-wave surfing. They also recall Goldschmidt’s declaring equal pay out of the question, threatening to cancel Maverick’s and saying that if the World Surf League paid equally there, the league would have to pay equally everywhere. When I asked Goldschmidt over the phone about this meeting, she said it was private and that it would be inappropriate to comment. Later, the World Surf League, on her behalf, denied that she made comments about poor performance and #MeToo.
Aimee Luthringer & Sabrina Brennan reading the New York Times Mag at 3-Zero Cafe in Moss Beach, CA
Valenti left the meeting despondent. Brennan contacted Elliott Almond, a reporter with the Bay Area News Group, and told him that the World Surf League was resisting pressure to pay women equally at Maverick’s. Brennan provided Almond with emails from the World Surf League threatening to cut off communication with the Committee for Equity in Women’s Surfing over the issue. Almond’s article, published in The San Jose Mercury News on Aug. 1, 2018, caught the attention of Jennifer Lucchesi, an executive director of the California State Lands Commission, an agency that controls the narrow strip of coast between the median high- and low-tide lines — and also requires permits to hold surf contests. Lucchesi, who is a competitive open-water swimmer, told Brennan by phone that the lands commission had three commissioners, including State Controller Betty Yee, who Brennan knew had a history of fighting for pay equity. Also on the committee was Gavin Newsom, then lieutenant governor and running for governor, whom Brennan believed she could get on board. Lucchesi’s staff was already processing an application from the World Surf League to lease 1,000 acres of tidelands at Maverick’s for the contest, and Lucchesi and her staff eventually asked Brennan to suggest terms.
By coincidence, on Aug. 20, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that made surfing the official sport of California. “A lot of people thought it was comedic, and a joke,” Yee told me, “but it got me thinking: How do we elevate the state sport to make it truly representative of California?” The answer came when Lucchesi posted to the lands commission’s website a staff report that characterized the inclusion of — and equal pay for — women at Maverick’s as central to the larger project of promoting fair treatment of people of “all races, cultures, national origins, genders, gender identities, gender expressions, religions, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status.” The report’s thesis read like the motto of a newly independent Republic of California: “The waves do not discriminate.”
“In every way,” Newsom told me via email in November, after beating the Republican candidate, John Cox, to become governor of California, “this decision aligned with the values that California stands to defend at a time when gender equity is being attacked nationwide.”
The World Surf League, in negotiations with the lands commission staff, asked if it would be acceptable if there were a little more money for that year’s contest in exchange for equality at some point in the future. The Committee for Equity in Women’s Surfing didn’t want that: Unequal was unequal. Days passed. Valenti pleaded with other surfers for public statements of support. “Male competitors were coming at us,” Valenti recalls, “like, ‘You girls are pushing too hard, you should be thankful just to be invited, and just shut up.’ ”
On Sept. 5, Valenti read an email from a professional surf photographer accusing the committee of jeopardizing the very survival of big-wave competition and imploring it to stop. Valenti was so depressed that she lay down for a nap. She awoke to a series of unexpected text messages: Goldschmidt had announced that the World Surf League would become the first global United States-based sports league ever to offer equal prize money for men and women across all events in all disciplines worldwide.
Filmy clouds blanketed the sky pale gray on Oct. 26, when Valenti joined Kennelly, Moller, Brennan and Tynan on the beach at Maverick’s for the opening ceremony of what they hoped would be the first women’s contest there — not the contest itself, just the beginning of the five-month waiting period, which runs through March. Gerhardt drove up from nearby Santa Cruz, and other female competitors traveled to the break. With a dozen or so male invitees including Jeff Clark himself, the surfers all paddled out on surfboards to form a floating circle, holding hands for prayers and thanks. Later, Valenti and others stopped for a beer at the nearby home of Nico Sell, the tech entrepreneur. Brennan and Tynan sat at Sell’s table, with a view of Maverick’s, talking about the peculiar setting Goldschmidt had chosen for her official announcement of equity — an artificial wave pool in central California, with a crowd of small-wave pros, as if to avoid even the slightest association with the women who fought for change.
“We’ve been pushing for equality for a while; this isn’t a sudden decision,” Goldschmidt said in that news conference. “This has been something that we’ve been working on for years.” I asked Goldschmidt what role the Committee for Equity in Women’s Surfing played in pushing the World Surf League toward equal access and pay. Goldschmidt said that the committee had a strong opinion but that the World Surf League consulted many groups and individuals. I pressed her to name one, but she declined. Governor Newsom had no such reservations. In an email referring to the Committee for Equity in Women’s Surfing, he said: “I applaud the courage of the athletes and activists who fought for this victory, and I am hopeful that this will inspire the next generation — of daring athletes and activists with the audacity to challenge the status quo.”
Brennan’s SpeEch » Women's March 2019 » San Jose, CA
Ocean Safety Saves Lives
In 2019, Sabrina Brennan initiated the first Half Moon Bay Safety Summit. In October, the public and emergency responders participated in a 3-day training that included ocean rescue.
Big Wave Risk Assessment Group trainers covered ocean risk management, safety protocols, equipment, technology and skills training to maximize safe practices in the surf lineup. Gender equality was a priority; women trainers and attendees contributed valuable experience.
Brennan enjoyed organizing and attending the first safety summit with Harbor District staff, Pillar Point Harbor Patrol and BWRAG.
The summit was at overflow capacity with a waiting list. Hopefully it will return this fall.
the Fight for equity in womens big wave surfing started with Mavericks
Checkout this video segment from Dayla Soul's 2016 documentary “It Ain’t Pretty” about women big wave surfers.
The film provides insight into professional surfer Bianca Valenti’s struggle to include women in big wave surf competitions and San Mateo County Harbor Commissioner Sabrina Brennan's fight for equity in the Mavericks surf event.
Video segment:
Brennan led the fight for equal prize money in surfing — now she seeks equal time in races
In 2019, Sabrina Brennan insisted that cycling be included in a state equal pay law. It took a lot of effort but she got AB 467 amended to include roadways and that triggered the inclusion of cycling.
The new law requires equal pay for all professional sports competitions held on state land and state roadways that include gendered categories.
Mercury News, May 14, 2019
Equal Prize Money Is Great—But Only Half the Story
by Kim Cross
“Every time I drive by one of those ginormous sports stadiums, I’ve always thought about how much public funding goes into them,” Brennan says. “So now we’re looking at what can this do for other sports?”
Outside Magizine, Sept 13, 2018
by Dylan Heyden
Did Maverick’s Force the WSL to Pony Up an Estimated $1.4 Million for Pay Equality?
CEWS wrote in a July 9 letter to Renee Ananda of the California Coastal Commission insisting that attempts to pay women anything less than equal prize money at big wave surf contests constituted “gender-based discrimination,” and was therefore against the law. The letter implored the Commission to make equal pay a stipulation for event permitting at Maverick’s.
According to Sabrina Brennan, San Mateo County Harbor Commissioner and CEWS member, it was this letter and the fallout from it that led the WSL to schedule a July 23rd meeting in Redwood City. During the meeting between representatives from CEWS including Brennan, Karen Tynan (CEWS’ attorney), Bianca Valenti, and Paige Alms, and WSL CEO Sophie Goldschmidt, Graham Stapelberg, WSL attorney Dylan Budd, WSL Deputy Commissioner and Director of Athlete Development Jessi Miley-Dyer, BWT commissioner Mike Parsons, and others, executives of the World Surf League were emphatic that prize parity would not be feasible at Maverick’s this year.
“When we got to the hardest part of the discussion, which was about equal pay, they just completely shut down,” Brennan said in a phone interview. “They said things like, ‘We don’t negotiate with outside groups.’ And, ‘If we did this at Maverick’s then there’d be the expectation that we’d do it across all categories.’ And we were like, ‘That’s exactly what we want…’ Then they were like, ‘Absolutely not. There’s no money.'”
The Inertia, Sept 12, 2018
by Laurel Rosenhall
California just forced equal pay for female surfers. Could that change other games?
“We believe there ought to be gender equity with respect to the purposes of any use of our state lands,” Betty Yee said in an interview.
Gavin Newsom also supported the requirement, said his chief of staff Rhys Williams: “A lease application that doesn’t reflect equal pay isn’t going to fly with him.”
The Mavericks case could set a precedent for local governments to demand equal pay in any sporting event held on public property, said David Berri, a professor of economics at Southern Utah University who researches gender in sports.
“In any event where you are going across public land, then any government entity could say ‘You have to make this equal,’” he said.
CAL Matters, KQED, Mercury News, Capital Public Radio News, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Mendocino Beacon, Ukiah Daily Journal, Sept 6, 2018
Finally, World Surf League offers equal prize money for women and men
by Bruce Jenkins
Bianca Valenti said she was “in shock” when she heard the news, because women surfers had been so thoroughly stonewalled in their quest for equality.
The CEWS is spearheaded by Valenti and Hawaiian surfers Keala Kennelly, Paige Alms and Andrea Moller, all of whom are expected to be in the Mavericks contest. The event’s previous owners, Cartel Management, balked at the notion of including women until finally agreeing last year to a six-woman heat that would accompany the men’s competition (poor conditions prevented the contest from being held). But Cartel arrogantly excluded Valenti from the entry list, and “I’ll never forget how my heart sank when Cartel retaliated against Bianca because she dared to speak at a Coastal Commission hearing,” said Sabrina Brennan, a San Mateo County Harbor District commissioner who has worked tirelessly for the cause. “Now we finally have what’s right. Those four women worked so hard and they weren’t backing down. They took the professional risk.”
San Francisco Chronicle, Sept 6, 2018
Equal pay or no one plays? Big-wave women draw line in the sand at Mavericks
by Elliott Almond
Sabrina Brennan said during a public session at the State Lands Commission meeting on Thursday that the World Surf League claimed it needed to raise additional funds to provide equal prize money.
“We see this as a red flag and urge the State Lands Commission to consider requiring financials in support of proof that the entity has the financial resources to put on the Mavericks event,” she said.
Brennan is a co-founder of the Committee for Equity in Women’s Surfing, which includes big-wave stars Paige Alms and Keala Kennelly of Hawaii and Bianca Valenti of San Francisco.
“Not getting your permits in order, we’ve seen it before,” said Sabrina Brennan, who also serves as a San Mateo County Harbor District commissioner. “That’s a recipe for not being able to hold the competition.”
Bianca Valenti, the Bay Area’s leading female big-wave rider, praised the State Lands report in a text message from Croatia.
“Lawmakers get it; they know that responsible use of our coastline and coastal access is a top priority for all Californians,” she wrote. “As a professional big-wave surfer I believe this recognition will help leverage progress towards achieving equality. When we share the ocean everyone has an opportunity to explore surfing, improve their performance, and earn equal pay in the water.”
—Mercury News & Santa Cruz Sentinel, Aug 24, 2018
Equal pay in big-wave waters: Mavericks women fight for same prize purse
by Elliott Almond
“We’re definitely happy about getting three heats,” said Sabrina Brennan, a San Mateo County Harbor District commissioner who co-founded the Committee for Equity in Women's Surfing. “Where we are in a very clear disagreement is on prize money.”
The women’s equity group wants the same purses for men and women no matter how many contestants are competing in each division. In a July 23 meeting with WLS officials in Redwood City, the women presented a proposal to increase the women’s purse at Mavericks by $40,000. The change would allow the top ten surfers in each division to receive the same prize money.
“If the WSL can’t afford it then they can pay the male athletes less,” said Brennan, who added the women are risking their lives on the same giant waves as the men.
The committee's letter to the Coastal Commission said that “it’s difficult and sometimes impossible for women professional athletes to compete internationally without an opportunity to earn equal money. The lack of parity must be addressed. Unfair business practices prevent women professional surfers from utilizing public resources and coastal access.”
The equity committee’s lawyer Karen Fuller Tynan said the group has been transparent about its position: “Prize money equality is required. Prize money parity by ‘fuzzy math’ is not going to work for the women athletes.”
—Mercury News & Santa Cruz Sentinel, Aug 3, 2018
Women (Finally!) Get a Big-Wave Heat at Mavericks
by Kim Cross
The female pros say they’re stoked to compete at Mavericks, but they wish it was a legitimate multi-heat division...What they’d like to see is a multi-heat competition, where women have to surf against one another to make it to the finals. As it is, “it’s a token,” Brennan says. “Six women, one heat? That’s nowhere near equality.”
—Outside Magizine, Jan 29, 2018
Mavericks surf contest gets the go-ahead
by Bruce Jenkins
The most significant development in the ownership change will be the inclusion of women. For the first time in contest history, a six-woman heat will be staged on contest day, featuring Bianca Valenti of San Francisco, Sarah Gerhardt of Santa Cruz, Justine Dupont of France and Hawaii’s Paige Alms, Keala Kennelly and Emily Erickson.
This comes as good news to Sabrina Brennan, a San Mateo County Harbor Commissioner who has lobbied tirelessly on behalf of the women surfers and charged the Cartel group with “sexist, discriminatory behavior” in restricting the event to men. The next step, Brennan said, will be to “make a multiheat women’s division a requirement for the 2018-19 event and the future.”
—San Francisco Chronicle, Dec 14, 2017
Mavericks surf contest sold; will there be an event this winter?
Some welcomed the Big Wave Tour’s takeover that will give the surfers a platform to showcase their talent. The contest would be particularly meaningful for six women invitees competing at the fearsome wave for the first time. Women were included last year before Cartel canceled the tournament because of financial struggles.
“The WSL has a track record of inclusion of women so it makes me feel good,” Harbor commissioner Sabrina Brennan said. “It’s a start.”
News of the sale was bittersweet for Jeff Clark, who remains frustrated over losing control of his event to Cartel. But the famed surfer is “stoked it’s the WSL,” he said Thursday.
“It’s going to be a good event,” added Clark, who hopes to be involved with WSL organizers. “I’m sad to see Cartel get away with what they did. They’ve gotten away with it for now but they will get their due.”
—Mercury News, Aug 24, 2017
World Surf League Wants to Purchase Mavericks Contest Permit for $525,000
“The World Surf League demonstrated their commitment to women athletes when Paige Alms became the first-ever Pe’ahi Challenge women’s champion. The Harbor Commission has an opportunity to support Mavericks becoming part of the Big Wave Tour,” says Sabrina Brennan, one of the harbor commissioners.“
—The Inertia, Aug 24, 2017
World Surf League strikes Mavericks deal
Harbor District Commissioner Sabrina Brennan, who’s advocated on behalf of the Committee for Equity in Women’s Surfing, said she’s pleased the WSL may bolster their efforts.
“I support women being included in the event and clearly the WSL has a proven track record of including women in the Big Wave World Tour,” Brennan said. “I hope that everyone on the [Harbor District] board is supportive of what’s in the best interest of the athletes, the fans and San Mateo County.”
—San Mateo Daily Journal, Aug 25, 2017
Mavericks big wave contest plans to auction business assets amid bankruptcy proceeding
by Dan Weikel
“That is the sad state of affairs at this time,” Brennan said.
—Los Angeles Times, May 8, 2017
Fighting for equality in big-wave surfing
by Joanna Jolly
Brennan's presentation argued that if a permit was given as things stood, women would be excluded from coastal access, and the commissioners agreed, demanding that the organisers of Titans of Mavericks should come back within a year with a plan to include women.
—BBC News Magazine, May 7, 2017
Harbor Commissioner Sabrina Brennan talks with Gabe Slate on the Cartel and Titans of Mavericks double bankruptcies and the Red Bull lawsuit on KRON 4 News.
Bianca Valenti, Grant Washburn, and Sabrina Brennan talk with Robert Handa on NBC Bay Area.
Mavericks, a Premier Surfing Event, Is Canceled Amid Financial Woes
by John Clark, Sports Columnist
This year’s Mavericks was to have been the first to allow female surfers. Sabrina Brennan, who heads the San Mateo County Harbor Commission, which manages the Mavericks surf area, helped in the fight to include women.
“This event has been plagued with problems since its inception,” she said. “Trying to generate revenue from an event like Mavericks is a challenge. You need a more organized and committed group of people to pull it off.”
She added, “This is not good for the sport, and it’s not good for the athletes.”
Several surfers have reached out to Brennan and requested that the commission terminate the five-year event permit with Cartel, which is also Brennan’s recommendation. That would allow another party to apply for a Mavericks permit in the future.
—New York Times, Sports, Feb. 3, 2017
Frustrated Mavericks surfers long for simpler times
by Bruce Jenkins, Sports Columnist
As much as the Half Moon Bay and Bay Area surfing communities felt a sense of relief at Cartel’s apparent demise, there was also sadness, for it seems this event will never be freed from the shackles of corporate interest.
“There is absolutely and unequivocally no way that Cartel and Titans of Mavericks can possibly transfer every permit and asset required in time for the contest to run before April 1,” said attorney Karen Tynan, who represents the Committee for Equity in Women’s Surfing. “And don’t forget that media companies and vendors need time to evaluate the assets that are for sale. Lastly, it’s not clear that the permits are all transferable.”
Without question, the women’s big-wave surf movement has suffered the biggest setback. This year, for the first time, women were granted their own one-hour heat (a field of six) on contest day, a chance to display their talents right alongside the men. Now it looks like a long wait until next winter.
—San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 1, 2017
Bankruptcy filings threaten to wipe out this season's Mavericks surfing contest
by Dan Weikel
If held, this year’s contest would for the first time include a heat for women. The California Coastal Commission, which issues permits for the event, required Titans of Mavericks to allow female entrants for the 2016-17 wave season.
San Mateo County Harbor Commissioner Sabrina Brennan, who has worked to get women into the contest, said the event probably won’t happen this year because of the financial problems.
The commission also issues permits for the competition. Court records state that Titans of Mavericks owes the San Mateo County Harbor District about $6,700.
“Logistically, I don’t see how this is going to happen, and I don’t see another group coming in and getting the permits,” Brennan said. “This will be super disappointing for the contestants. As you know, this was the first year for women to compete.”
In a news release, the Committee for Equity in Women’s Surfing said the group suspected there were problems.
“There were two days with perfect conditions in November and one day in January but no contest was called,” the release said. “What a let down.”
—Los Angeles Times, Feb. 1, 2017
Big-wave breakthrough: Female surfer leads Mavericks revolution
by Bruce Jenkins, Sports Columnist
It took a lot of behind-the-scenes work to make it happen, with Bianca Valenti and Sabrina Brennan, a San Mateo County Harbor District commissioner, at the forefront. Along with the three most accomplished female big-wave riders in Hawaii — Kennelly, Paige Alms and Andrea Moller — Valenti created the Committee for Equity in Women’s Surfing. They established a website, welcoming support and commentary.
—San Francisco Chronicle, Christmas Day, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2016
First Wave: The women chosen to surf Mavericks
by Bruce Jenkins, Sports Columnist
The unsung hero of the women’s big-wave movement is Sabrina Brennan, a San Mateo County Harbor District commissioner who lives on a bluff near Pillar Point and has followed the Mavericks contest from the beginning. When it was her turn to speak at the California Coastal Commission hearing in November of 2015, she noted the absence of women in the event and argued strongly for equality. The result was an amended motion that allowed Cartel Management a contest permit on the provision that it would include women in the future.
Two months ago, in submitting its permit application, Cartel made promises only for the 2017-18 season. “It was like they were dangling this little carrot,” Brennan said. “To me, it was a scheme to stay in control of the event and not include women at any point in the future.”
Just five days later, Cartel had switched gears. A Coastal Commission report threatened a permit rejection unless Cartel included women this year. After requesting a four-year extension of its permit, Cartel had to settle for just one year.
—San Francisco Chronicle, Christmas Day, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2016
Women to make history surfing big-wave contest, but struggles for equality remain
Women will have the opportunity to compete this year largely because of one woman’s crusade. Sabrina Brennan, the San Mateo County Harbor Commissioner, fought for a separate women’s heat at Mavericks.
Brennan lives in Moss Beach in a home that overlooks where Mavericks is held.
She’s attended nearly every contest since the first one was organized in 1999 by the surf-clothing brand Quiksilver. At the time, the contest name was Men Who Ride Mountains. “With that name, it’s not really very welcoming,’’ for women, she said.
—Peninsula Press, Stanford Journalism Program, Dec. 15, 2016
Let women compete, Coastal Commission orders famous surf contest at Mavericks
“This is a great step forward for our sport, women’s athletics and women. You know, it’s about human rights,” said Bianca Valenti, a top female big-wave rider and co-founder of the Committee for Equity in Women’s Surfing.
Supporters who lobbied the commission to add women included representatives from the Surfrider Foundation, the Committee for Equity in Women’s Surfing, the Coastal Protection Network, the Brown Girl Surf organization and San Mateo County Harbor Commissioner Sabrina Brennan.
—Los Angeles Times, Nov. 5, 2016
For First Time in 17 Years, Women Will Compete in Top Big-Wave Surfing Contest
Sabrina Brennan, who heads the San Mateo County Harbor Commission, which manages the Mavericks surf area, helped in the fight to include women — which at times grew tense.
“Organizers would show up at meetings with their attorneys and just stare at you with a menacing look,” said Brennan, who is also a member of the Committee for Equity in Women’s Surfing. “It was intimidating.”
She also said some event organizers had told several female surfers to get their own Mavericks event.
Still, Brennan said she was pleased with the outcome.
“It’s about time,” she said. “It feels like it shouldn’t have taken this long. And I wonder why it’s taken so long. It’s exciting and thrilling. But we’re not there yet. Women athletes have to keep asking for what they want.”
—New York Times, Sports, Oct. 28, 2016
Women Finally Get A Spot In Legendary Big Wave Surfing Competition
The inaugural women’s event is a huge milestone for female big wave surfers, but Sabrina Brennan, a San Mateo Harbor District commissioner who first raised issue with the state Coastal Commission last year, believes that there’s still more work to be done.
A single one-hour heat “does not match up with what the women athletes have asked for,” Brennan told HuffPost, noting that the women’s committee specifically recommended three.
Brennan, who has lived next to the California surf break since 1999, also believes that a woman should be included in the Committee 5, the currently all-male panel that decides which surfers are skilled enough to compete at Mavericks.
These are much-needed changes, Brennan says, for an event that was originally called “Men Who Ride Mountains.”
“I would really love to see women get more recognition for the risks that they’re taking out there,” Brennan said.
—Huffington Post, Women, Oct. 28, 2016
Female Surfers Tear Down a Big Wave Barrier
Ultimately, it took the state to force the change at Titans of Mavericks, which was known in its early years as the “Men Who Ride Mountains” contest.
The decision by Cartel Management, the company that owns the tournament, followed a campaign over the last year by a small group of female surfers along with Sabrina Brennan, a San Mateo County harbor commissioner.
Organized under the banner “Committee for Equity in Women’s Surfing,” the surfers pressured California’s Coastal Commission into demanding that Mavericks add a women’s heat or risk losing its permit to hold the event.
The campaign worked.
—New York Times, California Today, Oct. 28, 2016
Mavericks Surfing Contest Will Include Women for First Time
“There was no hint that anything like this was brewing,” said Sabrina Brennan, who serves on the San Mateo Harbor Commission and who first brought the issue to the attention of the Coastal Commission.
“I wasn’t expecting this,” Valenti told Surfer Mag. “But I think it’s awesome. I’m just excited to see the women’s side of the sport strengthen. It felt weird always asking for them to let us women in. So it feels great knowing they know want us to be apart of this rad big-wave community.”
Sabrina Brennan said some of the event’s organizers would like to hold a roundtable discussion with the women and are considering the possibility of a two-day format, weather permitting.
She also said there are still some issues to be worked out.
“I’d like to see something in writing,” she said. So far the news has only been mentioned on social media.
The female surfers have also requested a woman sit on the selection committee.
—KQED, Oct. 21, 2016
Women to ride big waves in 'Titans of Mavericks' competition for the first time
Sabrina Brennan, a San Mateo County Harbor District Commissioner, had been fighting for female inclusion in the competition. She's cautiously optimistic.
"It's great they want to include women, but the women asked for a multi-heat event, which is what the men have. They should have a multi-heat event, and the same amount of prize money. Those issues haven't been addressed in this one-hour heat, but maybe it's a good starting point."
—San Francisco Chronicle, Oct. 21, 2016
2016 Endorsements
“No one has done more to change the culture there than Sabrina Brennan. She has demanded to know where the money went for computers that were never installed. She has sought to hold complacent employees accountable. She has championed the rights of fishermen and is proud of a newly reconstituted relationship with the Half Moon Bay Seafood Marketing Association. She has fought for equity at Mavericks; her call for a women’s heat in the surf contest led directly to the California Coastal Commission demanding as much in this year’s contest.”
—Half Moon Bay Review Endorsement, Oct. 26, 2016
“Brennan is bright, creative, hard-working and aggressive.”
—Daily Journal Endorsement, Sept. 23, 2016
“The Sierra Club is proud to endorse Sabrina for re-election to the Harbor Commission. She’s a courageous environmental leader with an outstanding record on planning for the impacts of climate change, sea level rise, and water quality protection.” —Sierra Club Endorsement
“Sabrina is an outstanding Harbor Commissioner with strong democratic values. Her advocacy for women athletes, support for commercial fishermen, and passion for environmental stewardship make her an excellent choice for the San Mateo County Harbor District.”
—Angelica Ramos, Chair, National Women's Political Caucus of Silicon Valley
“Sabrina Brennan has blazed trails as the first lesbian candidate to win a countywide election in San Mateo County, as the only openly LGBT member of the county Democratic Central Committee, and as the county's highest-ranking lesbian elected official. We're proud to endorse her.”
—Rick Zbur, @Executive Director, Equality California, the nation's largest statewide LGBT advocacy group.
Congratulations, @SabrinaBrennan, Equality California's endorsed candidate for #SanMateo County Harbor Commission! pic.twitter.com/mO1kL4swnB
— Equality California (@eqca) July 26, 2016
On Tuesday, June 7, 2016, I was elected to represent Democrats on the county Democratic Party Central Committee. I'm deeply moved by the voters support and I look forward to serving a four-year term.
It was a joy to celebrate with San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim.
Through outreach, education and research, I support good waterfront planning, restoration and public access.
San Mateo County is beautiful, our cities and towns float on a shimmering bay and breathtaking ocean. Though our bay and ocean are rising, and our waters have been mistreated over the years, most people would pick the beach and waterfront over just about anything else.
We are loyal to it. And we will fight for it.