With issues of sexual assault and gender-based violence currently front and center in surfing, one group is standing up and saying, “No more excuses.” Taking place at 10:00am on Sunday, November 15, the “No More Excuses” paddle-out will take place at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. The mission is to demand a safer future for women and girls and to show that surf culture will no longer tolerate abuse.
Part of a broader movement founded by Australian Ruby Southwell, she explains, “No More Excuses is about ending the culture of excusing and enabling harmful behavior towards women and girls in surfing. We’re uniting as a community to share our voices, show our support for those who speak up, and demand change for the safety and equality of women, men, and marginalized groups.”
The Encinitas event follows similar protests and organized action in Australia and Japan and calls on the global surfing community to step up and unite for change to make a safer future for the next generation. Event organizer Cori Schumacher says, “Surf culture has reached a tipping point. As a global community of surfers, we recognize the power we have to drive social change. We are coming together to reject the gender-based discrimination and violence that haunts our culture. The ocean is home to all of us and we deserve to feel safe doing what we love.”
In addition to the paddle-out, there will be several featured speakers, including Schumacher, Wendy Schlater, who is a founding board member of the Strong Hearted Native Women’s Coalition and the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, Changing Tides Foundation co-founder Leah Dawson, and action sports personality Selema Masakela.
Moonlight Beach was also the site of a protest against racism in June, 2020, in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder. During an impassioned speech, Selema called on everyone to “not just be here today. Be here tomorrow… and the next day, and continue to stand for this thing that we call unity. And tell racism that it can go and kick rocks, because that is not what surfing is about.”