The victory put surfer, a past Malibu Sharks team member, atop the North America QS rankings
The first wave Talia Swindal caught as an amateur surfer was at the SLO CAL Open Pismo Beach in 2022. She advanced to the second round of the event.
The 18-year-old returned to the surfing spectacle on Jan. 27, but this time she surfed away victorious.
Swindal won the North American Qualifying Series (QS) 3,000 women’s event at SLO Cal Open Pismo Beach. The victory put Swindal, a past Malibu Sharks team member, in the top spot of the North America QS rankings.
She said winning the event was a surreal experience.
“It was insane,” Swindal recalled. “It didn’t hit me at first. Once I came home and saw all my friends and the people I surf with everyday it really sank in. It feels really good.”
Surfers who are not currently eligible for the WSL’s Championship Tour compete in QS events to earn enough points toward qualifying for the following year’s Championship Tour.
Swindal was one of four victors at Pismo Beach. Taj Lindblad won the men’s North America QS 3,000. Sanoa Dempfle-Olin won the women’s Pro Junior Final and Kai Kushner won the men’s Pro Junior Final.
Swindal defeated her friend Bella Kenworthy in the QS final. Kenworthy surfed up a score of 7.33 out of possible 10 to begin the final, while Swindal rode her initial wave to a score of 6.00.
However, Swindal surfed back and earned 8.00 on a running righthander with numerous critical sections. Her opponent failed to get a score that would overcome the first-time WSL winner.
Two of Swindal’s supporters hoisted her upon their shoulders in celebration when she returned to the beach. Soon after, Swindal was awarded a surfboard-shaped trophy.
The work Swindal put in to claim her first WSL triumph includes surfing up to three hours a day and exercising. Her friends and family, she noted, are also key.
“It truly takes a village to get where I am today and where I want to be eventually,” said Swindal, who envisions one day winning the WSL Championship Tour’s title.
Swindal finished in third place at the World Junior Championships in Oceanside one week earlier, so she was confident when she stepped in the Pismo Beach sand.
“I felt really good,” Swindal remembered. “I was flowing. I took so many positives from the event previously that I knew what to do and trusted my surfing.”
The Malibu surfer defeated Demphie-Olin in the QS semifinals. Swindal was one of three surfers Demphie-Olin outlasted in the Pro Junior Final.
Swindal began surfing on a shortboard at age 5. She learned the sport at Malibu Makos Surf Club. The young surfer was a member of the Malibu Sharks Surf Team in middle school and her freshman year of high school. Point Dume will always have a special place in her surfing heart, but her favorite place to catch waves now is Hawaii.
“I love Hawaii,” Swindal said. “Its super sick.”
She began surfing in events sponsored by USA Surfing two years ago, but this year she plans to participate in the most competitions possible to accumulate points for the Championship Tour.
Swindal, who will surf in a competition in Florida next month, is enjoying the wave she is on currently.
“I have a long way to go in surfing, but I’m going to keep doing what I have been doing,” she said. “Its fun to look back at the journey and soak it all in.”