9 Qs with Carissa

We’ve been lucky enough here at the mag to have had the privilage of working with one of Hawaii’s greatest surf talents. If you’re not already aware, I’m about to drop a Freesurf spoiler on you: Carissa Moore—you know the one…tanned, polite, surfs better than you—guest edited our last issue. Pretty cool, eh?

After spending some QT with Carissa, I noticed something the surf world had missed. With all of the talk about how good she is and how much better she surfs than a lot of the guys her age, when it comes to painting an accurate picture of Carissa, sorting the fact from the fiction, Carissa is, to put it simply, your average, happy-go-lucky 16-year-old girl. Her favorite show is Ugly Betty and she stresses—like all high school students—about her upcoming midterms. Recently, I sat down with Miss Moore to get her take on being your typical 16-year-old living a very atypical life.

FSM: So you split your time between your mom and your dad? Can you talk a little bit about that?

CM: Sure. When I’m with my dad, we’ll surf all the time and do lots of beach-type stuff, but when I’m with my mom, we just kinda hangout and have fun at home. It’s cool…it’s like the best of both worlds. That way I have a little bit of time off from the water, which keeps me energized and excited just about every time I get in the water.

FSM: How often is that?

CM: Probably five or six times a week on average.

FSM: It seems like a lot of the Town kids are pretty into surfing Kewalo Basin. Is that your stomping ground?

CM: Yeah, I mostly surf Kewalos. Like you said, it seems like that’s kind of the spot for the groms these days. It’s close to school and home and it’s just a really fun wave.

FSM: So you’re 16 and a junior in high school now; do you have any plans in the works for college?

CM: I’m actually supposed to be concentrating really hard on college prep stuff for school right now, but to be honest I haven’t been doing too much of what I should. It’s something that I need to sort out.

FSM: So is college something you see yourself doing after high school or are you just gonna surf full time?

CM: I definitely would like to take some college courses after I graduate from school, maybe online or at UH (University of Hawaii) or something. But yeah, I need to get on that and start figuring these things out. It’s coming up.

FSM: Switching back to surfing for a second, you only did a few select events last year. Are you gonna keep on that path next year?

CM: Yeah I think so. But mostly I’m just planning on working on school and wanna keep surfing. Maybe do a few trips and a few more contests here and there, but mostly stay at home.

FSM: There’s a lot of talk about how fast the girls are improving the sport these days. Can you see a female surfer cracking the men’s ’CT in the next decade?

CM: That’s a hard question. I think women’s surfing has definitely come a long way. It’s pretty exciting. Especially with the young girls right now. You know, Malia Manuel, Coco Ho, Bethany Hamilton, Alana Blanchard. They’re all really good. But I don’t know if I can give you a direct answer, but it’ll be interesting to see.

FSM: Here’s a bit of a random question: If you could eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

CM: Tofu and cornbread. I just really like both of those things.
Is that weird?

FSM: In 10 years you’ll be 26, where do you see yourself then?

CM: Hopefully still surfing and having fun, but maybe working as a teacher. I think it would be fun to be a kindergarten teacher. I like being around kids.