Paige Alms is among an elite group of wave riders who surf the biggest waves in the world. This niche sport is certainly not for the faint hearted, and until powerhouse women like Paige entered the scene, has been a male dominated sport.
Born on the island of Victoria in B.C Canada, Paige found her innate love for the ocean and surfing. Later moving to Maui Hawaii at an early age fuelled the desire to surf and live amongst the mystical ocean, creating the perfect stage for an epic career in giant wave riding.
Now at 34 years of age, Paige has been known as one of Maui’s token female big wave riders for most of her career, leading the charge in women’s surfing. As she comes out of an extremely successful career, Paige shifts her focus towards teaching and coaching the next generation of female surfers which she believes is of the utmost importance. Her continual approach to this is by following her mothers wise counsel as she consistently encouraged Paige to ‘dream big’.
The thrill-seeking, two- time WSL Big Wave World Champion has not only been a master of her profession but a jack of all trades! Whilst maintaining a surfing career, Paige actually worked numerous jobs to fund the travels and comps. This included a lot of hard work doing odd jobs like ding repair, house painting, surf lessons, event catering and construction – is there anything that this woman can’t do?! The down- to- earth powerhouse, worked her butt off to achieve her dreams and accomplished it all on her own- now that’s inspiring!
Fun Facts about Paige
- When she was 9 years old, Paige and her mother travelled the breadth of Australia in a van.
- Ho’okipa became Paige’s stomping ground at the age of 10! (Ho’okipa is a beach in Maui, known for its BIG waves) Then by the age of 15 had her first big wave session and from then on was hooked.
- In her spare time, Paige enjoys making art and organic gardening.
- Paige played a pivotal role in winning the fight to close the gender pay gap in professional surfing. 2018 saw the dawn of a new era, with surfing becoming the first international sport to institute equal pay for female and male athletes, a triumph implemented by the World Surf League (WSL), pushed by the Committee for Equity in Women’s Surfing and led by Paige with other leaders in the sport.
- Paige has won many accolades over the course of her career, riding waves at an average of 16 metres in height.
Paige’s latest project has been involved in a documentary surf film, created by filmmaker and pro snowboarder, Robin Van Gyn. The film ‘Fabric: Knowledge’ pulls together a group of renowned female athletes in the big wave scene and snowboarding world to portray a journey of human connection to the natural world. Pro snowboarders Van Gyn and Estelle Pensiero alongside big wave surfers Paige Alms and Izzi Gomez learn how the human race experiences, understands, develops confidence and gains intuition all while passing on knowledge through mentorship.
This stunning film is part of the second annual ‘She Surfs’ Film Tour, sweeping through Australian screens from October 19th 2022. Gather together and celebrate the excellence of female accomplishment and get your tickets today- https://shesurfsfilmtour.com.au/tickets/ See you there!
