Girl On: Claire Bevilacqua

According to the final 2006 ASP Women’s World Tour ratings, Claire Bevilacqua is the seventh best female surfer on the planet. According to the crew she globe trots the planet with, she’s five solid feet of sass.

 

Born and raised in Western Australia to an Aussie ‘mum’ and an Italian dad, ‘Bevo’ is famous for the feistiness she blames on her hybrid heritage. The girl dishes it out like it’s going out of style, lucky for her, she can take it too.

 

 

At 23-years-old, Claire has been surfing amongst the elite on the ASP World Tour for two years now. She gets paid to paddle into the world’s best waves in Australia, Fiji, Tahiti, France, Brazil and Hawaii. Rough, we know. When she’s not on tour, Claire can usually be found spending her spare time kicking it with friends in Cali or chilling with the fam in Italy and Australia.

 

The nuggety beauty exemplifies Volcom’s ‘Youth Against Establishment’ adage, which is why she’s the perfect poster child for them, Nixon, Electric and Gravis. She can bro’ down with the boys, but treats her girlfriends like gold. Looking for a kick-ass girl you can count on? Bevo’s your gal.

 

Should you find yourself in a seaside town at the same time Claire’s corrupting it, and you don’t see her hassling the boys in the lineup, there’s an excellent chance you’ll find her sessioning the local skatepark or knocking a soccer ball around the beach. There’s an even better chance that you’ll catch the Hip Hopstress breaking it down on the dancefloor once the contest is a wrap.

 

For all the toughness Claire exudes, she’s really just a lover built like a light-weight prizefighter. She’s beautiful, beyond sensitive, super sweet and poised to do big things in surfing. Make sure you don’t blink, Bevo’s ready to rule the world… we think she’s well on her way.

 

Lat34: How did you stumble upon on surfing and did you know instantly you wanted to go pro?

CB: I’m definitely half fish and I've always been a water-baby – I grew up in the ocean! I’ve skated and body-boarded since I could walk. I found a surfboard one day when me and my local gang of grommets were going through my next door neighbor’s trash. It was a homemade piece of junk that they were throwing away. I knew as soon as I tried to stand up on it that afternoon that I wanted to get really good at surfing. I got hassled a fair bit being the only girl ever in the surf, but I had big brothers and I never really cared what anybody thought. I've always been a determined, lil' cocky punk, so they didn’t faze me.

Lat34: Give us a quick run-down on your pro-surfing career.

CB: I won the Australian Pro-Junior series my last year on that tour and then the next year I made four ASP WQS [World Qualifying Series] finals. I won one and made the ASP Women’s World Tour. The past two years on the world tour have been crazy; any finals I make are keepers.

 

Lat34: Who inspires you?
CB: My mentors are Keala Kenelley and Rochelle Ballard [both co-toureres]. They are my closest friends –they’ve got my back – but I have a lot of good friends on tour as well.  Sofia Mulanovich, Mel Bartels, Bec Woods, Serena Brooke, we all hang...they are part of the best things about being on tour... surfing, traveling to tropical paradises, the endless summers and getting up to mischief with those gals. We are always laughing which is a big reason why I'm so content with my job.

Lat34: What sort of waves do you like best, big ones or small ones?  Have you ever gotten seriously worked?
CB: I like big waves during competition because I hardly surf them otherwise. I definitely don’t go looking for massive waves and I don’t really dig it too small. Competitions drive you to win so hard that you don’t even care about the risks you may be taking. I like 2-5 ft waves because you can do the craziest turns and airs in those conditions and not get too hurt. I’ve thought I was going to die plenty of times but it’s never scared me enough to quit.

Lat34: And your professional surfing aspirations? Is a world title in your future?
CB: I want to be world champ, plain and simple. That, and be a positive idol to other kids.

Lat34: What’s your take on where women’s surfing is at today?

CB: Well the surfing standard is at its highest. I am so proud to be in a circle where we are constantly trying to push the level and there is so much opportunity and money to take it to big places. I want to see girls really support the sport and grow to love it like I do, so it’s not always just considered a boy’s sport.

Lat34: Life on tour can seem pretty glamorous. Is it?
CB: It’s constant fun and laughter with my girls and BIG stress at times when you are jumping from country to country and comp to comp... losing and winning heats, airports not being home all year. I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else, except living life as a rock star… but sometimes we can kind of feel like one so that’s great too! Ha!

Lat34: Your best friend is pro-snowboarder Chanelle Sladdics, tell us about her.
CB: She pushes me in everything I do, from skating to soccer to surfing, wakeboarding, cooking and dancing....I'm constantly growing wiser around her because she thinks she’s pretty smart...its all talk though! Haha!

 

Lat34: Do you have a fan club?
CB: No fan club, I would appreciate more groupie love though...

 

 

You heard it here folks… visit Claire on her Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/lilprobitch, the girl’s looking for groupies.

 

-Melissa Buckley