Margaret Ann Kandal's profile on Judy Trim ran in the October 16, 1968 issue of Australian Women's Weekly. Trim, 15, was the just-crowned national surfing champion. This version has been slightly edited.

Six years ago a cult swept Australia. It brought with it new jargon for the teenagers' already revolutionary vocabulary—words such as "gas," "king," "noah," "gremlin," and "femlin." New signs appeared on beaches showing restricted areas for the cult. Songs and dances were dedicated to it. And most probably sales of lemons and bleaches went up because of it.

Six years ago saw the boom of surfboard-riding. Young people no longer went to the closest beach for a dip or a swim. They followed the sun and went where the best waves were. But though boardriding is gaining immense popularity it is still not recognized as a national sport, despite the fact that Australia has provided two of the three world champions to date.

Judy Trim knows just how hard it is to get financial support, and she's the Australian Women's Open Surfboard Champion! For months she has been seeking sponsorship so she can enter the 1968 International Championships in Puerto Rico, from November 6–14. It could be her age—after all, she only recently turned 15. Unfortunately, she has come good in a bad year, because the financial support usually given to sports by companies has been directed to the Olympic appeal. 

[Note: the Mexico City Olympic Games were held in October 1968]

Then again, she's a female boardrider. Judy is what one would call a typical Australian girl—long and gently sun-bleached blond hair, large hazel eyes, and a scattering of freckles on her rather babyish face. She has a golden year-round tan. She's very shy.

It was only early this year that Judy was persuaded by friends to enter her first contest—the New South Wales Championships at Wollongong. Very few of the surfing fraternity had heard of the young rider from Dee Why, and the 1967 winner, Lynn Stubbins, was reported to be a long way ahead of any of her rivals. Even when Judy won, it was simply reported as "Lynn Stubbins went down to an almost unknown surfer."

A few months later Trim entered the Australian Championships, competing against such experienced surfers as Gail Couper and 1964 world champion Phyllis O'Donell. Judy won the title, but it was no easy victory. The contest took place at Long Reef, Sydney, in a huge surf whipped up by cyclonic southerly gales. Waves were nine and ten feet high, and during the grueling week of competition she had to use every trick she knew to stay on. Judges acclaimed her as "world-class in the making," and her performance was highly praised by experts Bob Evans and "Snow" McAlister. Judy was also awarded the special Duke Kahanamoku Award, given for the first time in Australia to the most improved surfboard rider of the year.

"I got my first board for my 11th birthday," she said, "but I've had two since then. A friend who makes them gave me my new one when I won the championship. No, nobody ever taught me to ride—I just learnt by watching everyone else."

Judy loves surfing. She wears no wetsuit during the winter months, the season she prefers as the best time to surf, when the tides and winds give a bigger, better roll to a wave. Judy thinks school life is very important, and should come before anything else. She wants to do her Higher School Certificate and make a career in commercial art, preferably lettering.

Whatever the weather, she's down at the beach almost every afternoon as soon as school's over. All her weekend is taken up with surfing, too. "She would live and die for the surf," said her mother, "but she's still very interested in school. She's never taken up with dolls or girls activities at all. And now she's become known as the only girl who rides like a boy." She handles her board with ease, swinging it up and onto her head to carry it the few hundred yards from her home at Dee Why, Sydney, to the beach. Yet she is not at all tomboyish, even in jeans and boardshorts.

One of the most important things before you get a board is to be a good, strong swimmer. Judy is. She has been a champion in her age group at the Dee Why Swimming Club a couple of times. Her greatest wish is to represent Australia overseas.

Originally the International Surfing Federation was allowing only four Australian surfers to compete in the world championships this November. Following protests, the number has been raised to a team of seven men and three girls, with two reserves. The International Surfing Federation has agreed to pay for two male team members and a judge accompanying them, but the other surfers have either to find their own sponsor or pay their fares themselves. Judy has been selected as the number one girl to go.

Accommodation would be no problem for Judy because the Puerto Rican Government is providing that free for the duration of the contest. They have specially built bungalows on Rincon Beach, where the competition will be held. But at the moment, nobody holds much hope that Judy, the champion without a sponsor, will be able to go.

“A GIRL WHO RULES THE WAVES,” JUDY TRIM PROFILE BY MARGARET ANN KANDAL, AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S WEEKLY (1968)

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