Transcript
WEBVTT
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Well, I come back.
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It's just athletes.
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This is kosher host.
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And, you know, I live for those stories that take us beyond the expected.
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The introduce us to individuals who are not only pushing physical boundaries, but who are also exploring the depths of their own potential and sharing their unique perspectives to the world.
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Katie McConnell is not just your average surfer.
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She is a champion conquering waves that most of us wouldn't dare to dream about.
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We are talking Mavericks jaws.
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Those legendary proven grants for big wave surfers.
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And her traffic is reflects that dedication.
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Wince at the thriller at killers, big wave contest.
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Top honors at the Lobo's.
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big wave invitational.
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Body and finishes at the red bull magnitude.
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Women's big wave contest.
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And even a finalist for the women's biggest battle at the X, X, L awards.
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But, you know what.
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What sets.
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Katie truly apart is her depth.
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She is not just a fearless athlete.
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Katie's journey is also about vulnerability, self discovery, and overcoming those inner doubts.
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We all face.
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She found her way to surfing as a teenager, searching for a sense of belonging and confidence.
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Uh, way to transform her relationship with the body and that journey has taken her to.
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Imaginable Heights literally had metaphorically.
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And it's not just about big air surfing.
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He is a champion body surfer, a Marine biologist who's dedicated to protecting the oceans.
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She loves and a pioneer for women in a sport.
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That's often been seen as a boys club.
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Kitties.
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Uh, tactful article storyteller.
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Who takes us beyond the adrenaline rush and into the heart of what it means to chase big waves.
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He's a Marine biologist who uses her scientific mind to understand the ocean.
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She loves a championed body surfer with the playful spirit.
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And a pioneer for women in a sport.
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That has long been dominated by men.
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You will hear about a journey from those early days of finding confidence through surfing to riding waves.
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Most of us would not even attempt.
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She was sharing insights on training, overcoming challenges, the importance of representation.
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And what it means to be an agent as athlete.
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Be prepared to be transported.
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Katie is a gifted storyteller, weaving her experiences with the ocean into a tapestry of vulnerability, humor, and profound connection.
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Her words would make you feel the spread of the ocean.
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And the power of those masses files.
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The dad further to do.
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I'm so excited to have giddy on the show.
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And friends, if you have been with us so far, I would really appreciate if you could leave us a rating.
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On apple podcasts or Spotify or wherever you listen to a.
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Stories of these.
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Is just athletes.
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Here we go.
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Hi, Katie.
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Great to have you on Ageless Athlete.
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Please tell us, where are you from?
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Where are you right now?
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And then also, what did you have for breakfast this morning?
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Hi, Kush.
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Thank you so much for having me on the podcast.
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Um, yeah, I'm Katie.
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I'm from Encinitas, California.
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Right now, I live in Maui, in Hawaii.
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And for breakfast, I, I had some dark chocolate with cacao nibs in it and coffee.
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What a delicious sounding breakfast you know, most people have on here are like eating oatmeal every morning.
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So yeah, chocolate for, no, so did you have the breakfast to reward yourself for your morning surf or was it before morning surf to get ready with all the sugar?
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You know, so I found sometimes I like to have a little bit of dark chocolate as like a little reward or a little dessert that's not too sweet but I found with the nibs I couldn't eat it at night.
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Because it would keep me up, and I think there's some caffeine in it.
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So, it's actually kind of like a double pick me up in the morning.
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Some coffee, and then some cacao on top, and then it's got some good fats and stuff, and just kind of gets me going in the morning, and, uh, gets me, kind of will carry me through most of the morning.
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My Last time or maybe my only time in Hawaii so far, I visited a local chocolateria.
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And they grew chocolate there in their farm in Big Island, and that was some of the best chocolate I have ever had, so.
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Local chocolate, perhaps, that you also had this morning?
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Oh, I wish.
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That sounds so good.
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but this is just from the local little grocery store.
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Say, I, I've heard like big island grows like the best, so, and they have a little elevation.
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It'd be so, what a dream to have a, a tree like that.
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Amazing.
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Super.
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Yeah.
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Great.
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So let's see, you are from Encinitas and, uh, now you live in Maui and what are you doing in Maui?
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I came to Hawaii to surf big waves, um, in 2021 during the winter season, and I had been living in Northern California at the time, and I was inspired by the Red Bull Magnitude, which is a women's big wave competition.
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And, uh, I reached out to Red Bull and sent them some photos and asked if they were going to do the contest again, because they had just done their first year and they invited me to surf the second year.
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So, I came over and I originally stayed on Oahu for two winters, and then last summer I came to Maui to be closer to Peahi, or Jaws.
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Awesome.
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Yeah.
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Let's jump right in.
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Okay.
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You recently won this Red Bull award for surfing.
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yeah, so I think this podcast is kind of timely.
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I feel like I'm almost like breaking news, but it's not breaking news because it's all over the news.
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Um, could you tell us what was the award, what was the competition about and what did you win?
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And what made you excel in that competition?
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Right.
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this was the fourth year of the Red Bull Magnitude, which is a women's big wave surfing competition that is held in the Hawaiian Islands each winter.
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And the format of the competition is, it's pretty unique in that it's called virtual style.
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So instead of calling on a singular day for a surfing competition with heats and, you know, like a tournament style, they have a long contest window and then they'll call up to three green light days, which means days where the swell conditions are 15 foot swell or greater.
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and sustained kind of across the whole day with good conditions.
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And you go out and you get whoever gets the best video clips of them paddling or towing a wave can submit their waves at the end of the season and for judging and whoever gets the most points wins.
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So usually they have the overall performer which is a woman who has the three best paddle waves.
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So paddling is just using your hands.
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And then they usually do an additional toe award, where whoever just gets toed in, which is When a jet ski has you on a, usually a heavy, smaller board towed behind the jet ski and then whipped into a wave, whoever surfs the biggest wave will win the tow award.
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And then they'll do a best ride award, which is for paddling.
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So whoever had the biggest and best paddling ride.
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this year, the contest window, usually they do it between December and February.
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Okay.
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and then this year, I'm not exactly sure why, but they did it from January and February only, which kind of statistically for like occurrences of giant good swells is a little late.
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And so, and so they actually didn't have enough, um, swells to even call an overall winner this year.
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So they just awarded best ride for paddling and best.
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Biggest toe wave.
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So I won biggest toe wave, uh, for a wave at Jaws in January.
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And, um, yeah, I'm stoked.
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It's kind of funny because on the outskirts of the actual contest window, other women and other women who compete in the.
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Uh, event, also had phenomenal rides, and even I had bigger rides than that, uh, but it just so happened that it was in the contest window, so But, it's good, I hope, the, the thing is, I hope, like, one, I'm, I'll take it, right?
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I'm, I'm really stoked and I'm really grateful to Uh, Daniel Goldberg, who towed me into that one, and who's, you know, kind of shown me the ropes towing a lot.
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Um, but it's good.
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I think the contest is awesome because it helps, it helps showcase women surfing, which is important for representation in the media and to inspire people to go out and chase their dreams or inspire more women to go out and surf big waves.
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And it also supports progression within the sport because on green light days, they send out videographers and so you watch your clips and you learn so much.
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They send out safety skis and, you know, that helps you, you know, and it's, it's basically they provide you with a safety plan, or otherwise, you'd be taking a lot of risks on your own.
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And as we know in general still, it's, you know, socially economically more difficult for women to get ahead.
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Um mm-Hmm.
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So in order to have the resources to have a jet ski, you know, outside of our.
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You know, men and women have different suites of challenges and obstacles in life, but definitely in surfing, the Rebel Magnitude has helped even the playing field a lot.
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You shared, uh, quite a bit there, just trying to understand the contest a little bit better.
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So unlike, let's say some of the more televised contests out there, which are held live at a given time, let's say the pipeline, let's say all the other This one takes place over a certain time horizon where you have to, uh, uh, literally submit virtual, like you said, your, your best waves.
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It makes me also think of this other thing that I think has been going on for a while, like maybe it's always at pipeline in, um, in Wahoo, uh, the wave of the winter thing, where, uh, again, people are either submitting clips or somebody else is just picking out clips and people get awarded like a specific one.
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But let's say for this one, you have this window.
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So how long is this window?
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This year it was two months and then last year it was three.
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Okay.
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Got it.
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So, okay.
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So two months seems, uh, still seems fairly, um, wide, but, but yeah, I mean, luck favors the brave, right?
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So you managed to manage to be within that window and, uh, managed to perform.
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At, at, you know, the highest levels in order to win this, congratulations, it seems incredible that, uh, I think you're somewhat of a, please correct me, but didn't you recently also win rookie of the year or for maybe the same category or different category with Red Bull?
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And then I think quite soon after you have now won the, this award with like everybody else in the playing field.
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that's correct.
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My very first year participating in the Red Bull Magnitude, I was actually third place, and since I was the top performing rookie, they awarded me Rookie of the Season, and, uh, that was awesome.
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I just, it was such a fun year.
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Because it, it totally changed my life, I had honestly come over to Hawaii on a strike mission, which is basically, I figured I'd just go to Hawaii just for the swell and fly right back to work, you know, and my house, where I was paying rent and everything, and then I ended up just staying in Hawaii, getting third place and winning an award.
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And since surfing big waves, you know, it was just something I loved so much and participating in a competition was just a curious experiment to see what I could do and just to kind of measure up, like, how do I, how do I do, how do I feel in this space?
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Cause I don't really consider myself a very competitive person.
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And so it was awesome.
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I was really stoked.
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And then.
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each year after that, I've placed somehow, um, and I went, actually after my rookie season in Hawaii, then it was Southern Hemisphere winter, and I went to Chile and Brazil, and I was the top performing woman there too, except at Itacoatiara, Michaela Fragonesi.
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Got me there.
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And she had a great wave this crazy day.
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And then, um, and yeah, and then it propelled me to go back and do the magnitude my second year, um, where I unfortunately kind of sprained my MCL right at the beginning of the season, right after I had my best Jaws wave yet.
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Um, but I still managed fifth place and got on the podium, even though I Even with a knee brace on, so it's just been like, well, can't stop now, you know, like, got to keep going.
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I'm just so, it's like, pretty mind blowing to me.
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I'm surprised, like, my whole family's like, really, you?
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Like, I started off, like, not being able to swim very well in the beginning, like, years ago, like, always been kind of, you know, I kind of started late surfing and, you know, Was just in science and yeah, it's just been awesome.
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It's just been a, it's been a trip.
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You shared so much and, um, yeah, I want to, you know, pick different points.
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Of what you shared, but my, my most immediate reaction is I am nursing an ankle sprain and that's been one of my excuses to have taken a break from surfing because I'm kind of nervous about, you know, walking on rocks to get out and then, uh, you know, uh, getting the, the, the pop up a little bit of falling on my ankle, but you dropping into giant waves with a torn MCR.
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You know, really makes me want to go in a corner with my excuse.
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So anyways, uh, thanks.
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I didn't
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say it was a good idea.
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Anyways, yeah, no, I mean, I will take this in the, in the best light, which is, uh, I'll take some inspiration from that.
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And I hope others will as well that, Hey, you know what injuries happen.
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Sometimes you just have to figure out the best way to.
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move past them with braces or whatnot and take some chances.
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Calculated chances.
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You also spoke of your, let's say, ascendance into competitions, but even before that, you also talked about getting started and not being, let's say, uh, a child prodigy.
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Right.
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So if you can help take, uh, take us through this journey of how you got started with surf and, uh, also when did that, like, spark fire when you decided to focus, uh, and make this your, uh, passion?
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yeah, I, so I grew up in, in Encinitas.
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And Encinitas is known as.
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A place of surf.
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It's in Southern California, Norris County, San Diego, in the classic Beach Boys Surfin USA song, they mention Swamis, which is there, and Yeah, it's got really nice waves, kind of longboard y.
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There's a wave called Seaside that is more rippable, shortboarding and stuff.
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And pros have come out of Encinitas over the years, like Rob Machado, Ryan Birch, um, But I didn't start surfing until high school.
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My high school had Surf PE and So, but they didn't teach you to surf in it.
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It was a class that happened every single day before school.
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So we'd meet at Heart of Reef at like 7 a.
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m.
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and then you'd make it back to school.
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For second period or homeroom, and I started off taking it with my best friend, Emily, and we were the only girls in the class, and our parents would drop us off, and we would just, Cardiff Reef has an actual reef out front of this river mouth, but it also has kind of an inside beach break.
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And we were too scared to go out to the reef, not just for the waves, but also because we were afraid of the crowd.
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We didn't want to get yelled at or do something wrong, so we would just stay on the inside reef.
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And we would just throw each other, we would just throw ourselves into these, like, dumpy closeouts on boards that were way too small for us.
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And we just kept trying and trying and, uh, Eventually Emily dropped out and went back to cross country, but I kept going and a local Don patroller took pity on me and passed me his long board.
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One day and he told me it was magic and I believed him.
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I was like what and he he invited me out to the wreath to the outside and so I kind of sat near him and And I finally caught my first real wave just paddled into a green phase and rode it for a long time Just a small little wave, but I think A lot of people who, a lot of surfers still remember their first wave and that feeling of the glide over the water and the speed and kind of that like, yeah, it was just so smooth, you know, and
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yeah,
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and at Cardiff Reef, you go over like the reef patches and it was this like cold overcast day, you could see the seagrass.
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And then I was hooked.
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It was super fun and beautiful and I just wanted to surf as much as I could.
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Um, it was also because, um, I was like 15 at the time and I had a lot of, I just did not feel, I didn't, I just didn't feel very comfortable in my own body.
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And so a lot of my friends loved going to the beach.
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And sometimes my family would go to the beach, but I wasn't part of like a surfy family.
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My dad used to surf a little bit, but he, you know, he didn't really as much anymore.
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And so I'd go to the beach sometimes and everybody would, all the girls would be in their bikinis and I just didn't feel like I fit in and I just felt so uncomfortable there.
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But I realized looking in, I loved surfing magazines, because of the, the waves, and I just loved looking at these beautiful, beautiful, bending, light, glowing shapes of water.
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And all the cool things surfers were doing on them and all these poses.
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And I just wanted to be closer to that magic, but I also couldn't, like, I couldn't deny that all the surfers looked pretty fit.
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And so I was like, huh, like, maybe this would be a great way for me to start getting in shape a little bit.
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And so I started going surfing more and more like with Surf PE and the salt water would like clear up my acne and then my hair started getting shiny and like getting blonde and then I'd come out of the water and I would just feel good, you know, you get the cold water and then you're just kind of set for the rest of the day.
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And so it was just this kind of positive feedback loop of having fun in the water and then having all the good benefits just kind of transformed me from, you You know, inside and outside, in and out, and just kind of got me on a whole new track of life.
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So, and like what my focus was, you know, it was, it kind of gave me a little bit of a, something to look forward to, and like a reason to live.
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So that's how I got into surfing, and then all I wanted to do was surf all the time.
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But I was not, I was not a prodigy surfer at all.
00:23:30.711 --> 00:24:23.855
What was so funny was one of our substitute teachers in high school started, was a, The California State Beach lifeguard and he tried to start a different surf PE course called ocean surf life saving Which was he the idea was that he was going to train us to become lifeguards and like do the spring Test and like go to training and then get summer jobs and stuff and grow the force, but what he didn't realize Was that all like the cool good surfers stayed in surf PE and all us kind of nerds went to ocean surf life So he just had you know, he had his hands full trying to train these kooks into like, you know pro ocean navigators and ocean lifesavers You So I will never free.
00:24:23.855 --> 00:24:28.665
We had such a good time, but I remember the day the spring test came.
00:24:28.705 --> 00:24:31.215
I think we were all seniors at this point.
00:24:32.796 --> 00:24:44.776
It was like a four foot day at Ponto and which is not very huge and we all just got rescued like, like jumped in the water and like my friend Demetrio just got pulled out.
00:24:45.115 --> 00:24:48.645
I didn't even make it out past the break and just got sucked down the beach.
00:24:49.236 --> 00:25:02.806
I start from humble beginnings of surf, let's just say, and, but I always loved it, and so it stayed with me into college when I went to Santa Cruz, and I took a swim class.
00:25:03.270 --> 00:25:07.221
Which helped me pass the lifeguard tets the following year.
00:25:07.810 --> 00:25:15.711
And, um, and lifeguarding is where I became more comfortable in the ocean.
00:25:15.800 --> 00:25:24.171
I,'cause we were body surfing all of the time and, and just in the water and staring at the water all day.
00:25:24.736 --> 00:25:31.135
You watch the water all day long and you learn so much about it and how other people interact with it.
00:25:31.915 --> 00:25:38.925
And, yeah, it just, it was just kind of a gradual progression until I started surfing big waves.
00:25:40.174 --> 00:25:55.700
during the pandemic really, yeah, fast forward like 10 years and it was just little bit by bit and I think I got, yeah, that was a lot, so
00:25:56.180 --> 00:26:00.470
no, no, um, no, that was, there was so much.
00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:03.500
Yeah, there was so much beauty in what you shared.
00:26:04.170 --> 00:26:06.009
I was just, uh, you know, beaming.
00:26:06.039 --> 00:26:14.868
Firstly, looks like that, surfboard was, shared, uh, with you by this kind person at the beach.
00:26:16.148 --> 00:26:18.608
That looks like that was magic indeed.
00:26:18.729 --> 00:26:27.868
Looks like that, that transformational because you went from like your whatever undersized craft to a proper board.
00:26:28.554 --> 00:26:39.344
And that allowed you to actually, you know, paddle into a wave and, and feel that, uh, delight and riding that green wave.
00:26:39.364 --> 00:26:43.058
So sounds like that, there was, there was, some transformation in that
00:26:43.148 --> 00:26:44.449
moment there.
00:26:45.157 --> 00:26:46.825
Then there were
00:26:46.974 --> 00:26:59.805
other things that occurred as you started to take that joy and that manifested itself in other parts of your life and your personality.
00:27:00.365 --> 00:27:14.734
And what you said about how taking up surfing or taking up like, let's say, um, an ocean sport, uh, allowed you to feel differently about.
00:27:15.539 --> 00:27:18.279
Your self, your body and your being.
00:27:19.529 --> 00:27:20.490
I mean, that is powerful.
00:27:20.519 --> 00:27:34.089
I mean, it seems like, yes, saltwater beauty therapy, you know, trumps all cosmetics, just get out and just get out and, uh, uh, experience that.
00:27:34.932 --> 00:27:46.431
At what point did you change your lifestyle where let's say you were out there, you know, playing in the water a little bit.
00:27:47.020 --> 00:27:58.921
You mentioned your family was not, you know, an avid beach going family, which I think is, uh, is somewhat of a different upbringing than a lot of, uh, pro surfers.
00:27:59.796 --> 00:28:12.256
Childhoods where a lot of kids who are pros now, they learn surfing early as early kids because their family surfs or their family takes them or they're at the beach all the time.
00:28:12.925 --> 00:28:15.885
It looks like you had to be more intentional about it.
00:28:16.526 --> 00:28:24.336
There was some draw that you felt and you decided to, uh, to shift your path a little bit.
00:28:24.355 --> 00:28:31.655
Was that like a, like a, was there like a definitive thing where you're like, okay, now I'm going to start doing ABC.
00:28:31.695 --> 00:28:37.355
Now I'm going to start taking up lifeguard, lifeguarding courses.
