Most Americans are heading into winter, pulling out parkas and gloves. But some California lesbian surfers are in wetsuits year round. Try not to be jealous. The traditionally male-dominated sport has long been known as a turf war for locals at any beach, but a California women’s surf club is changing that.

"It’s scary to go out by yourself," says San Franciscan Anne Moellering, who took up surfing seriously in 2001. "Lineups (queues of surfers awaiting a ridable wave) have typically been 80 to 90 percent guys, and they’re not very receptive to women going out."

After asking around, but finding no women’s surf group, she met with friends, started a Yahoo Group, and organized social events. Now her group boasts almost 500 members.

Inspired by the Women’s Surf Festival, which had not been staged in a few years, Moellering and others organized the NorCal Women’s Surf Club, which led to an annual tournament. The NorCal Women’s Surf Fest—held in the small town of Pacifica, south of San Francisco—includes competitions for women in every age and skill category, from kids to seniors. There’s even a festive drag event for men, whose competitors this year included the town mayor.

Surfing has its roots in Polynesia (the Sandwich Islands), where it was originally enjoyed by native men and women alike, until Christian missionaries banned it. Its rebirth in Hawaii and then in the United States gradually saw women seriously surfing as far back as 1905.

The book Girl in the Curl: A Century of Women’s Surfing attests to their presence in the sport. The recent film Blue Crush didn’t win over audiences for its plot, but it gave a burst of visibility to women surfers by using real footage of them. That’s a big plus when compared with the recent surf documentary Riding Giants, which included few women surfers.

"The media and movies portray new surfers as teens, which they are," says Moellering. "But a tremendous amount of [adult] women are getting into it. There are a lot more beginners in the water." Most of the women in Moellering’s group are in their 30s and are taking up surfing as adults or returning to it again.

Media portrayals of surfers reflect the changing face of the sport, says Moellering. "Big brand companies have borrowed the surfing vibe," using women in their ads. "What’s different is she’s no longer a beach bunny; she’s a real surfer, tearing it up."

But competitive events sometimes devalue women, particularly in prize money and event promotion. Compared to the 50 major global professional tour stops for male surfers, fewer than a dozen events are for women, and they have much smaller budgets. This has forced some female pros to drop out of competitions when prizes don’t pay off.

"It simply takes a little longer for marketers to believe the truth," adds Moellering. "Women’s sports are growing, and they’re legitimate vehicles for marketing."

Moellering’s club self-produced surfing trips to Costa Rica (the next is January 8-14, 2005), San Onofre, and San Diego, uncovering new beaches to enjoy. Beach clean-ups, teaching workshops, and social events round out the group’s schedule.

Maryanne Rardin, a four-year surfer who has boogieboarded since her teen years, says, "I don’t know what took me so long to stand up on the water," before her friend Judith Cohen convinced her to try it.

Cohen started surfing at 16 in her native Florida, and has been aquatically inclined ever since.

Twenty years ago, Cohen says, "women surfers were not pushing each other to be as radical, to position themselves in the most critical sections of a wave. Now, the lid’s off."

2001 was a true starting point for women surfers finding their Bay Area tribe. Rardin gives credit to improved marketing and to recent lines of women’s wetsuits ("that actually fit") as encouraging women—including lesbians.

Beyond issues of gender, plain old etiquette ranks high for surfers like Cohen. "If you go to breaks you’re not familiar with, you have to know how to wait for a wave." Overcrowding on some beaches makes this a crucial issue, Cohen says, along with water safety knowledge, lifesaving training, and good coaching.

"Some schools are teaching good surf-ethics skills," notes Cohen, but others take money simply to teach students to stand up. Cohen, who coaches adults and kids, hopes for regulated surf instruction schools, like those that swim clubs and other sports groups have. With rising water-pollution counts affecting surfers’ health, environmental issues are also important.

Although hundreds of women surfers are making the ranks, few have ridden waves like those at Mavericks in Half Moon Bay, Ca., where 25-foot waves daunt the most accomplished surfer.

For women’s surfing to get the same attention as men’s, Moellering says it might take an accomplished champion, in the way that Brandy Chastain reminded America of the thousands of women soccer players.

"Women are really evening it out now," says Cohen. "The introduction of estrogen in such amazing numbers has really changed the field out there."

With active members in Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Bodega, Bolinas, and other cities, almost 100 core surfers "and a few token boys," adds Cohen, the NorCal Women’s Surf Club no longer

has to wait in the lineup. They are the lineup.