I'm still grabbing the rails

Name: Kris Manske

Age: 43

Location: Ocean Beach

Kris Manske was pulling a potato chip wrapper out of her wetsuit pocket right by the large lifeguard tower. “I found that out in the ocean”.

Manske’s go-to board is a seven-foot mini longboard. “With a longboard, you can do more cross-stepping which you can’t really do on this seven-foot board.” But on the mini longboard “I can get into the wind easily, it’s easier to carry, I can put it in my car, I can duck dive this, I can just shove this into a wave.”

“Although I can’t really do that much on it when I’m surfing,” added Manske. “I’m not a big surfer anyway and I’m not going to be nose riding.”

“Lessons help to not start off with bad habits that are hard to break,” Manske says. “I’m still grabbing the rails when I take off on a wave but your hands should be flat on the board.

“I enjoy surfing with my girlfriends for the comradery, but I’m not afraid to be the only female on the lineup. I also do jiu jitsu and I’m often the only female on the mats, so I’m used to doing male dominated things. I guess for me it’s not an issue, but I know other woman might feel intimidated.”