Pauline Menczer – Biography
Of surfing, Australian Pauline Menczer once told Time Magazine, “Most people get hooked straightaway…Then the lifestyle comes with it. Once you’ve experienced both, you can’t leave the ocean.” Hers is a classic story of surfing’s power to grab hold of a life and never let go, but Menczer’s devotion creates an even more meaningful narrative when read in the context of her unique experience. Surely, all the great surfing champs have fascinating stories. After all, surfers are great characters. They are notorious adventurers who carry with them tales of travel and parties and perfect waves, but Pauline Menczer’s journey (not short on perfect waves and travel) also evokes both tragedy and pure inspiration like no other. Her story peels away the outer layers of life on the professional tour, uncovering her reality as a female athlete in a man’s world who quietly suffered chronic physical pain. Regardless, Menczer loved surfing and aimed to use it to spirit her from humble and tragic beginnings. She fought to the top of the sport with purpose and passion to become the 1993 World Champion and to serve as one of women’s surfing’s greatest role models.
Born in 1970 in Sydney, Australia, Pauline Menczer learned to surf at the ripe old age of 12 near Bondi Beach. She related the experience to Jetty Girl Magazine, “It was in Bronte Beach, Australia, on half a coolite surfboard that my older brother snapped in two. That was my first board or half a board…. I still remember it like yesterday, the wave picking me up and pushing me along…I was hooked from the first day.” That moment would illuminate a route for the young regular foot straight through the very heart of professional surfing. But life had not been a smooth ride for Menczer thus far. According to Matt Warshaw, Menczer suffered massive family tragedy when she lost both her father and grandfather in two separate car accidents, leaving her single mother to overcome both financial and emotional hurdles. Pauline, however, would look to surfing as her savior. Only 4 years after riding her first wave, Menczer was a force to reckon with on the international stage as evidenced by her convincing 1988 world amateur title win. Most girls her age back home were still reeling from senior prom while Menczer had joined the pro tour and finished a respectable 5th in the world rankings.
At the time, women’s surfing was still a tough go for competitors. There was very little money and scant respect from the male dominated surf industry. The masses have traditionally had a hard time separating talented athletes from bikini models. She admitted herself that she lacked the stereotypical attributes that attracted sponsors of the time, so Menczer relied on pure talent. She said unabashedly, “…if you don’t want to take me as I am, then that’s too bad.” Over the next 4 years, she stayed in the top 10, climbing as high as runner-up in 1991. Menczer worked for every cent she earned, competing for the majority of her career without a major sponsor and making her way around the world through contest winnings alone. Nick Carroll said, “Even in the late ’90s, she took a tent on tour and slept in friends’ backyards.” Further commenting on the issue of sponsors, Menczer told the Sun-Herald, “Everybody wonders why,” she said.”For a long time I really thought it was because I didn’t have the look they wanted. But it should be about your surfing, not looks.” Turning this negative truth on its head, Menczer has since attributed her circumstances as the driving force for her success. “I think that’s why I’ve won so much because I just have to.”
As a competitor, Menczer’s inner strength boiled over, but her talent was every bit as fiery. A natural surfer, her style was deliberate and swift. For any lack in stylistic flourishes, she made up for with a forceful down-the-line approach that was equally adept at fast top to bottom combinations and long barrel rides in small to medium juice. However, Menczer never shied away from heavier conditions, especially given her small frame, as she performed well in meaty beach break as well as in Hawaii.
Ironically, her consistently aggressive performances around the world cloaked a painful secret. Menczer suffered silently from rheumatoid arthritis throughout her career. For much of her time as a professional, she reportedly awoke at 4 in the morning to complete a ritual of stretching and hot showers to loosen muscles and joints. In 1993, Menczer won the world title. Just weeks before the final event at Sunset, she suffered an attack of arthritis so severe she was forced into a wheelchair. She fought her way into the final and won the title by an edge. She told the Sun-Herald, “The year I went for the world title I could barely walk but as soon as the hooter went I was fine in the surf,” she said. “But afterwards I’d hobble back up the beach again.” A combination of diet and exercise helped her to control the pain and swelling associated with her malady.
She continued to battle on the tour, reaching 5th in 1995, 2nd in ‘96, 6th in ‘97, and 7th in ‘98. She won a total of 28 professional events and along the way earned the name “Naughty Pauls.” In 2000, she suffered a shattered nose while surfing in France and needed surgery. Two years later, she topped the WQS, stating, “I’ve won a world amateur title and a world professional title, so I felt like it was something I had to try to win also.” Shockingly, she still had no sponsors to support her efforts. By 2008, Menzcer’s mission was on hold, telling Jetty Girl Magazine, “The best thing for me is in the last 10 days my body is finally feeling better after having 8 months of bad arthritis. I hope to get back in the surf very soon as it’s been 5 months without surfing.”
Menzcer once said, “My heroes are anyone with a disability that gets out there and has a go,” and she has clearly suffered at the hands of arthritis, a fact that offers the media an easy angle, but her story is actually much more simple. It’s about a pure love of the sport of surfing and all that comes with it: the rush, the lifestyle, the fitness and a unique connection to nature. Menczer has used professional surfing to stay in the water as long as possible. She’s used competition to stay driven, saying that she thrives off the stress and “showing off” for the crowd. Those aren’t easy feelings to replicate in the “real world.” She knows this. With offers to coach and a surfing stoke that surely burns as brightly as ever; it’s a guarantee that the world has not seen the last of Pauline Menczer. While she still battles her arthritis, she was reported to be spending time in her Australian home with her dogs Beaute and Lulu, gardening and looking forward to the next swell. She lives by a simple adage: “As I’ve told people before, I don’t want to give up competing until I have my first walking stick.”
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