Janet MacPherson was a pioneer of women’s surfing, who became a legend in the surfing community.
- Died: March 5, 2022 (Who else died on March 5?)
- Details of death: Died at her home in Malibu, California of cancer at the age of 84.
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A lifetime of surfing
MacPherson loved the water even before she began surfing, having competed on her high school swim team. But when she began surfing as a young woman in the mid-1950s, a lifelong love was born. Surfing was just beginning to rise in popularity on the west coast, and it was a male-dominated sport. MacPherson said she was typically the only woman surfing, and male surfers sometimes threw rocks at her to discourage her from surfing. But she continued, buying thrift-store cashmere sweaters for cold-water surfing in the days before wetsuits. Living in New Zealand for a time in the 1960s, she became the New Zealand women’s surfing champion. MacPherson continued surfing regularly for decades, even into her 80s.
Notable quote
“Back in the old days, you would just have your group of friends who loved being in the water and you knew almost everyone who surfed in the world because there weren’t that many of us. Back then people thought of surfers as vagabonds. But my friends and I were all college educated.” —from an interview for Whalebone
Tributes to Janet MacPherson
Full obituary: San Francisco Chronicle
