Laguna Beach Surfer Helped Pioneer the Sport for Women

When she was a teenager growing up in the funky Laguna Beach of the 1970s, Alisa Schwarzstein used to ditch her parents and swim out at Thalia Street to hunt for the perfect wave.

Fast-forward a decade or two, by which time Schwarzstein had pretty much gotten the hang of surfing. As a 15-year-old in 1980, she captured the world amateur crown and a rookie-of-the-year title five years later, a path that culminated in a pair of world championships in the '90s.

Now retired and married to her coach, Ian Cairns, Schwarzstein-Cairns was recently inducted into the Surfing Walk of Fame in Huntington Beach. She's had a fascinating—indeed, a groundbreaking—career, as this Laguna Beach Independent piece by Robert Campbell points out. And though she laments the shrinking of the women's pro tour, she finds inspiration in the skills of younger surfers like rising star (and Laguna Beach High grad) Taylor Pitz.