Womens surfing seems to be where all the action is. There’s a changing of the guard on tour and some exciting new surfers coming up, rad new brands, stores and films not to mention two icons taking some time away from the tour to explore surfing beyond a jersey. There’s a lot to talk about in women’s surfing.

Perhaps the most exciting endeavor is Coco Ho’s new surfboard brand that puts females at the forefront of surfboard production. XO COCO is a collaboration between Coco and Matt Parker of Album Surfboards that came together when Coco tried one of his boards and Matt gave his perspective on how shaping surfboards for ladies in most cases differs from shaping for men. I called Coco to hear more about their vision and got even more fired up.—Brandon Guilmette

INHERENT BUMMER: We’ve been seeing you talk about this new surfboard brand, how did this come about?

COCO HO: Yeah, rode Matt’s boards in the Electric Acid surfboard test and I loved it and the timing was perfect. I was done on tour, kind of doing the QS still, and uh, just getting a little bored with that [laughs] so I would just like sprinkle in a twin-fin here and there — like true twin fins.

I started to see and feel the difference of these performance twins in bigger waves. And at the same time a lot of girls started to ask me like, “What do you ride?”

I've been really fortunate enough to ride custom shaped boards probably since I was like 12. Which isn’t always attainable or appropriate when when I was sending girls recommendations. I’m like, “Oh, maybe you can buy one of my old boards or, you know, like trying to figure out how to help girls out in the water on dimensions and whatever.

One thing I learned through Electric Acid actually was on Matt Parker's board is that females can ride and should ride a lot narrower boards due to just the average size of the female foot. So that was a huge eye-opener. And just realizing there really weren't stock board dimensions made for females. Like when girls would ask where to buy boards, I didn’t know where to send them. So I think that's where the inspiration came from and, I mean, Matt Parker's done so well at just making really aesthetically pleasing boards and it was definitely a no-brainer as the boards kept coming in for me.

You've ridden Matt Biolos' boards your whole life, or most of it, Will you continue to work with him at all still?

Yeah, absolutely! Matt Biolos is now like a father figure to me, and this was definitely one of the harder conversations I ever had in my life. I was super nervous and scared. I'm very loyal with everyone in my life, so I was terrified and it was actually like one of the most grownup conversations I’ve ever had.

He immediately started giving me advice on business and there was never a moment where he was trying to make me change my mind or whatever. He was just like, “All right, it better be like this and you better get that.” If anything, it was like a dad just like making sure his girl was covered. He gave me a lot of business advice and kind of some inspiration too on how collabs work. Like his collab with MR goes off and I think that's a dream of mine is to maybe have a Mayhem collab one day soon [laughs].

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Yeah, that'd be epic!

So yeah, Matt was ultra supportive and I think if I am surfing Backdoor and waves of consequence [I’ll ride Mayhems[ because I’ve become so reliant and comfortable on them. But I’ve been surfing Sunset on more alternative boards now. I don't need to be riding a 6’4’’ thruster out at 8-foot Sunset anymore. I'm not in the event, I'm not trying to prove anything or get a big score. So yeah, I've been hitting the alternative boards in bigger waves for sure.

Do you think since leaving the tour you've adjusted the way you approach riding waves and maybe a high-fi 6’4’’ thruster isn't even necessarily the path forward in this new path you’re on? You're still surfing as good as ever, even better at certain times. Do you think this has opened up a whole new path for you?

Yeah, absolutely. I definitely still ride waves like I am on tour. Sometimes I laugh about that first initial opening carve, it's like that's so ingrained in you from the tour to start a wave with a big, carve and now I’m like laughing and telling myself, “Do something else!”

But I will say, these boards have given a new projection and a little bit of a freeness to my surfing. My lines are becoming slightly different. But there's definitely moments where I feel myself going crazy on a one-foot wave like I'm still on the QS [laughs].. So yeah, the new boards give you this variation that you didn't even know was there when you're riding a true twin and I've been going as small as 4’7’’ on some. It's just such a fun feeling to go that fast and not really have to do a million turns. It's something I had to work on when I first got off tour and now it's all making more sense [laughs]. Less is more.

One of the coolest things I noticed on the website is that the focus is going to be to give women the platform to shape and get behind all the stages of the process.

Yeah! The goal is to have fin builders and glassers and sanders and obviously shapers that are female. And we're really fortunate enough to start getting into the initial talks of this now. There is this girl Avalon Stark who is from Tasmania. Her name was brought up in the very first conversation about why this needs to happen. Just a gorgeous little girl and Matt Parker was helping her in the shaping bay in Australia. I did a couple trips this year to the Maldives and the Philippines and she was working for Tropic Surf and she's like, “I still just wanna travel and surf.” But I knew she had the talent already via Matt Parker. So yeah, I think Matt giving girls his time and sharing his knowledge is just the start. I think girls being more comfortable in this space and having a place to come and learn, you know? It's so intimidating to walk into a shaping bay and try to talk shop with the boys about fin placement and fin size without feeling degraded or something. It’s important to have a comfortable space to learn and not feel like you need to know everything. That's where I am too. I walk into a shaping room and don't know much still, so I need to ask questions and it's intimidating to come into a space and be vulnerable enough to learn. Matt Parker is totally creating this very safe place for all women to learn and be a part of something so, so big.

Have any other pros, friends or anyone else been riding the boards and getting feedback to you?

Yeah, I mean, I’ve kind of shoved one down everyone's throat [laughs] or let them jump on mine. That's the beauty of me being their peer, it’s like, “Oh, it's Coco's board, let me just try this”. It’s such a scary world, you know, the surfboard world, it feels like “Don't you dare step on another board.” So I’m just trying to break that barrier.

Lisa Anderson and Coco Ho checking out a new XO COCO shape.

I would say Laura [Enever] was the first friend that ordered a quiver and she probably needed it the most, you know. She is off tour and she's now in the big wave scene and small waves didn't appeal to her at all until she started hopping on these boards. Last winter I could see a new light in her surfing in two-foot waves and that’s exactly why we wanted to do this. It's for everyone from beginners to expert level, but to see someone like Laura have this fresh excitement in small waves, that was super cool. Then in Biarritz it was one-foot and Steph jumped on my 4’7.’’ She's obviously a foot taller than me, but was still going a hundred miles per hour on the board. So that was pretty inspiring and fun to see. And then I've kind of just been tossing all the friends a board and hopefully no one's getting in trouble yet [laughs].

I saw on the site that you’re hosting events for people.

I think the first one we're dreaming up is maybe a little sandbar day here in Hawaii while the tour is in town. A fun demo day to bring all the boards and models down and welcome everyone to come try 'em, you know? No one can really get their hands on 'em here in Hawaii just yet so it will be good to have the longboard, the mid length, the single fins, the fishes and all that to have a demo day here in Hawaii. Just gotta forecast a little sandbar day and we'll make that happen.

What's been your top three favorite models?

Top three? The “Bliss Twin” for sure. It's the high performance twin and that one handles, it’s just narrower. It has a pulled in tail and it's super drivey and sturdy in bigger waves. All the clips you may have seen of me recently on waves over three foot are on that. I've gotten longer ones, like step up versions of it too. That one's my most trusted and I love it in one-foot waves to six foot waves. Really anything you could paddle into that thing will handle.

The mid-length is so fun. It’s called the “Halcyon” and it’s like a long twin. I got one this summer and it was just super lackluster here in Hawaii and I actually brought it to Cabo too. Shipwrecks was three foot and firing and I had more fun on that thing than anything. I obviously love it when it's one inch 'cause you feel like you're longboarding but like can rip and then I was riding it when it was bigger and I couldn't get off it, so that meant I really liked it [laughs]. I'm gonna claim the long twin is my second most favorite and third would have to be the little fish. It’s crazy, crazy good. Crazy fast. And really, really rippable. It even handles in bigger surf too, I just tend to go to that one when it's smaller for fun. It’s called the “Tryst.”