Surfing Girl magazine targeted at a teen audience

Women and waves make an appealing combination. Add fashion, fitness, beauty products, and a page where readers can air their own surfing photos, poems, art, and stories, it’s probably more than most teenage girls can resist.

That’s the hope of the people at Surfing Girl magazine, who launched the premiere newsstand issue this month. The last five years have seen it evolve from a once-a-year swimsuit preview in the 37-year-old Surfing Magazine to the current stand-alone, bi-monthly publication.

Associate editor Anne Beasley, 28, said their goal is to create "a magazine that reflects the lifestyles and attitudes of girls at the beach." She also said that they are making an effort to "promote a healthy body image" by using athletic models. Their message? "You can be strong and still be beautiful."

While Beasley speculates that "women of all ages will look at it because there aren’t many zines targeting women’s surfing out there," the obligatory horoscope and sections like "Babewatch: Hawaiian Hotties" with photos of good-looking male surfers - highlighted by "best body part" stats - will probably keep the audience in its target 13-21-year-old range. The focus is on the outdoors, along with profiles of top female surfers such as Layne Beachley.

The next issue goes on sale at the end of March and features "Slaying Pipe: Bodyboarding chicks charge the big one," in addition to "a huge dose of spring fashion, more exotic travel, kicky new tunes, and other cool stuff."

Said Beasley: "We hope the magazine makes an impact on (teenage girls’) self-confidence, and we hope they learn something (in the how-to section). But really, it’s just about fun. It’s about looking at the cool pictures. We hope it’ll make ’em smile."

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