Simone Reddingius
by Simone Reddingius
In 1964, at the age of 6, Simone Reddingius moved with her family from Holland to Temple City, California, where she grew up. While on a weekend camping trip to Carpinteria State Beach, in ’73, she met a lifeguard, Denny Aaberg, who gave her some surfing lessons and a closer look into the surfing lifestyle she had fantasized about.
After she graduated from high school, Simone moved to Santa Barbara and was able to live her dream of becoming a full-time surfer. “The Queen of the Coast” became her favorite spot to surf and is also where she took her first surfing photos.
In 1979, Simone started to compete in WISA shortboarding contests, up and down the California coast, and in 1980, she was invited to participate in the U.S. Amateur Championships, held in Hawaii.
During the ’80s, Simone worked at camera stores in Santa Barbara and was able to upgrade her camera equipment and improve her surfing photography technique. A friend introduced her to the photo editor at Surfing Magazine, Larry Moore, who gave her a few tips on surf photography and offered opportunities to shoot at OP Pro contests and to have some of her shots published in the magazine. Kim Mearig and Tommy Curren were Simone’s favorite surfers to film. Kim was her most inspiring female surfer to learn from, along with Rell Sunn.
During the summertime, everyday there was a south swell running, Simone would drive her ’66 VW bus down to Malibu. The perfect semi-hollow point waves there allowed her to hone her longboarding skills.
Simone moved to Maui in 1993 where she kept surfing and capturing images of the Big Waves at Jaws. Eventually, she switched her film camera for a digital one. Simone’s claim to fame was winning the Masters’ Division of the Margaritaville Malibu Women’s Longboard Open, in 2000, and having a surfing photo of her from the event published in Wahine Magazine.
To this day, Simone is an avid surfer and photographer. Her other passions include stand-up paddling, fashioning beautiful jewelry, snow skiing, cycling, and playing music with her band, The Wrinkled Teenagers.
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All rights remain with the author. For more information contact hwsurfn@gmail.com