Lily Foulkes isn’t your average America All Star. Yeah she gets top grades and has been accepted into the best College in the country, but instead of looking forward to games of beer pong with her new Sorority Sisters she decided to take a year out to learn to surf and travel the World.
As well as surfing all over South Africa and Indonesia with Ticket to Ride, working for the UN promoting transgender rights in Argentina and spreading the stoke at a surf camp in Nicaragua, Lil really honed her new found surfing skills, legitimately taking her from zero to hero in one well spent gap year. Here’s her deal:
M – Yo Lil, that is a MASSIVE wave where was that taken?
L – Balian, West Coast of Bali, Indonesia. Shark territory bru.
M – Did you feel comfortable surfing waves of that size?
L – Yeah I totally did, mainly because Chris was in the water with me which made me feel safe, but I started the year surfing pretty small waves in South Africa which gradually got bigger and more challenging. I fell off lots, made lots of mistakes and haven’t hurt myself too bad so I think I’ve become pretty fearless! It’s so rewarding taking a wave of that size and I feel I’ve built up to it all year.
Lil taking another beating. No worries
M – Ok, so how did get into surfing?
L – Well, I messed around a little on a surfboard back home in Rhode Island but didn’t really know what I was doing so I did some research and booked onto the 10 week South Africa trip!
M – How was the South Africa Trip?
L – Such an amazing experience in a beautiful country. The waves were perfect for learning, not always perfect like Indo but this has totally helped me appreciate surfing more and understand different conditions wherever I go surfing now. Like some days it was really big and I was straight up terrified you know, I hadn’t seen waves of that size in my life, but we just got stuck in.
M – What aspect of South Africa do you feel pushed your surfing the most?
L – Erm, I think surfing every single day no matter the conditions, as well as the video feedback and coaching really helped my surfing improve way more than I ever expected. That’s why I decided to go on the Indo trip, I mean I could have gone with friends and just traveled around but there’s no way I would have improved as much as I did if I wasn’t with you and Chris. So yeah the consistency of the surf, the coaching and the video analysis.
Getting to grips with this surfing thing in SA
M – Yeah they run a pretty good operation down there Bru. How would you sum up South Africa?
L – Wow, well it’s where I learned to surf and the first time I ever did anything fun by myself so it will always have a special place in my heart, but it really is one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
M – So, where did you go after SA?
L – Nicaragua
M – And how did that come about?
L – Well as i gained my ISA Surf Instructor Award on the South Africa trip I just emailed a LOT of surf camps around Central America asking for a job and an all Womans Surf Camp called Chica Bravaoffered me one. It was the first time living on my own and I surf instructed a lot, but it was so much fun.
M – Yeah that’s a great experience. Was the best part about Nicaragua?
L – Offshore wind every day and nice left handers.
Left hander, check, offshore wind, check
M – So what’s the score with the UN transgender job?
L – Well I’m really into reading and learning new things as well as persuing my own interests, so I just applied to receive a grant to work for an NGO, something I’ve wanted to do for a while, which was accepted and I ended up doing research for an NGO promoting transgender rights. Pretty cool.
M – Yeah very cool Lil, keep up the positive vibes girl. So then you joined us in Indo where I saw your surfing come along loads. What did you enjoy most about the Indo trip?
L – The waves. I have dreamt about Lombok pretty much every night since we left.
M – Where was your favourite stop on the trip?
L – Hmmm, I don’t know. Medewi was amazing, the wave is just so perfect to practise stuff on. A real nice easy take off and then a really really long wave.
Medewi, the best wave in The World to learn to cutback on
M – If you can sum up Indo in three words how would you?
L – Almost every day in Indonesia was like the best day of my life.
M – And what about Ticket to Ride and your legendary Trip Leaders ha ha?
L – If I could one day do what you guys do; totally sharing the stoke and making people laugh, whilst helping guide them with their direction in life I would be seriously stoked. I think what you guys do is amazing. I mean I was actually worried that I would meet a lot of dumb assholes or pot head stereotypical surfer dudes but it’s so not true! The surfing communities in SA, Nicarugua and Indo all shared a mutual respect and compassion for The Earth, were present and in the moment and generally super inspiring people. Something I did not expect.
M – Yeah I agreed and thanks for the kind words Bru. So where’s next for you?
L – College. I made the decision to go to Stanford, whilst on the Indo trip, it was a huge decision but now I’m super excited to live in California and be able to surf whilst I study. But I do have to work the whole Summer as a surf coach, so I’m just going to work my ass off for the next few months and save up for my next surf trip 🙂
M – Thanks for your time Lil Lil.