Alana Rene Blanchard (born March 5, 1990) is an American professional surfer and model. Blanchard has surfed on the ASP World Tour.

Career

Alana Blanchard was first taught how to surf when she was just 4 years old by her father, Holt. Alana rode her first wave at Hanalei Pier in Kauai. Then went on to compete for the first time when she was 9 years old. Blanchard took first place in shortboard at the 2005 T&C Women's Pipeline Championships. She has also won championships in the following: *The Women's Pipeline Championships, Hawaii *The Rip Curl Girls Festival Junior Pro, Spain *The Roxy Pro Trials in Haleiwa, Hawaii *The Billabong Pro Pre Trials in Hookipa, Maui *The Volcom Pufferfish Surf Series in Pinetrees, Kauai. Beginning in 2004, Blanchard also established her professional relationship with

Rip Curl Rip Curl is a designer, manufacturer, and retailer of Surfing#Equipment, surfing sportswear (also known as ''boardwear'') and accompanying products, and a major athletic sponsor. Rip Curl has become one of the largest surfing companies in Aust ...

swimwear, in which she designed and modeled, including a line of wetsuits. In 2020, Rip Curl ended their sponsorship which Blanchard believes was due to her becoming a mother. In a statement, Rip Curl denied that this was the reason blaming it on an inability for Rip Curl and Blanchard to agree to terms of a new deal. In May 2017, the Hawaiian surfer launched the Alana Blanchard Foundation (ABF) with the goal of supporting female talent in the sport of surfing. She also has a large influence on social media with 1.8 million followers on Instagram and 102K subscribers on YouTube.

Personal life

In 2013, Blanchard began dating Australian pro surfer Jack Freestone after they met while on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. In June 2017, the couple announced that they were expecting their first child. The couple became engaged in June 2019. She is a long time best friend and supporter of Bethany Hamilton and was present along with her father when Hamilton suffered the

shark attack A shark attack is an attack on a human by a shark. Every year, around 80 unprovoked attacks are reported worldwide. Despite their rarity, many people fear shark attacks after occasional serial attacks, such as the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1 ...

that cost her her left arm at age thirteen. In the 2011 film ''

Soul Surfer A soul surfer (term invented during the 1960s) is a surfer who surfs for the sheer pleasure of surfing. Although they may still enter competitions, winning is not the soul surfer's main motive, since they scorn the commercialization of surfing. T ...

,'' Blanchard was portrayed by

Lorraine Nicholson Lorraine Broussard Nicholson (born April 16, 1990) is an American actress and director. She is known for playing Alana Blanchard in the biographical film ''Soul Surfer'' (2011). Early life Nicholson was born in Los Angeles to actors Jack Nichols ...

. Blanchard is a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

References

External links

Living people 1990 births American surfers American female surfers Sportspeople from Hawaii World Surf League surfers 21st-century American women {{US-surfing-bio-stub