Chelsea Tuach was born December 2, 1995 in Bridgetown, Barbados. When she was 8 years old, she learned to surf at the Soup Bowl, Barbardos’ most consistent wave spot with her family – 2 big brothers and a sister. When she was just 12 years old, Chelsea took part in the ISA Junior World Championships in Maresias, Brazil making her the youngest surfer to represent Barbados in the world circuit. She competed in her first World Qualifying Series in 2012 at the age of 17. In 2 years, Chelsea was ranked 25th. By the time she was 19, Chelsea has won more international awards and accolades than any Barbadian surfer in the history of the sport, putting the small Island of Barbados on the map of surfing. Chelsea is known the world over as the “Barbados Surfer Girl”. She has surfed around the world, winning many titles in both North America and Europe.
From 2008 to 2014, Chelsea was nominated by the Barbados National Sports Council seven times for being Barbados’ Junior Female Outstanding Athlete. It was in March 2013 that her meteoric rise began, when she became the first Barbadian surfer to win an Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Three Star Junior Pro event, by winning the ROXY Pro in Cocoa Beach, Florida. By 2014, she won the Barbados’ highest sports award, ‘Sports Personality of the Year’, for her achievements in surfing and named Eastern Surf Magazine’s (ESM) Female Surfer of the Year at its 12th Annual Emmy awards in Florida.
In 2015 this teenaged surfing phenomenon reached further achievements in the big leagues. Chelsea won both the World Surf League’s (WSL) professional junior circuit and on the Women’s World Qualification series. Later that year she was crowned the WSL North American Junior Women’s Champion with her amazing performances in Florida, the US Open of Surfing in California, the Los Cabos Open of Surf in Mexico and the Soup Bowl Pro in Barbados (which she had won 3 years in a row). She also became the first Caribbean surfer to win a WSL QS 6000 event when she was crowned the Women’s Champion at the Pantin Classic held in Galicia, Spain in September. At the end of her 2015 campaign on the World Surf League’s Women’s World Qualification series she was ranked 4th in the world having competed with over 250 of the world’s top professional surfers which has been dominated in the past by Australians, Hawaiians, Americans and Brazilians. Now we can add a Caribbean surf professional to the list. She is the first surfer from Barbados to qualify for the dream-tour but seems to be taking it all in her stride, insisting she wants to do her country proud and join the ranks of women surfers who are ‘crushing stereotypes’ and ‘blowing minds’.
By 2016 Chelsea qualified for the 2016 WSL Samsung Galaxy Championship Tour which is only open to the top seventeen professional female surfers in the world. She is the first surfer, not only from Barbados, but from the entire Caribbean region to achieve this honor and represents the smallest country ever to have a representative on the World Tour.
Chelsea has been featured in a documentary called the ‘Barbados Surfer Girl’ that has already won numerous awards both locally and abroad. She has also been featured in a number of local, regional and international magazines because of her outstanding achievements in surfing, bringing tremendous exposure to Barbados. This exposure brought to the island by Chelsea’s sterling performances around the world led the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. to appoint her as Barbados’ first Sports Tourism Ambassador, along with well-known waterman, Brian Talma.
Chelsea Tuach is not just an amazing surfer, but a humble and driven person as well. Her athletic performance is an inspiration to other Caribbean athletes to believe in themselves and pursue their dreams despite coming from a resource starved region. Three of the top female surfers she looks up to are Stephanie Gilmore, Carissa Moore and Sally Fitzgibbons. When she received notice she’d be competing in the US Open in California there were definitely some nerves paddling out in that first heat with Carissa Moore and Nikki van Dijk. It was an amazing experience for Chelsea to be battling against the World Champ, and representing Barbados at such a high level.
Chelsea is working hard for the 2017 season by training with her coach, Jim Hogan, in the water and with her fitness trainer, George Griffith, to get stronger and fitter so that she can execute my maneuvers with more power in the waves. Chelsea is definitely a contender to watch out for the 2017 season of surfing.
Chelsea Tuach Photo Gallery
(Photos can be purchased at: Best Photos Online )
Surfing Career
2016 18th WSL Rank
2016 13th Maui Women’s Pro – Hawaii
2016 5th White Buffalo Women’s Pro – Japan
2016 13th Roxy Pro – France
2016 13th Cascais Women’s Pro – Portugal
2016 13th Swatch Women’s Pro – California
2016 13th Vans US Open of Surfing – California
2016 9th Copa El Salvador Impresionante – Salvador
2016 9th Los Cabos Open of Surf – Mexico
2016 13th Fiji Women’s Pro – Fiji
2016 13th Oi Rio Women’s Pro – Brazil
2016 13th Drug Aware Margaret River Pro – Australia
2016 13th Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach – Australia
2016 13th Roxy Pro Gold Coast – Australia
2016 5th Taggart Women’s Pro – Australia
2016 9th World Junior Championships – Portugal
2015 20th WSL Rank
2015 1st Sprite Barbados Independence Pro – Barbados
2015 13th Roxy Pro – France
2015 1st Pantin Classic Galicia Pro – Spain
2015 13th Women’s Vans US Open of Surfing – California
2015 5th Junior Women’s Vans US Open of Surfing – California
2015 5th Paul Mitchell Supergirl Pro – California
2015 3rd Los Cabos Open of Surf – Mexico
2015 4th World Surfing Games – Nicaragua
2015 9th Chain Resources Pro Junior – New Zealand
2015 5th Ron Jon Roxy Pro Junior – Florida
2015 2nd Corona Extra Pro Circuit #1 – Puerto Rico
2015 3rd Burton Automotive Womens Class – Australia
2015 4th Hunter BB Pro Junior – Australia
2015 9th Hurley Australian Open – Australia
2015 3rd Hainan Pro – China
2014 1st Corona Extra Pro Circuit #3 – Puerto Rico
2014 1st Sprite Soup Bowl Pro Junior – Barbados
2014 3rd ASP World Junior Championships – Portugal
2014 5th Swatch Girls Junior Pro – France
2014 13th Supergirl Pro – California
2014 5th Vans US Open Junior Pro – California
2014 9th Port Taranaki Pro – New Zealand
2014 2nd Chain Resources Pro Junior – New Zealand
2014 5th Ron Jon Roxy Pro Junior – Florida
2014 3rd Corona Extra Pro Circuit #2 – Puerto Rico
2014 5th Hunter Pro Junior – Australia
2013 1st Sprite Soup Bowl Pro Junior – Barbados
2013 1st Barbados Independence Pro
2013 1st Corona Extra Pro Circuit #1 – Puerto Rico
2013 3rd World Junior Championships – Brazil
2013 3rd Doo Australia Pro Junior – Peru
2013 4th ISA World Junior Surfing Championship Nicaragua
2013 1st APSS Event #1 – California
2013 1st NSSA Gold Coast Explorer – California
2013 3rd NSSA Southwest Conference #10 – California
2013 1st Ron Jon Roxy Pro Junior – Florida
2013 1st NSSA Southwest Conference #9 – California
2012 1st NSSA Southwest Conference #5 – California
2012 1st Rip Curl Gromsearch – North Carolina
2012 1st Viridian Women Pro – Virginia
2012 Champion Ladies Caribbean Cup – Barbados
2012 1st Makka Pro – Jamaica
2012 1st Open Women BSA SOTY #3 – Barbados
2012 1st Under 18 Girls BSA SOTY #3 – Barbados
2012 1st Open Women BSA SOTY #2– Barbados
2012 1st Under 18 Girls BSA SOTY #2 – Barbados
2012 1st Open Women Olympus National Circuit – Costa Rica
2012 1st Under 18 Girls Olympus National Circuit – Costa Rica
2012 11th ISA World Junior Surfing Championship – Panama
2012 1st Ron Jon Roxy Womens Pro – Florida
2011 3rd Women’s Open Independence Pro – Barbados
2011 1st Under 18 Girls Independence Pro – Barbados
2011 5th X Pan American Surfing Games – Guadeloupe
2011 5th Under 16 Girls Rip Curl Gromsearch Final – California
2011 1st Barbados Nationals
2011 1st National Kidney Foundation – Florida
2011 3rd East Coast Surfing Championships Jr Women – Virginia
2011 3rd Under 16 Girls Rip Curl Gromsearch – North Carolina
2011 1st Under 16 Girls Rip Curl Gromsearch – Florida
2011 1st Under 21 Open BSA SOTY #4 – Barbados
2011 1st Open Women BSA SOTY #4 – Barbados
2011 1st Under 18 Girls BSA SOTY #4 – Barbados
2011 5th Under 18 Girls BSA SOTY #3 – Barbados
2011 1st Open Women BSA SOTY #3 – Barbados
2011 2nd Under 18 Girls BSA SOTY #3 – Barbados
2011 9th Under 18 Girls ISA World Jr Surf Championship – Peru
2011 5th Ron Jon Roxy Womens Pro – Florida
2011 3rd Under 21 Open BSA SOTY #2 – Barbados
2011 1st Open Women BSA SOTY #2 – Barbados
2011 2nd Under 18 Girls BSA SOTY #2 – Barbados
2011 5th Under 18 Girls BSA SOTY #1 – Barbados
2011 1st Open Women BSA SOTY #1 – Barbados
2011 1st Under 18 Girls BSA SOTY #1 – Barbados
2010 1st Caribbean Ladies Champion
2010 1st Barbados November Pro
2010 3rd Under 16 Girls Rip Curl Gromsearch Final – Puerto Rico
2010 1st National Kidney Foundation – Florida
2010 1st Open Women BSA SOTY #4 – Barbados
2010 1st Under 16 Girls Rip Curl Gromsearch – North Carolina
2010 1st Makka Pro – Jamaica
2010 1st Women’s Open WAPSS – Trinidad
2010 1st Under 18 Girls School Surf Championships – Barbados
2010 1st Under 16 Girls School Surf Championships – Barbados
2010 1st Women’s Open BSA SOTY #1 – Barbados
2009 7th Under 16 Girls Final Rip Curl Gromsearch – California
2009 4th Under 21 Open CSN Soup Bowl Pro – Barbados
2009 Caribbean Ladies Champion
2009 1st CSN Soup Bowl Pro – Barbados
2009 1st CSN Sans Souci Pro – Trinidad
2009 2nd Women’s Open National Championships – Barbados
2009 1st Under 16 Girls National Surf Championships – Barbados
2009 1st Women’s Open BSA SOTY #4 – Barbados
2009 1st Under 18 Girls BSA SOTY #3 – Barbados
2009 2nd Under 16 Girls Rip Curl Gromsearch – Florida
2009 1st Women’s Open Makka Pro – Jamaica
2009 1st Under 16 Girls School Surf Championships – Barbados
2009 1st Under 18 Girls BSA SOTY #1 – Barbados
2009 1st Women’s Open BSA SOTY #1 – Barbados
2008 1st Women’s Open BSA SOTY #5 – Barbados
2008 1st Women’s Open CSN Soup Bowl Pro – Barbados
2008 1st Under 18 Girls BSA SOTY #4 – Barbados
2008 1st Women’s Open BSA SOTY #4 – Barbados
2008 1st Women’s Open Makka Pro – Jamaica
2007 1st Under 12 Girls National Championship – Barbados
Height: 5’5”
Surfboard Shaper: Michael Baron
Chelsea Tuach’s Sponsors
Suzuki Carribbean | Dragon | Dakine | Futures | Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc.