Pauline Menczer

Pauline Menczer (born 21 May 1970) is an Australian surfer.

Surfing career[]

Menczer started surfing aged 12^[1] in about 1982. She won the 1988 women's amateur world title, the 1993 women's world championship and was a long-standing competitor on the world championship tour.

In 1991 Menczer was narrowly beaten in the world championship by Wendy Botha, but blitzed the field in 1993 becoming the world champion. To date she has been competing for 20 years and won a total of 20 WCT events and 8 WQS events; only Layne Beachley has won more. She also was world Amateur in 1988 and world WQS champion in 2002

Menczer failed to requalify for the 2005 world championship tour. Her sponsors were Stick Girl Surfboards (California) and Ocean Shores Surf Shop.

In March 2018 Menczer was inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame.^[1]

Personal life[]

Menczer grew up in Bondi with three siblings, but without her taxi-driver father when he was murdered. From age 14,^[2] and throughout her surfing career, Menczer suffered from sometimes crippling rheumatoid arthritis. Since 2019 she has had a rare autoimmune disease that affects her skin.^[3]

During her career Menczer travelled the surfing circuit with her "coach", but Nadege was really her French girlfriend.^[3]

In 2021 Menczer lives in Byron Bay and is working as a bus driver.^[3]

Her struggles, and that of other women to compete in a male dominated sport, is part of the movie Girls Can't Surf. The film's director Chris Nelius, Is lobbying Waverley Council to have a statue of Menczer erected at Bondi beach.^[3]

Videos[]

Menczer has appeared in a number of surf videos featuring female surfers, including:^{[citation needed]}

Blue Crush (1998),
Angel Eyes, The Surfing Adventure
Peaches; the Core of Women's Surfing (2000)
Surfabout; by Jenny Hedley California

References[]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Lulham, Amanda (6 March 2018). "Pauline Menczer in Surfing Hall of Fame". The Daily Telegraph. West Australian Newspapers Limited. Retrieved 27 February 2021 – via PerthNow.
^ Shoebridge, Joanne (15 September 2017). "Byron Bay snubs surf champion Pauline Menczer". ABC North Coast. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c ^d Maddox, Garry (26 February 2021). "The forgotten sporting champion who drives a school bus". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 February 2021.

surfline.com profile by Nick Caroll
WorldSurfers.com flashback with Pauline Menczer
Sydney Morning Herald article 16 January 2005 [1]

External links[]

Stick Man Surfboards (present sponsor), including Pauline Menczer page

Preceded by Wendy Botha	World surfing champion (Women) 1993	Succeeded by Lisa Anderson

[perthnow-hall-of-fame-'18-1] Jump up to: ^a ^b Lulham, Amanda (6 March 2018). "Pauline Menczer in Surfing Hall of Fame". The Daily Telegraph. West Australian Newspapers Limited. Retrieved 27 February 2021 – via PerthNow.

[abc-snub-byron-2] Shoebridge, Joanne (15 September 2017). "Byron Bay snubs surf champion Pauline Menczer". ABC North Coast. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 27 February 2021.

[smh-forgotten-3] Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c ^d Maddox, Garry (26 February 2021). "The forgotten sporting champion who drives a school bus". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 February 2021.

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