A third place in Rio. Not too bad but eh. The waves got pretty tiny and inconsistent for the final day. I made it to the semis with Sally and ended up having a little dejavu from the year before. She stuck to selecting and linking up the lefts and I was just out of rhythm. Frustrating but that is the way it goes sometimes. I’m always learning and will take from this experience what I can and move forward. Tyler ended up winning the event so congrats to her. Definitely going to be an exciting and interesting end to the year. After a few hours of crying and decompressing haha I was out and about and enjoying the beauty of Brazil. It was Luke’s first time to Rio so we visited the Christ statue and hiked to the top of one of the highest peaks in the city. The view from both were extraordinary. It was so neat to see the city and all the buildings, favelas, the lakes and bays, bridges, beautiful land formations and miles and miles of white sand beach. We also enjoyed some amazing food. Brazil is very famous for their meat buffets. Men come around with all kinds of different meats on skewers and cut it right in front of you. I wish we had a place like this in Hawaii but probably better we didn’t 
Now I’m home cruising for awhile. Came home to a pretty epic south swell. Surfed Threes this morning with dad and it was absolute perfection. Long peeling playful rights like a wave you would find somewhere in the Mentawais. Nice to know I don’t have to travel too far from home to get epic surf. So good to see my sister again. I really can’t wait till she finishes school and can adventure the world with me. Hope everyone is doing great and enjoying the taste of summer. Xx,
Carissa
Some fun moments recently…
Beach cruising…
Crazy mustaches…
Unicorn helmet training…
Cayla’s sweet sixteen…
Movie date with dad…
Happy and in love ❤❤
Good morning from New Zealand. The sun is just starting to kiss the sky as I write this. Dad and I arrived late yesterday afternoon with just enough time to jump in the water out front at Fitzroy beach and catch a few waves before dark. The weather is beautiful and the water warm enough to wear a bikini!! Hard to believe looking at the last few years where it has been so cold you can’t feel your toes as soon as you take off your socks. I’m so happy to be back. Great to see a few members of my Maori family and catch up. All of the girls on tour experienced a Maori welcome at the club house and shared a beautiful sunset yesterday evening. Can’t believe that this is the beginning of the end of this leg on tour. I’ll be home in less than a week. Time has flown by. Goldy, Margarets, Bells and now here.
Margaret River was awesome. West Oz is absolutely gorgeous. Lots of wide open space and breathtaking scenery. Dad and I stayed in the cutest little house about ten minutes away from the beach. We had a huge backyard where kangaroos and rabbits would roam all day. Felt like we had a mini zoo right outside our window! Luke flew in half way thru the week and we got to do some adventuring. We took a tour of one of the famous caves in the area, ran thru a herd of sheep we found and took a day to swim in the pool and throw the football. Luke is always the perfect distraction:) The contest was challenging. We had some big days, some smaller ones, stormy and some clean. You had to be prepared for anything. I had the amazing opportunity to work with local surfer Andrew Sheridan that week. It was really cool getting to see the spot thru his eyes. With his help and my amazing support team I was stoked to take home the win! The finals was tricky. Tyler (Wright) and I had several sets on the head and then couldn’t find a wave in between. It was sort of anti climactic and pretty low scoring but I’ll take it. Felt so good to be on the podium again.
Bells just wrapped up two days ago. Crazy to think that we already have another event starting today. What a week it was! The girls had some of the best conditions and did the best surfing at Bells I have ever seen. It was so exciting to see heat after heat girls posting high scores and really putting on a show. Bells is such a historic event and just thinking about it gives me goosebumps. The wave, the famous Hells Bells song played every morning, the iconic trophy, the pictures of the famous surfers who have rung the bell in the past lining the walk down to the beach. There is so much good, exciting energy around the whole event. It was an honor to get another chance to work with a great surfer and person, Adam Robertson this past week. He really helped give me confidence in the ever changing conditions. The finals was a rematch of Tyler and I. We both watched the consistent waves all morning and were amping up for some serious surfing. Unfortunately by the time the buzzer sounded the ocean decided to take a nap. I somehow found a good score in the beginning and that was pretty much all she wrote. It was weird. I want nothing more than it to come down to good surfing and a great show for the spectators. Despite the circumstances I was so stoked to walk away with the big bell! It was the coolest moment to be carried up the beach by my dad and boyfriend, to have my face painted by the Aboriginals and to ring that bell loud and proud. It was so much fun to have Luke there and get to share that moment with him. And it was great that his sister, Alexa, came down and spent the week with us too. Thanks to everyone for the love and support especially my dad. Love you guys! That’s a wrap for now. XO
