At the moment, teenage surfer Erin Brooks is truly riding high.
In August, Brooks, who entered the 2024 Fiji Pro as a wild card, defeated Olympic silver medallist Tatiana Weston-Webb to become the first Canadian woman to win on the World Surf League’s prestigious Championship Tour.
A victory at the Bonsoy Gold Coast Pro and a second-place finish at the GWM Sydney Surf Pro in May in Australia helped Books achieve another Canadian first earlier this month, earning promotion to the 2025 Championship Tour after placing fourth overall in the second-tier Challenger Series season standings.
She received a perfect score of 10 on her way to the final of the Challenger Series.
Additionally, Brooks appears in an episode of “Keeping Up With the Canadians,” a Visit California promotional series that highlights well-known Canadians in the Golden State.
Brooks said, “This year has been so amazing,” from Oceanside, the family’s California home. “I’ve experienced a lot of highs. It’s been so much fun and so wonderful. I can’t wait to see what the future brings.
In 2024, Brooks also became a citizen of Canada.
Brooks was born in Texas and grew up in Hawaii. Her grandfather was born and reared in Montreal, while her father, Jeff, is American and dual American-Canadian.
At first, Brooks’ bid for citizenship in Canada was denied. However, after Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice ruled in December that it is illegal for Canada to deny automatic citizenship to children of foreign-born Canadians who were raised overseas, Immigration Minister Marc Miller changed his mind.
In order to expedite the process, the Brooks family subsequently resubmitted their application under a hardship status, per the Immigration Department’s guidance. In January, Brooks took the oath of office as a citizen of Canada.
“One thing that helped me feel closer to my family was realizing that I have Canadian ancestry. And getting turned down a couple of times was sort of difficult, but now that I have it, I’m ecstatic,” she said.
“It was a bummer that the Olympics didn’t go the way I wanted to, but I’m just so stoked with what the rest of the year had for me.”
Her chances of qualifying for the Olympics were restricted to the ISA World Surfing Games in Puerto Rico in March due to her citizenship dispute. Brooks was forced to witness the Olympic surfing tournament in Tahiti from a distance after failing.
“A lot of my friends were competing and I was cheering for them, especially my Canadian teammate Sanoa Olin,” she stated.
Brooks hopes to try out some of the tournament venues ahead of the 12-event Championship Tour season, which begins in January. The United Arab Emirates, El Salvador, Portugal, Australia (three events), San Clemente, California, Brazil, South Africa, French Polynesia, and Fiji are the next stops after the inaugural tournament in Hawaii.
“They call it the Dream Tour for a reason,” Brooks stated.
She travels the world with her surfboard collection in a specially designed luggage that can accommodate more than six boards.
“But you’ve got to make sure you put some good padding around it or else they’ll get broken,” she continued.
In Fiji, she had to work hard to win. Despite having a difficult draw as a wild card, she proved herself by defeating world No. 1 Caity Simmers in the quarterfinals and No. 4 Molly Picklum in the semifinals.
“I was just so excited to be there and be around all those people that I’ve looked up to and wanted to compete with for so long,” Brooks stated.
Brooks won her heat in the round of 32 at the Corona Saquarema Pro in Brazil, securing her spot on the WSL Championship Tour. Promotion to the top flight is guaranteed for the top five women in the Challenger Series.
Brooks won a bet she had made with her father at the start of the season by qualifying for the Championship Tour. He shaved his big beard and shaggy head, a happy loser.
“Now he looks like a completely different person,” Brooks stated.
But the Brooks family has faced challenges along the road.
The 2023 Hawaii wildfires destroyed their home in Lahaina, Maui, and Brooks’ mother has been fighting cancer, however Erin reports that she is finally doing well.
“Just seeing a smile on her face, that makes my Dad and I feel really good about where she’s heading,” Brooks said.
When not traveling or in California, the family now resides in Tofino, British Columbia. Jacob, Brooks’s older brother, is a Coast Guard member, aged 26.
She’s done with school for now. Brooks, who was homeschooled during her competition, received her high school diploma last year.
When not in the water, Brooks enjoys spending time with her family and Golden Retriever puppy Jimmy or skating.