Surfing
Surfing
Friendly rivalries: The Super Six is the Fab Five of surfing
With progression rapidly changing the sport of surfing, the Super Six is compared to the legendary Fab Five basketball team and the iconic duels of tennis stars Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.
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The stars of the new surf film NOW DAYS are so paramount, they’ve been coined the Super Six. Caroline Marks,Molly Picklum,Caitlin Simmers, Sierra Kerr, Erin Brooks, and Sky Brown are all champions already, despite the eldest only being 24 years old. They each have their unique approach with drastically different styles and on any given day, any one of them can be the best.
NOW DAYS
© Red Bull Content Pool / Ryan Miller
More content within surfing:
01
A new generation of surfing superstars
Across all sports, generational superstars evolve their sports to new levels, like Caitlin Clark for basketball, Trinity Rodman with soccer, Tiger Woods with golf, or Eileen Gu on skis. It’s uncommon though, to have multiple superstars to come on the scene all at once.
When asked about who the dominant surfers of Picklum's generation might be she had this to say:
There's so many of us that are at a very similar level that are pushing each other. So that's obviously why you're going to see different winners every year.
Surfing has seen a new champion for the last three years in a row, the Super Six’s Marks, Simmers, and Picklum respectively. Before then, Stephanie Gilmore and Carissa Moore won 13 out of the 15 last world titles with their mastery unmatched. The Super Six are redefining women’s surfing through friendly rivalries, progression, and collective dominance.
02
Why the Super Six Are Compared to the Fab Five
The Super Six: Marks, Brooks, Picklum, Simmers, Brown, and Kerr
© Arto Saari
Now, the Super Six and more are on a constant battlefield for wins and progression. Except they aren’t enemies, more like friendly rivals. In this way, the Super Six has been compared to the Fab Five of basketball, the legendary University of Michigan basketball team from the early 90’s.
Showcasing a never-before-seen group dynamic that invited new fans to the game and cemented those already watching, the Fab Five starting lineup featured all freshmen: Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson. They had style on and off the court, changed the players’ norm from short, tight shorts to long and baggy, brought hip hop to sport culture, and were beacons of confidence and ego. While the team fell just short of winning the National Championship in ‘92 and ‘93, their legacy had already been made through their cohesive teamwork. The Wolverines finally returned to the National Championship in ’26, this time to win, while the iconic Fab Five reunited to host an alternate broadcast for their alma mater.
The Super Six has been compared to the Fab Five based on their technical merit, their collective influence in surf culture, and their transcendence past individuality in surfing to celebrate their group synergy. Surfing is far from a team sport, and like other individual sports, wins are far less common than losses. When the best talent rises to the top, great rivalries are born.
03
Rivalry, respect, and the Picklum–Simmers era
Molly Picklum and the prize for hard work
© Jimmy Wilson/Red Bull Content Pool
Posing with her world championship title
© Jimmy Wilson/Red Bull Content Pool
“Rivalry and respect, it really goes hand in hand,” said 2025 World Champ Picklum in regards to her friendship and rivalry with 2024 World Champ Simmers. She continued, “It's so cool when you have someone that pushes you so hard that it makes you a better person in life.”
The Picklum vs. Simmers rivalry has elevated competitive surfing the last few seasons, with notable battles at Pipeline, Tahiti, Trestles and more. Their supremacy shines especially in waves of consequence. Their rivalry is akin to the beginning stages of one of the greatest rivalries in sports history, when tennis stars Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova ruled nearly every match they played between 1973 and 1988.
Evert and Navratilova would have each been the greatest of all time had the other not been there to split the title wins. The two had 80 matches against each other, almost evenly divided with Navratilova edging out the wins with 43. At the time, the media pinned the two athletes against each other, with ‘rivalry’ matching with respect more than it did friendship. After they retired from competitive tennis, Evert and Navratilova became best friends, and have continued to be each other’s support as they each defeated cancer.
By contrast, Picklum and Simmers have already forged their close friendship in the beginning stages of their rivalry. Picklum stated about their close relationship, “I think we really have a healthy balance of being able to see each other as humans and then see each other as competitors. If it's your best friend that is your rival, it's the best thing in the world. It's the most fun.”
Simmers agrees, “For sure we want to beat each other. But it's not like we're going to stop being friends after it, which I think is important to have.”
04
Progression through friendship and competition
The cast of NOW DAYS
© Arto Saari / Red Bull Content Pool
Friendly rivalries extend throughout the Super Six, especially outside of competition. 2x Skateboarding Olympic Bronze medalist Brown admits the influence Kerr has had on her, recalling she saw Kerr do a 540 on a vert ramp before she had and it pushed her to learn the trick (yes, Sierra Kerr was also a prolific childhood skateboarder). In surfing, Brown said, “Sierra’s done a backflip. I want to do one now too.”
Brooks feels that inspiration as well saying, “Innovation comes from seeing all of the other girls. They push me so much, especially Sierra. She’s done so many amazing airs. Whenever we see each other do something, we're always trying to climb that ladder.”
As the leader of the crew, Marks assures they’re only just getting started, “We're going into the prime of our careers and we're all each other's biggest competitors.”
For Brooks, free surfing with the Super Six has been illuminating, “it's kind of weird that you can be friends with your biggest rivals, but everyone's so cool and it's so good to see them outside of the competitive scene just having fun and being girls.”
With more World Titles and Medals in their foresight, the Super Six know progression is their key to the future and together they will push each other to attain it.
Watch NOW DAYS on RedBullTV below or RedBull Surfing Youtube.
45 min
NOW DAYS
A snapshot of surfing at a cultural tipping point, a new generation steps up and the future takes shape.
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