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Finding Per sonal Power On Top of a Surfboard SHORTCUTS GIVING BACK 70 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S P R I N G / S U M M E R 2 0 1 4 A s a child, Dionne Ybarra never imagined she could dream big. Growing up fatherless in East Salinas (her dad died ser ving in Vietnam shortly after her birth in 1971), Ybarra ended up a single teen mother, on the brink of a stereotype. Her mother pointed her to college, paid for by the GI bill, "and I start- ed to figure out there was something bigger than myself," she says. Ybarra became a teacher, got married, raised a family and ultimately found her purpose in life: atop a surfboard. "And I didn't even know how to swim," she says. Ybarra watched her kids take well to the ocean, trained by her surf- instructor husband. But she never developed the courage herself. Years later, following her divorce, she took a trip to Mexico with a girlfriend and they ended up out on the water… floating, waiting and trembling. When the first wave sent her reeling, Ybarra, a parent educator and doula, had an epiphany. "I was terrified, but I knew I had to be strong and persevere. You get knocked down, you cry, you hate it, you love it. I real- ized it mirrored labor and delivery." Her surf experience and the extreme poverty she witnessed in Mexico inspired her. Before she returned to Monterey, she had imagined a non- profit that would teach young, disadvantaged woman about life, courage and individuality—through surfing. In four months, she launched the Wahine Project. Her mission: Inspiring a global response that eliminates the barriers preventing a diversity of girls from a personal relationship with the ocean and with one another. Wahine (woman in Hawaiian) is an educational program for girls ages 7 to 17. Participants are exposed to a carefully planned schedule of surf les- sons, excursions, lectures and field trips, balanced with physical condition- ing and education, environmental stewardship and recreation activities. "Surfing made me realize I could do anything. It empowered me," Ybarra says. "I want every young woman to experience that." Find out more about the Wahine Project at www.thewahineproject.org. — Larry Harland Dionne Ybarra took the process of learning to feel comfortable in the ocean and applied it to inspiring young women to overcome barriers and fears in their lives. She started teaching surfing through the Wahine Project for girls ages 7-17. Photo: Kelli Uldall 044-70 Shortcuts_SU05 Carmel Magazine 4/21/14 7:28 AM Page 13