Pro Surfer Caroline Marks On WSL Tours, Getting Barreled, & FOMO

Caroline Marks has always been competitive, even before she hit the water. As a kid, her first foray into competitive sports was barrel racing. But by 8 years old, she started focusing on different kinds of barrels when she made the switch to surfing. “Growing up, my two older brothers were my biggest heroes. They obviously thought horseback riding was cool, but not as cool as surfing,” she says, “I started surfing just to get their acceptance, and then I fell in love with it.”

Her switch-up wasn’t completely out of left field, though. “I have always been so in love with the ocean. There is a photo of me with my dad on his longboard when I was super young,” Marks says. She started off in local competitions by her hometown of Melbourne Beach, Florida, but it wasn’t until the USA Championships at Lower Trestles that she realized how talented she was. “Everyone — the best kids from Hawaii, California, and the East Coast — all come and compete at Lower Trestles, which is a world-class wave,” Marks says. She competed agai...