JANA WALDEN

What is your full name?

Jana (pronounced "yana") Walden

Where's home?

Kahaluu, Hawaii, USA

Your favourite handplane?

My current favourite has to be the Wedge Fish

Why do you bodysurf?

There is no feeling that can compare to catching a good wave bodysurfing and getting barrelled. Absolutely nothing like it. Once I got barrelled bodysurfing, I was hooked. Bodysurfing makes me feel like I am flying and dancing in water, where there is zero gravity, just pure speed and fluid movements, and time feels like it stops. I love bodysurfing because I am totally surrounded by the barrel and ocean water, and am at one with the ocean. After a bodysurf session, I feel like I am floating just above the surface of the earth and am naturally high, where all my troubles have been bodysurfed away! There is no better full body work out, as we are constantly moving in the water. I also love the energy of the bodysurfing community, which is composed of humble badass chargers that are dedicated to the pure art and love of the sport.

Do you have a particular style of bodysurfing you prefer?

I love barrel rides. I am not left handed, but surf goofy, so I love lefts! I love rights too, but lefts really got me addicted. I love to catch bigger waves, feel the momentum and I love the exhilarating feeling of getting barrelled and seeing the lip of the wave above me, while feeling the bottom of the face below me. Also, I like the feeling of getting tossed in the whitewash after, not knowing up from down, floating in chaos.