Coco Ho discusses her empowering approach to surfing, health and wellness and her surfboard brand XO COCO

The landscape of professional surfing is currently undergoing some significant changes. For the past decade or more the World Surf League Championship Tour was the main road for professional surfers to get money, sponsorships, and recognition. Now with the increased interest in free surfing and the growth of social media, there are widening avenues for surfers to leave the world of conventional competitions and branch out to alternative contests and free surfing ways of life. One surfer who made her way on the Championship Tour for years but is now finding even more success in the free surf world in Coco Ho.

Ho comes from a long line of surfers based out of Hawaii. The Ho's of Hawaii are thought of in many surf circles as surfing royalty in a sense, certainly, Coco's father Michael and late Uncle Derek are thought of as groundbreaking legends in the surf world. Coco Ho is breaking some barriers herself by simply living her life the way she wants to and taking the road less traveled in terms of professional surfing.

Ho sat down exclusively with FanSided to discuss her life at this time, both in the water and out. She recently competed in an interesting event called Swatch Nines. This event was sort of an anti-competition event, where the participants were not scored on their rides but instead were able to pull out all the stops on the surf pool wave in Waco, Texas, and were celebrated by each other based on gnarliness and flare.

"We have one main world tour that I had competed on for 11 years, and it's very serious, it's very cutthroat, and it's tiring and gruesome and gnarly," Ho said. "So now I feel like there's a lot of room for events like 'The Nines' that are just for fun, for innovation, for creating content. So to get to host that inaugural one in Waco, Texas, was phenomenal because it was three days of just surfing, filming, everyone was trying to go viral, pretty much, but really just surfing for the fun of it, and getting really creative and innovative. And there's so much other opportunities right now in surfing for events like that."

Surfing whether that be on the World Tour or traveling the world in search of amazing waves and amazing opportunities, takes a toll on a person. Ho has a rigid plan in place to allow herself to function at her most optimal. She relies on her partnership with Thorne to get her daily allotment of supplements and health products to keep her firing in the waves. She went over her protocol and why this partnership is so important to her and her surfing.

"I'm very blessed to be working with Thorne, and I have been for four years, so I have a very serious regime down. And I know what products are good for the road and good for traveling and at the pool," she explained. "I was very on it with the Amino complex. It's a powder, and I just use it in my water. And that's like a necessity for any time I'm either working out really hard or surfing more than just one hour either pre-, during, or post. I have aminos on me, and all my friends know it. So they always go in my beach bag and steal some. It's pretty funny."

Coco Ho created a brand of surfboards tailor-made for the female surfer

Ho also listed her full supplement regime that consists of many Thorne products such as Memoractiv, Magnesium Bisglycinate, and Curcumin Phytosome. In addition to being health conscious, Ho is also a trailblazer in the field of surfboard production solely for women. She founded a line of surfboards tailor-made for female surfers called XO COCO. For years, Ho and her friends rode boards designed with male bodies in mind. It was because of this that Ho decided to curate her boards to hit the specific needs women look for in boards. She spoke about this business venture in detail.

"The vision was that there are absolutely no female-owned surfboard brands in the industry. It's a very male-dominated part of surfing, with board building" she said. "If you go into a surf shop, it's supposed to be one size fit all like, if I'm five six and my brother's five six, we're supposed to ride the same board. But that's not necessarily true, because the likelihood that my foot is smaller and that I probably weigh less is just common. There are stock female dimensions, which means everything's a little bit narrower. The thickness is all shuffled forward just for the females. Fin placement is shuffled forward, everything is designed with female intent, not just 'we can all ride one board'. So that's the beauty of it."

The reception that Ho has received from the female surf community has been overwhelming. Ho has empowered women to feel more confident and in control with these boards designed with female riders in mind. Many women who have tried Ho's surfboards have reported feeling faster, with less "digging in" of the rails, which is a common problem when riding equipment designed for larger male frames she explains. Ho's vision of making surfing more inviting and enjoyable for women has clearly been a success, as her brand continues to expand and gain popularity among the female surfing community.

Ho's way of life through her time in the water and as a business owner and sponsored surfer is a testament to the evolution of professional surfing. Surfers both on the professional side and beyond are finding new ways to balance competition, creativity, and personal fulfillment. Her dedication to her business, in addition to her holistic approach to health and wellness, makes her an inspiring figure in the world of surfing and beyond.