Roxy Davis Foundation is Celebrating Women Through Surf, Community, and Care

Photo Credit: Fiona Sander (Roxy Davis Foundation)

More than just a day on the water, the upcoming Girls & Women of the Waves event by the Roxy Davis Foundation promises to be a powerful celebration designed to help every woman step into the ocean and her own strength with confidence.

Cape Town, South Africa (30 July 2026) – In celebration of National Women’s Day, the Roxy Davis Foundation is bringing a vibrant blend of women’s empowerment and ocean energy to the shores of Muizenberg Beach. Taking place on Sunday, 9 August 2026, Girls & Women of the Waves is an inspiring event welcoming girls and women into the ocean through learn-to-surf sessions, surf therapy, and to try themselves out on a competitive level.

Under the theme “Celebrating Women of the Ocean,” the day brings together structured surf therapy, beginner-friendly surf lessons, competitive entry, nutrition, transport, breathwork, facilitated talk circles, and feminine hygiene support.

The event is co-hosted by the Roxy Davis Foundation alongside Cape Town Surf Riders and Surf Emporium. On the day, around 80–100 women, girls, youth at risk and women with disabilities will take part in structured surf therapy sessions, beginner surf lessons and competition entry into the LaMuse Classic.

Men and boys with disabilities are welcomed into the surf therapy component, and over 100 volunteers, coaches and technical officials will help ensure a safe, dignified and celebratory experience for everyone.

“We’ve intentionally designed the programme to remove common barriers to participation by providing adaptive surfing support, equipment, return transport, nutrition and accessible wellbeing activities. The day not only introduces participants to the ocean but also opens a pathway onto a recognised competitive platform for novice girls and female para surfers through dedicated LaMuse divisions,” Dr Roxy Davis tells Good Things Guy.

Under the banner of empowering women through sport, the Roxy Davis Foundation also aims to distribute feminine hygiene products to 200 girls and women attending the event.

“For many of the girls and women we serve, access to something as simple as pads, tampons or basic toiletries can be the deciding factor in whether they feel able to participate fully at school, work, in sport and in community life.

“As we planned this year’s event, our team kept hearing the same message from partners and participants: periods and personal hygiene are still a monthly source of stress, embarrassment and missed opportunities,” Roxy explains.

The Foundation is therefore rallying the greater community to support its feminine hygiene products donation drive in the lead-up to Women & Girls of the Waves to assemble 200 feminine hygiene and personal care packs for participants to take home.

Each pack will include essentials such as soap and a facecloth, sanitary pads and/or tampons and pantyliners, period underwear or reusable pads where possible, unscented intimate wipes or tissue, shampoo, a toothbrush and toothpaste, deodorant and a resealable bag or cloth pouch to keep items together.

“Our aim is not to prescribe how anyone should manage their body, but to promote dignity, wellbeing and choice by making sure that cost and access are not the reason a girl or woman feels she has to sit out of life.”

Through Women & Girls of the Waves, Roxy Davis and its partners ultimately hope that every woman and girl leaves the beach on 9 August feeling seen, celebrated and more confident in her place in and around the ocean.

Surf therapy and learn‑to‑surf sessions have a powerful way of building courage, resilience and a sense of belonging, especially for participants living with disabilities, those from under-resourced communities and youth at risk who are often excluded from mainstream sporting opportunities.

“By combining a joyful public Women’s Day event with practical support like transport, nutrition and hygiene packs, we want to show that inclusion is not just a value statement but something you can feel in your body and take home with you. Longer term, our hope is that some of the girls and women who stand up on a board for the first time at Women & Girls of the Waves will go on to become regular surfers, para surfers, coaches, community leaders and role models in their own right,” Roxy concludes.

Volunteers can sign up here, and donations can be dropped off at Surf Emporium Muizenberg and Merchant & Maker in Heron Park in the weeks before the event.

For more information, email Fiona Sander at [email protected] or Roxy Davis at [email protected]