The World Surf League recently completed its 2025 Women’s Championship Tour, and two Hawaiʻi women finished in the top five.
"Hi guys, my name is Bettylou Sakura Johnson. I grew up on the North of Oʻahu in Haleʻiwa town."
In the water, Sakura Johnson is a fierce competitor.
"Big snap there, teeing off the lip, jams it under the lip on the second one. Flowing into the bowl, again, spray still flying off that mayhem," said a WSL announcer at the Bonsoy Gold Coast Pro competition in Australia.
But on shore, she's humble and unassuming. HPR met her recently as she was helping set tables at a dinner arranged by her sponsor, RVCA, to celebrate her top-five finish.
Quite the accomplishment for the 20-year-old, considering she grew up focused on other sports.
"Growing up, surfing was not my main sport. I was a gymnast and a dirt bike rider before I started really getting into surfing," she said.
But those early years of gymnastics and dirt bike riding haven't gone to waste. Sakura Johnson said many of the lessons she learned translate to her time on the waves and have helped her succeed beyond expectations.
"Gymnastics, I feel like that helped a lot with the way I surf nowadays, because of just the balance and the technique that you need to have doing gymnastics, that kind of just formatted into my surfing. With dirt biking, I feel like you really just have to be super confident on your bike. And I feel like that confidence has helped me in the water a lot, just trusting my instincts more," she said.
Earlier this month, Sakura Johnson finished the nine-month, 12-stop WSL Women's Championship Tour that took her from tiny Haleʻiwa to faraway places like Abu Dhabi and South Africa, and to legendary waves, like Cloudbreak in Fiji and Tahiti's Teahupo'o.
"We've got Bettylou pulling up and under. She's deep on this one, it spits and she comes out right after it," said a WSL announcer at the Lexus Tahiti Pro at Teahupo'o.
She said the ability to surf those big waves comes from being in the ocean frequently and learning how to read the water. But that doesn't make it any less daunting.
"It is definitely scary. I've been scared a lot this past few years, you know, trying to push my limits and push myself in bigger surf. So it is spooky, but the reward of making a beautiful ride at Teahupo’o is like insane, and it's a feeling that you're going to want to keep chasing forever," Sakura Johnson told HPR.
That pursuit elevated Sakura Johnson to a professional and enabled her fifth-place finish on the tour. But as her victories grow, so does the spotlight. Fame can often be a challenge for young people to manage.
But Sakura Johnson navigates hers with the same grace and maturity that she uses to conquer waves.
"I try not to actually think that much of becoming a public figure, but I love that I'm able to inspire younger generations and younger girls. I think that's one of the best things I've been able to do at this young age, and with the platform that I have, is, you know, being able to inspire the younger girls to get after and get out there and do what you want to do," she said.
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