It was February 2020, and the Qualifying Series (QS) 1,000, SLO OPEN at Morro Bay was greeted with clean, 5 to 7-foot groundswell out of the northwest. Noticing how good the waves were, Newport Beach local Shelby Detmers decided it was the right moment to unleash on her opponents. She came out swinging with a near-perfect 10-point ride in the first heat of round 1 and rode that wave of momentum to a solid 5th place finish. And this came after she tallied a 5th at the SLO CAL Open at Pismo Beach a few weeks earlier.

Those results were impressive, but they were far from Shelby’s first competitive successes. Having been born and raised in Newport Beach, she learned to surf around town at breaks like River Jetties and 56th Street before graduating into a competitive NSSA and Juniors surfer until 2014

Fast forward to the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. Shelby battled her way through a tough and experienced field of women en route to a respectable 4th place copper medal. She also competed in the 2021 ISA World Games in El Salvador in hopes of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics. Even though she wasn’t able to achieve her dream of surfing for Mexico in the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, we hope she continues to pursue her competitive goals.

Why? Because she is mighty enjoyable to watch in the water.

Outside of competing, Shelby is featured on “Confessions of a Surf Lady,” the first women’s surfing podcast, discussing her career in the surf world.