Make A Wave is in its final week, and three ambassadors have been in the water every single day of September, raising money for SurfAid along the way.
This year, with 1,822 surfers from 22 countries already past the $800,000 mark, donating before Sunday also puts you in the draw for a surf trip for two to the Mentawai Islands. Behind those numbers are real people giving up their September for it, so we caught up with three of them to find out what keeps them coming back. From a rising junior in San Diego to a team leader on Bondi Beach, here’s their stories.
Maizy Gordon
San Diego based, this is Maizy’s second year as a Make A Wave ambassador, and she’s throwing herself into it with the same energy she brings to everything else.
“When I’m not surfing, I enjoy playing the drums, surfskating, baking, and watching a good comedy. I love school and learning new things. I am passionate about the work Surf Aid does. I believe the most important thing we can do in life is help others, be kind, and spread joy along the way. Being able to raise awareness and money through the Make A Wave Challenge is one of the highlights of the year for me.”
Off the back of Make A Wave, Maizy’s building a name for herself as an up-and-coming NSSA surfer in California. Catch more of her surfing here, and read her feature on Shine My Crown.
Kate Field
Kate surfs out of Northern Beaches, NSW, and this year she’s riding with Team Maxum, sponsored by Maxum Watches, alongside names like California based filmmaker Taylor Steele.
“Make A Wave is such a fun challenge but for me it’s always the people who are the best part. Every time I’ve done the September challenge I’ve made a bunch of new amazing, incredible, and inspiring friends by October! I’ve made friends I’ll keep for life from being a part of SurfAid.”
This is Kate’s third year in the challenge. A friend called Mary brought her into her first one, and the two have surfed and fund raised together ever since. Kate’s a photographer and filmmaker as well as a surfer, sharing her surfing and travel on @werollwithit and her creative work on @katefield.creative, and Make A Wave has become a way to fold both together.
Rather than lean on friends for donations, she’s turned to her marketing background to bring brands on board instead. This year that meant landing Maxum Watches as a sponsor for Team Maxum, who’ve raised over $17K for SurfAid so far. She also helped put together an event at 7th Day Brewery bringing together surfers, musicians, local businesses and bigger brands, with donated prizes, a raffle, performers giving up their pay checks, and two artworks auctioned off by a friend. Shout out to @thisisjoshjosh, @billieeternal, @solares.dj, @jbozsyd and @allenmcc for making it happen.
A recent trip to Rote with SurfAid changed how Kate sees the organisation. Seeing the work on the ground made the link between surfing and what SurfAid does feel real in a way it hadn’t before, and she came home with a hard drive full of footage and a clearer sense of why she keeps doing this every year. That trip became her first short surf film, which premiered at the 7th Day Brewery event. Watch it here.
Caz Smith
Caz surfs out of Bondi Beach, NSW, and leads the Surfie Chicks Eastern Suburbs team this year, currently top of the leaderboard with over $24,000 raised and counting. The team’s been part of Make A Wave since it started six years ago, a crew of frothy moms who surf Bondi at sunrise and keep the stoke going every September.
“This is my third year taking part in the Make A Wave Challenge, surfing every day throughout September to raise money for SurfAid. Taking on the challenge of actually leading the team this year alongside such an amazing group of women and being able to combine my love of surfing with a cause that makes a genuine difference has made it one of the most rewarding challenges I’ve ever done.”
Caz grew up in the middle of England, nowhere near a beach, and admits she used to be scared of waves even while loving them. Moving to Sydney changed that. She started surfing during lockdown six years ago, joined Bondi Surf Life Saving Club, and hasn’t looked back. She’s also travelled to more than 100 countries, and once swam with pink dolphins and alligators in the Amazon.
She was introduced to the Eastern Suburbs Surfer Chicks by a friend, Mona, who previously led the team and helped build it into one of Make A Wave’s top fundraisers. It’s now a community of more than 100 women, supportive and motivated, who cheer each other into waves and organise surfs together, meeting for dawn sessions throughout the challenge no matter the conditions.
About the challenge
With six days of September remaining, 1,822 surfers from 22 countries have logged nearly 8,000 sessions and raised over $800,000 for SurfAid’s Make A Wave challenge, the annual fundraiser that turns time in the water into clean water, nutrition and healthcare for remote communities in Indonesia.
Since launching in 2021, Make A Wave has raised over $3.6 million for SurfAid, including a record $1.1 million in 2025.
In an effort to crack the $1 million mark once again, SurfAid and Perfect Wave Travel are giving donors a shot at a trip most surfers only dream about. Anyone who donates before midnight on Sunday, 27 September will go into the draw to win a surf trip for two to the Mentawai Islands in 2027 with Perfect Wave Travel, valued at $8,000.
The Mentawais are where SurfAid started. In 1999, Dr Dave Jenkins went there chasing waves and found families losing children to malaria and malnutrition, largely preventable causes. Twenty-seven years on, SurfAid has worked throughout Indonesia, helping remote communities secure clean water, grow nutritious food and build more resilient livelihoods.
SurfAid CEO Anna Bowden said,
“Every session logged this month has meant something real for a family in Indonesia. Our surfers have shown up in every kind of condition, and because of them, more children will grow up with the basics they need to thrive.”
Matt Wiseman, SurfAid’s Chief Fundraising and Marketing Officer, added,
“the results so far this year are incredible. Some of our strongest fundraisers this year aren’t pros or big names. They’re kids, surf schools and boardriders clubs and a few legends who’ve now done the challenge for four, five or six years in a row.”
“A few more days of people backing their mates’ pages, and this could be the biggest Make A Wave yet. If you’ve been meaning to donate, now’s the time, and you might end up in the Mentawais for your trouble.”
How to get involved
Three surfers, three corners of the world, one challenge. Make A Wave runs until 30 September. Donate now at makeawave.co/donate to back over 1,800 surfers around the world supporting SurfAid, and you’ll go into the draw for a surf trip for two to the Mentawai Islands.
