I have interviewed at least a thousand people in my career as a journalist. Only three of them had a story that, in my opinion, would make a good movie or TV series. Carolyn Day’s story has it all: triumph over adversity, true grit, death-defying danger, romance, and a twist in the tale.
If this was a film script, it would probably start when Carolyn collapses with crippling pain and blood loss while training for the Canadian Longboard Nationals surfing competition. Will our heroine survive a full hysterectomy operation, let alone be fit enough to compete in the Nationals in less than a year’s time? Will she even be able to surf competitively again? A pan shot to birthday cards on a bedside cabinet reveals the number 52 in bright, bold colors. Gasp! She’s 52? No way will she be ready to compete. Pass the popcorn.
Smash cut to the beginning of Carolyn’s story. Born in Canada’s Quebec province, Carolyn Day’s first address was Pierrefionds, which translates as “rock bottom.” Apt, because Carolyn had a tough childhood. A bit too on the nose for a script, but this is a true story.
Her father went to jail for setting 15 fires in their neighborhood. Her mother was a postal worker and abandoned her two children, demanding they leave home, even though they were minors aged 17 and 13.
“Mom was overwhelmed with being a parent, not showing the care and tenderness we needed,” said Carolyn. “She was harsh with her words and expectations.”
Carolyn cared for her younger brother as best she could, but he was taken into temporary group homes as Carolyn was living in poverty and couch surfing at some shady people’s places. He chose not to return to his mother and stayed in the group home system.
These were scary times for Carolyn, but she was able to attend college to study Clinical Criminology. “I had a roof over my head, but zero financial support for school fees, books or food.”
She would beg for money before and after school to take the city bus to college. Hungry most of the time, she would eat the food her fellow students left on their plates in the cafeteria. Despite all these challenges, Carolyn was a talented elite-level gymnast who twice competed at the Canadian National Championships and won the provincial championships.
Carolyn first came to America in 1999 as part of Cheval Theatre, an offshoot of Cirque du Soleil. She had taken part in a youth-centered Cirque program called “La Caserne.” It was an open space for professional circus artists to store their larger equipment and train at no cost while they mixed in the training center with others who had no experience at all. Carolyn was asked if she knew any men who had great balance, were acrobats and had a low fear factor.
“This described me perfectly. Except I wasn’t a man. Having experienced homelessness and hunger, I became adept at thinking on the spot. I realized if the head choreographer was asking me, an untrained participant, to help, it was most likely because they were desperate. That’s when I offered to bring four male friends if they agreed to give me a try as well.”
Three of those four men passed the audition. So did Carolyn. They began training with horses and created a live show.
“I’d never taken a horseback riding lesson in my life and suddenly I was in training, getting paid for it and loving it. We went on tour and I made history as the first woman in the world to perform a back handspring and land on a galloping horse.”
Fluent in Spanish and French, Carolyn became the circus’s official spokesperson for all their press interviews. When the Cheval Theater owner, Gilles Ste-Croix (who co-founded Cirque du Soleil) told Carolyn and her fellow acts that the business was losing money, and he had to close the circus in three days and return to Canada, Carolyn begged him to sell her her beloved horse, Opus, a gentle and powerful Clydesdale.
He said, “I know how much you earn and you can’t afford it.” Carolyn was heartbroken. She and Opus had formed a strong bond. He saw Carolyn’s despondent face and asked her what she would do with a giant Clydesdale. Carolyn said, “I can see myself in Hawaii, running with Opus on the beach and teaching children how to do what I learned in the circus.”
Impressed with her response, Ste-Croix said, “Hawaii is where my dreams of Cirque du Soleil started. Now my Cheval Theatre dream is ending. What the hell, someone gave me a break when I started. Take the horse and carry on my dream.”
Carolyn and Opus made it to Malibu, where Carolyn became enthralled with surfing. While catching waves one day, she collided with another surfer, Donald Day. He asked Carolyn out to dinner that night.
Donald had just been offered a job as a teacher in Hawaii. He knew Carolyn was “the one” but worried that she might return to Quebec and he would never see her again. Two weeks after that first date, Donald got down on one knee and said, “Will you marry me? Will you and Opus move with me to Oahu in a month?” Carolyn’s dream to gallop along the beach with Opus in Hawaii was about to come true. They married on Friday, June 13, 2003, under a full moon at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas.
Once in Honolulu, Carolyn became a world-class surfer and was part of the first group of women to compete at Pipeline. Also known as Banzai, this is the world-renowned reef break on Oahu’s North Shore, famous (and notorious) for its powerful, hollow, and dangerous waves.
As if she hadn’t already taken enough risks, Carolyn began researching stunt work. With a background in gymnastics, acrobatics, surfing, martial arts and horse work, Carolyn was already fearless and quickly got her start as a stunt woman doubling actresses on some of TV’s biggest shows.
The couple moved back to Topanga in LA where Donald, himself a top surfer, was born and raised. They had two sons who are now accomplished surfers as well, beginning as toddlers on their parents’ boards. While in Topanga, Carolyn continued her career as a stunt woman and stunt co-ordinator. She loved her time as the Stunt Liaison for the American Film Institute where she supported student action scenes. After having two children, though, the appeal of stunt work waned. Carolyn studied hard and became a master gardener.
“Growing food and helping others grow it, reminded me of the hunger I had experienced. I wanted to create opportunities for folks to access free food and founded Growing Hope Gardens—a nonprofit organization that creates urban farms providing fresh, organic food to underserved communities.”
The Day family surfed off Malibu and Topanga beaches every spare minute they had. In her early 50s, Carolyn felt deep within her that she could still surf competitively and began training in earnest, despite crippling stomach pain and blood loss that resulted in a full hysterectomy. The operation went well but the recovery took months. For dramatic purposes in the movie, it would probably be a fight for her life.
Within a year of that major operation, thanks to willpower and intensive training that would have challenged surfers half her age, Carolyn competed and placed second in the Canadian Longboard Nationals. The surfer who came first was 22—a mind-blowing 31 years younger than Carolyn.
That second place meant Carolyn qualified to represent Canada at the 2025 International Surfing Association (ISA) World Longboard Championships in El Sunzal, El Salvador, where she came 55th out of 140 competitors—despite a badly injured ankle and her training interrupted by the Palisades Fire that devastated her community. Her home beach became too toxic to surf, while the air around her was too polluted to train outdoors.
The International Surfing Association has confirmed it has checked through its records and Carolyn is the oldest woman to have ever competed in the ISA World Longboard Championships. The youngest competitor was 14, a staggering 39 years younger than Carolyn.
“It seems the chance of having a retroactive record recognized as a Guinness World Record is extremely small,” said Carolyn. “But it’s not impossible, so I’m going to try.”
Think of the 1993 hit film Cool Runnings about the Jamaican bobsledding team in the 1988 Olympics. They didn’t win, but it was a miracle and a triumph that they competed at all.
In the wake of her international surfing success and global following, Carolyn has now been invited to be part of the next Fall advertising campaign for a top swimwear company, Seea. Swimwear model had not been on Carolyn’s wish list, but she’ll happily take it.
“This is a defining moment for me. Not just as an athlete, but as a 53-year-old mother and nonprofit leader competing on the world stage. My journey is about resilience, breaking barriers, never giving up, and proving that passion and purpose have no age limit.”
End credits.
@dayinthesurf
@thseea
