The women usually are left drooling, then get the leftovers.

When San Clemente surfer Sheri Crummer was a pro surfer decades ago, that was her biggest frustration. After watching the male competitors get the best waves of the day, the women had to wait. They got to surf when the wind kicked up, the tides shifted for the worst, or as the swell was dropping.

Not much has changed, she says.

Which is why Crummer and other female surfers are on a mission – to raise the profile of the female side of surfing and to give them the respect they deserve, in and out of the water.

Fundraising for a project that will compile the largest list of women’s surf contributions through the years kicked off Nov. 15, with a goal of launching the History of Women’s Surfing project this month.

At the same time, Huntington Beach lifeguard and filmmaker Devyn Bisson hopes that a big-wave movie focusing on Hawaiian charger Paige Alms will earn women more respect.

There’s just one hitch. She’s learning, quickly, that a project on womens surfing isn’t getting the support she hoped for.

CLOSED DOORS

Bisson was captivated by the article’s headline: “Boys Club.”

The article featured in a surfing magazine focused on the challenges Alms faces as a female wave-rider, especially as one who charges big waves.

Bisson, 22, was finishing film school at Chapman University when she decided to do a small project about women’s surfing. Alms was just the right subject.

Alms agreed to meet up last year to film, and Bisson put out a pitch for a short documentary, quickly raising about $15,000 on Kickstarter.

But when she got to Hawaii, she found there were so many layers to the story – how Alms works three jobs to support her surfing career, how she wasn’t doing what other female surfers were by modeling or using social media as a popularity contest. Then, a big swell hit in Oregon, and Bisson got footage to add to the story from one of the first female big-wave contests ever held.

What started as a pet project turned into a film with strong potential. She knew she had a much bigger story to tell.

But the more she looked for support for the film’s expanding budget – from in and out of the industry – the more doors shut.

The seasonal lifeguard is used to working in a male-dominated field. But the rejection she felt from those not wanting to back the project showed her how low on the totem pole female surfers are.

She thought: “You’re totally wrong. How is that possible? Women bring such a grace and different beauty than men do,’” she said. “There were a lot of brands that were just a lot of talk.”

She thought Alms’ struggle in the male-dominated industry would be the story she would be telling. Now, Bisson is finding herself in that same storyline.

“I have been so unbelievably shocked how real the lack of interest is in the female story,” she said. “I thought that it would be our strength.

“If I had a guy in this story, it would be a totally different ballgame.”

She hopes someone will help her bring the story to light. To keep motivated, Bisson looks to a quote on her wall that reads: “Whoever tells the story, defines a culture.”

DOCUMENTING HISTORY

Twenty thousand signatures.

When Cori Schumacher posted the petition on change.org asking Huntington Beach-based Roxy last year to change an ad showing six-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore wearing near nothing in bed, she knew she was onto something.

The ad featured not a single wave; no cutbacks or aerials that the most championed female surfer has mastered through her years.

The story about the petition made national news, and Schumacher knew women – and even some men who signed the petition – were fed up with the sexualization of women in the surfing industry.

This year, the ad for the same contest in France showcased the surfer’s skills in the water. It was a victory in the eyes of activists who believe they still have a long way to go before women have equal rights in the water.

Crummer has teamed up with Schumacher to create the History of Women’s Surfing project, an online archive that aims at telling the stories of known and unknown female surfers from all decades and cultures.

The project is part of The Inspire Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to the empowerment of female surfers worldwide. It was founded by Crummer, 64, a three-time U.S. Amateur Longboard Champion, and Schumacher, a three-time World Longboard Champion.

Crummer got an early influence from her mother, Betty Cates, who would bodysurf while pregnant with Crummer. She also was the first person to shoot the San Clemente pier while bodysurfing, Crummer said.

Crummer first got on a hard board at age 7 at T-Street and grew up surfing San Clemente waves.

She is no stranger to the male-dominated culture in the water. She considers herself a mellow person, but while surfing, she’s been forced to become someone else.

“The women had to prove themselves in the lineup before they got any waves,” she said. “That’s why I had to be so aggressive… You have to go out there and prove yourself before they let you surf. They would take off in front of you, behind you, and bump rails with you. It was horrible. Once you show you can surf, they back off.”

When Crummer got to the professional arena, she couldn’t take the pressure put on her by sponsors. One of the biggest goals is to teach women that they don’t have to be sexualized to sell their sponsors’ products.

“I just want to be who I am,” she said. “I don’t want to be someone I’m not (just) to get a T-shirt or wetsuit or a couple of bucks.

“I want my surfing to speak for itself.”

Crummer said in the early days of surfing, there were plenty of women who were respected, especially the few in Hawaii charging big waves.

The archive will feature surfers like Santa Ana’s Courtney Conlogue, who is currently surfing on the ASP Women’s World Tour, but also will look to the past. There will be tales of surfers like Marge Calhoun, who traveled to Hawaii with Eve Fletcher in 1958 to surf large waves on the North Shore. She was the first female competition judge, and was inducted into the Walk of Fame in 2004.

Then, there’s women like Mary Lou Drummy of San Clemente, who competed in the 1960s through the ‘80s and was the first woman featured in a full-length surfing film. She is a co-founder of the Women’s International Surfing Association and current Executive Director of the Western Surfing Association.

There were plenty of women in the early years of surfing who had respect.

But then came “Gidget.”

“(The 1959 movie) gave the impression that we’re just these little, flighty people,” Crummer said. “From Gidget until now, this is pretty much what we’ve been associated with. That’s what we would like to change.”

The images put out by the surf industry – the pretty, perfectly-shaped blonde girls wearing tiny bikinis – don’t help, she said.

“They’re out to sell a product. They have to market it in a certain way that they feel will sell their product,” Crummer said.

“We’ve been there, done that, and don’t want to do it again. That’s not who we are.”

CHANGING CULTURE

Crummer is starting to see change.

The Western Surfing Association recently started giving the girls better waves during events. And the Association of Surfing Professionals recently increased prize money for women and added more events.

Still, Crummer says there’s a long way to go. Many women still have to pay for their own travel to get to events. One female surfer who made the list of the top 17 surfers had to be sponsored by male pro surfer, Jeremy Flores, to afford to compete. Another Brazilian surfer had to raise money online so she could join the other top surfers on tour.

Another challenge has been getting the girls to talk openly about their experience.

“The women don’t want to buck the system and lose what they have,” Crummer said.

“It’s taken a while, but they are starting to open up.”

Contact the writer: lconnelly@ocregister.com