Catching up with Bing Rider: Mele Saili

March 21, 2016

Photography: Cole Beal @colebeal

B: Where are you travelling to next?

M: I’ll be off to Australia beginning March 23rd with a group of girls:
Erin Ashley (worm) – Profesh Longboarder
Hayley Gordon- Surfer/Videographer
Sarah Taylor- Short board extraordinaire
We plan on renting a surf mobile and  doing a drive thru of the coast, surfing and meeting up with our Aussy friends along the way.
We’re documenting the fun, so keep your eyes peeled for a video soon after at Leashless.tv

B: Who do you find the most influential in your surfing?

M: There are two women in particular that I drawn most of my inspiration from. I’ve always looked up to Jen Smith because we grew up in the same town and I saw how she got to travel the world and essentially went on to make a career as a woman longboarder and a world champion. The other is someone I’ve always and will forever admire – Rell Sunn  the a master of style and flow, I find inspiration in her surfing every day.

B: What Bing Models are you riding these days?

M: I’ve been bouncing back and forth between the Silver Spoon and the Elevator lately. For the days that are smaller and softer I’ll take out the Silver Spoon and for the days that stand up a little more with a steeper wave I’ll take out the Elevator.

B: Are you working on a board model?

M: I’m looking forward to working with Matt Calvani on a new a low volume nose rider to add to the line up of Bing models. I’ll keep you all posted on what we come up with!

B: When did you start surfing and where?

I come from a family of surfers and shapers who have deep roots in San Diego surf history. So surfing seemed like something that was always encouraged.
 
I started surfing at age 12 on my dad’s 10’0 Gordon and Smith.
He’d would take my younger twin sisters and I down to Tourmaline Surf Park in Pacific Beach almost every day and essentially that beach became our second home. A couple years after learning to surf I started competing and soon after started winning. Eventually, allowing me to traveling to different parts of the world – it’s been a real blessing.

To learn more about Mele Saili, visit her team page here on bingsurf.com. 

Mele’s Picks Available Now on bingsurf.com

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