An icon, pioneer and innovator in women’s surfing, Lane Davey has died from stage 4 colon-ovarian cancer at 55 years of age.
The legendary Pipeline surfer is remembered by loved ones for her dedication, love of the ocean and instrumental role in pushing women’s surfing to new heights.
Lane dedicated 30 years of her life to tackling Pipeline and Big Bowl, as well as designing women’s surf wear at a time when big surf brands didn’t stock many options. She also created a Pipeline blog and contributed scholarly research on he‘enalu.
Months before her passing, Lane shared her desire to be recognised for her many accomplishments.
“It has been painstaking that my contributions to Pipe and women’s surfing have been almost completely unrecognized in recent women’s surf histories,” Lane wrote on Instagram.
“I have spent most of my life fighting for justice and integrity, but only now, after being told I have might have 2 months left to live, have I finally gained the confidence to stand up and fight for myself.”
“I set out to create women’s surf wear in 1993 when it was non existent. The surf industry said women’s surfing was not marketable but I took Us Girls from nothing and sold it to 50 stores throughout the U.S. and Japan.”
Lane was featured in many mainstream media outlets for wearing her original women’s surf wear at Pipeline
“I took women’s surfing to the world and opened the door for women to surf Pipe,” Lane wrote.
“I was the one who urged Banzai Betty to host the first women’s surf contest at Pipe and volunteered much of my time to promote it.”
“I dedicated 30 years of my life to surfing Pipe and Big Bowl every day at the crack of dawn and ultimately gave my life for them when I ignored my health issues to complete my doctoral research which preserves a rigorous archive of oral histories, surf reports, and the surf news blogs I wrote for Oceanic Cable and the Honolulu Star Advertiser. I was a female reporting for the main newspaper about Pipeline.”
“I designed and integrated courses on he’enalu into the UH catalog so that others can teach it and through my research, students can read our performances at Pipe and Bowls in the same way they read a book.”
Lane’s husband for almost 30 years, Sean Davey paid tribute to his wife over the weekend, writing “In 2023, Laneski was diagnosed with stage 4 metastasized cancer and given just 2 months to live. Straight away she got to work, fighting this horrible affliction with every fiber of her being.”
“I’ve never seen anyone fight so hard to live. Two years down the line and she finally succumbed to the cancer, while still very much fighting the good fight. Lane fought this like a warrior.”
“Lane actually passed away with a smile on her face. I hope you’re making up for time out of the water and surfing plenty of beautiful waves up there in God’s kingdom my warrior princess. I’ll always love you, Mrs Mate.”
Many prominent surfers have offered condolences, sharing beautiful messages of support and love for the legacy that Lane leaves behind.
“Loved seeing her in the lineup at Pipe everyday, I truly admired her dedication and love for the wave. Wonderful woman. Rest easy Lane,” said Australian surfer Stephanie Gilmore.
The current Queen of Pipeline Moana Jones Wong paid tribute as well, writing: “She was an incredible woman and I am so grateful for all the times I got to surf with her throughout my whole life from V land, to Pipe, to bowls she was always so happy and stoked in the ocean.”