Susan Orlean wrote an article for Outside magazine called “Surfer Girls of Maui”, about three friends who have a dream of surfing on the famed North Shore of Hawaii.  This article was made into a movie by director John Stockwell in 2002 called Blue Crush.

The premise of the story involves three best friends who are raising one’s younger sister (Mika Boorem).  While the younger sister is in school during the day, the three friends work as maids in a resort hotel.  In their off hours, the girls surf like there is no tomorrow.  Living in near poverty, the girls start training for an upcoming surf competition which they believe can get them sponsorship attention and the riches that come with it.

Along the way are fears, personal issues, teen troubles from the younger sister, and relationships with young mean outside the social circle of surfing friends.  While the star surfer among the friends overcomes her fears and competes well, she doesn’t win.  She does however get the attention of sponsors and an offer to join a well-known women’s surfing team. 

The movie was shot primarily on the island of Oahu, along the North Shore, Makaha, and Waikiki.  Most of the extras on the film were local surfing talent as were some of the supporting characters in the film.  By using raw talent, the director added an air of reality to the film and all of the surfing was done live in the ocean.

Sanoe Lake, a professional surfer for Billabong, was one of the three friends.  The other two were portrayed by Michelle Rodriquez (of Lost fame) and Kate Bosworth (of Superman Returns).  Michelle and Kate both learned to surf for the film, but stunt doubles were used for many of the larger waves, although Michelle did all of her own jet ski stunts.

When Blue Crush opened, it placed a $14 million third place for the weekend.  It finished its box office run with $40 million; $51.6 million worldwide.