Johanne Defay

Johanne Defay is a French professional surfer. She was born in Le Puy-en-Velay, Auvergne, France. She began surfing at the age of 8 off the beaches of Reunion Island, which is her home today. After Johanne's first competition when she was only ten years old, she quickly moved through the European amateur ranks to eventually take on the WSL World Qualifying Series. In 2008 she almost gave up competing. Finding it difficult to step up from the juniors to the WQS and then when the economy crashed sending surf companies pulling sponsorships, Johanne found herself without sponsors and without decent results. With her parents’ encouragement Johanne was able to qualify for the WCT within two years.