Since calling time on her competitive surfing career earlier this year, 30-year-old Bronte Macaulay has resumed her teaching degree, taken up surf coaching and is currently putting the finishing touches on her new home which she, alongside her partner Will, built from the ground up. Preparing for life post-competitive surfing is very much like building a house; lay some solid foundations which you can rely on and brick by brick turn a house into a home.

The goofy-footer from Gracetown in Western Australia finished 12th on the Challenger Series this year. She’s dedicated her life to competitive surfing and qualified for the CT in 2016. Bronte was known for her ferocious backhand attack and always seemed comfortable in heavy water. She counts a number of third places finishes at stops including Margeret River, Maui, France and G-Land as her highest place finishes on the CT. While she also has a number of QS and CS wins to her name. She was eventually knocked off tour in 2022 and has spent the past couple of years trying to requalify on the Challenger Series. However, a combination of factors has led her to call time on her competitive career.

“I’ve dedicated more than 10 years of my life to travelling and competing, but towards the end it just wasn’t as meaningful to me, I don’t have the drive I used to. While I still love going surfing, I can’t get motivated to compete in two foot onshore conditions on the Challenger. I loved surfing Snapper on the Challenger this year as it was firing, but places like Huntington and Brazil are not as fun for me. With competitive surfing, you have to be all in because if you’re half-hearted about it you’ll get overtaken quickly.”

While 30-years-old may seem like a young age to retire given some athletes longevity in the sport. Steph Gilmore (36) and Sally Fitzgibbons (34) will be the oldest women on the 2025 CT. Bronte said that she wants to settle down in the near future and have a family and doesn’t believe she could do that while trying to be ‘all in’ on competing.

“I’ve always dreamed of having a family and kids.  As a women there’s a bit of a ticking time bomb if you want to have kids, realistically most want to have kids in their 30s. It’s difficult to be travelling and competing all the time when you want to raise a family. Obviously it’s doable and there’s been World Champions in the past that have children but if you look at the average age on tour between men and women, I think it’s slightly younger for women and that may be down to the fact that many of us want a stable life when we decide to have a family.”

Since retiring she’s been busy laying down the foundations for the next chapter in her life, which has included resuming her teaching degree which she originally started when she finished school.

“I did the equivalent of one and a half years of my degree. I stopped for ten years but somehow got credit for it despite such a long hiatus. So I’ve got another year and a half left of that. I’m not sure whether I’d go straight into working in a school when I’ve finished, I just want to have it under my belt. I’ve been doing some surfing coaching with some local groms at home which I’m really enjoying. There’s quite a demand for it on this side of Australia. Kids have lots of coaching opportunities on the East Coast, but as everything is a lot more spread out in WA there’s a bigger demand for it at the moment.”

One trade Bronte won’t be taking up full time is labouring, after admitting that she’s not the best on the tools.

“My partner is a carpenter and then we paid his sister to labour for us. We’ve been building the house for a few years and we’ve nearly finished it. I’m definitely not the best labourer, it certainly gave me a new found respect for tradies and made me appreciate professional surfing a lot more.”

A couple of years prior to stepping away from competitive surfing, the WA local lost her major sponsor and said that accelerated her decision to hang up the jersey.

“If I had a sponsor, I’d probably try and compete for another few years. But without one, it’s tough because each result holds a lot more weight financially. I have a mortgage and other responsibilities and so I’m not in a position to be losing money. On the Challenger you’ve got to make the semis to breakeven, especially when you’re going overseas. You need a sponsor these days just to get by, let alone have an income.

“It’s definitely becoming a lot tougher to make a career out of professional surfing. It’s becoming a bit of a rich persons sport, if you’re not wealthy you can still make it but it’s a lot trickier when you don’t have access to coaching, trips abroad and the other stuff that money buys you.”

With regards to women’s surfing, Bronte believes the sport is in a ‘good place’.

“Women’s surfing has come a long way. It’s becoming more and more about progression and it’s so good to see the girls going for airs and charging big barrels.”

Bronte would also like to continue charging big barrels of her own.

“The highlights of my career have been travelling to all these special places like J Bay, Fiji and Europe, which I wouldn’t have got the chance to otherwise. Moving forward, I’d like to continue chasing swells and get better in bigger waves and barrels at home. I’ve always loved being home and we have so many good waves here that I’m happy to just chase waves at home.”

For now Bronte is taking each day step by step, or brick by brick. The years away from home throughout her 20s has given her a new found appreciation for the small things in life as she begins a new chapter in Gracetown in the close comfort of her family and loved ones. While we may never see Bronte return to competitive surfing, I’m sure we’ll see plenty shots of her charging heavy waves up and down WA for years to come.