Rochelle Ballard, International Surfing Association World Masters Champion and arguably the world’s best female tube rider, has carved out a name for herself riding big waves in barreling conditions.

However, these days, there’s a chance that you’ll see her using her physical prowess to find the stillness in Oahu’s fabled North Shore waters. Since retiring from professional surfing in 2007, Ballard has become a full-time yogi and is part of a growing trend of athletes who are combining these vastly different sports.

While surfing remains an integral part of Ballard’s life, she’s been known to exchange her surfboard for a broader stand-up paddleboard and her repertoire of classic surfing moves like carving, top turns, cutbacks and floaters for yoga poses like the high dog, the crane and a one-armed handstand. The experience isn’t really that different, Ballard said last week during an interview overlooking the waters of Turtle Bay, which is gearing up to host Wanderlust, a yoga festival, from Feb. 28 to March 3.

"A surfer dances on a wave. It’s this fluid synchronicity of becoming one with the wave and knowing how to ride it with grace. The power is within the wave and within yourself. It’s your movement with breath without too much thought," Ballard said. "Yoga is similar. It’s a lifetime experience of learning and growing with it. You find that place where you are breathing into motion, and it creates stillness where you can just be. That’s what it’s like out on the ocean. If you are hot and bothered inside, the ocean just cools it off. There’s a natural connection between surfing and yoga."

Jeff Krasno and Sean Hoess, who launched the first Wanderlust events in California in 2009, are banking on the notion that yogis from around the world will grasp the relevance of hosting a top yoga and music festival in what heretofore has been known as a world-class surf destination. The event is expected to draw hundreds of leading yoga teachers, top musical acts and DJs, renowned speakers, top chefs and winemakers, surfers and others to the North Shore. Classes will include lessons with Ballard and world-famous surfing legend Gerry Lopez as well as yoga teachers Shiva Rea and Baron Baptiste. Concerts will include performances by Michael Franti, Kaki King, Paula Fuga, ALO, John Cruz, DJ Drez and others. Activities will range from hula dancing and ukulele lessons to paddleboarding, surfing, yoga and SUP yoga, where participants perform yoga moves while floating on a stand-up board.

"Everyone wants to go to Hawaii, and everyone is excited. It’s exceeded all of our expectations, and it’s doing very well," said Hoess, who sees Turtle Bay and Oahu’s North Shore as more than surf. "It looks like we’ll have about 700 day participants in the yoga program, and we’re expecting the evening concerts to draw up to 1,600 people."

Tickets to the full four-day event are $475. To attend one day costs from $108 to $130 depending on the day. Tickets include yoga activities, surf lessons, surfboard rental and access to all music. They do not include travel or accommodations.

While Wanderlust has wanted to expand into a beach destination for years, Hoess said it wasn’t until now that they found the right fundamentals. More direct flights to Hawaii at reasonable prices made the event accessible and convenient even for East Coasters, he said.

"The direct flights from Newark, JFK and Dulles have made a difference," Hoess said. "I paid $440 to fly out of New York."

The growing cachet of the North Shore as a global surfing destination also makes it a more appealing yoga destination, he said.

"Yogis are fascinated by surfing, and many of them want to try it. The North Shore has this legendary aura that people have heard about all the way to New York," Hoess said. "There’s a chemistry at Turtle Bay and in this place that lends itself to Wanderlust."

While many of the beaches along the 7-mile miracle are best left to the experts in the winter, Turtle Bay’s geography protects it from some of the elements, giving beginner and intermediate watermen greater opportunity to brave the waves. Hawaii’s perfect climate also allows Wanderlust to host its first event outside of summer.

"Wanderlust Oahu will be unlike any other festival we’ve thrown. It will bring together our mindful community of top-tier yoga teachers, leading musical acts and inspiring speakers, and mix in top-notch surf instruction and authentic North Shore culture," Krasno said.

Wanderlust will build on the connections between yoga and surfing that are already present in Hawaii, Hoess said.

"Rochelle Ballard and Gerry Lopez are personal representatives of this movement," he said. "However, even if you removed this link, the North Shore is a truly amazing place to practice yoga. I think it could become a yoga center, too."

While Wanderlust is open to kama­aina and day participants, it will also fill hotel rooms with the right kind of guests, said Drew Stotesbury, Turtle Bay’s CEO.

"Our occupancy has been phenomenal. In all likelihood, we would have filled these rooms, but we want people in the hotel who are on brand," Stotesbury said. "Wanderlust has a very strong following, and its mission is very closely aligned with the direction that we want to go."

Wanderlust’s demo­graphic is 100 percent on brand for the resort, he said.

"We are targeting travelers, not tourists," Stotesbury said. "We want people who are seeking an experience and specifically chose the North Shore of Oahu as opposed to anywhere else in Hawaii and the rest of the world."

It doesn’t hurt that most of these adventure seekers are women, either, he said.

"We know travel decisions are highly influenced by women, so exposing a large contingent of women to Turtle Bay is good," Stotesbury said.

In general, Hoess said about 80 percent of Wanderlust’s guests are women, 25 to 45 years old.

Bringing these decision-makers to the resort as it’s undergoing a $35 million reinvestment and has eight concurrent projects under way, including renovation and re-branding at its two signature restaurants and a complete spa and fitness center redo, creates a buzz at the right time, Stotesbury said.

"We’re doing all of this to meet the expectations of our target guests," he said. "We hope they return with their families." 

But the benefits move beyond sports or the resort, Hoess said.

"The Wanderlust community is made up of very educated people with good jobs who want a balanced, healthy lifestyle. They are very environmentally conscious and tend to be looking for something with a little more meaning," he said.

As a result, every Wanderlust festival offers the opportunity for local businesses and even charities to benefit, he said.

"We try to integrate local food and local culture. We don’t want to create something that feels the same in Tahoe, Vermont or Hawaii," Hoess said.

North Shore yoga practitioners, surfers, service providers, farmers and retailers will help shape Wanderlust, Hoess said.

"There’s a huge environmental and social responsibility aspect to Wanderlust," he said. "We try to leave a place better or at least as well off as when we came." 

Wanderlust participants will partner with Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii to volunteer at a giant beach cleanup, he said. Their commitment to reducing the carbon footprint also is driving extra food orders from nearby farms, said Turtle Bay Executive Chef Conrad Aquino, whose food goal is 70 percent local for the event.

"This is the most local event that I’ve ever done. I started calling purveyors about two months ago just to make sure that we don’t run short of local and organic ingredients," Aquino said. "This is a big step for us. We usually bring in the ingredients from the U.S. mainland, but it’s a win-win situation to work with our local farmers. It’s also very exciting to spotlight our local foods. They are delicious." 

Bill Howes of Kolea Farm in Pupu­kea, who has supplied Turtle Bay with produce like lettuce, greens, kale, banana, avocado, citrus and leeks for about eight years, said he looks forward to expanding that relationship.

"The growth of the sustainable movement is absolutely beautiful," Howes said. "It’s been great for business and the environment." 

Events like Wanderlust also aid local farmers in making thier own businesses more environmentally friendly, he said.

"If there’s greater demand here, we don’t have to drive to Hono­lulu," Howes said. "We can sell right here at home. That’s good for everyone."