It is May 2. Aritz Aranburu puts on his wetsuit, grabs his board and goes to the Zarautz beach, next to his house. What should be routine for an elite surfer like him is presented as an "almost mystical" moment. Feel the sand under your feet. Savor the salt that drags the air. Listen to the call of the sea. The waves have not been riding for weeks. The confinement has kept him imprisoned at home, where he spends short seasons between trip and trip, between championship and championship. This machine that claims to have been the first and only Spanish to enter the CT or Championship Tour (the first division of surfing, where the 34 of the world are classified, 17 in the female case) had a license to go out to train, but decided to undergo de-escalation, "like everyone". That morning, ready to measure himself again with his eternal rival, he lets himself be swallowed up by the water. "What I needed, what I really missed, more than surfing, was the contact with the sea ... That connection with nature that only this lifestyle offers," he says.
Quarantine has reconnected us to the most earthly pleasures. The sensations that surrounded Aranburu are the ones that hundreds of amateur surfers were looking for in the days before the new normality, when a protocol issued by the Spanish Surfing Federation gave carte blanche to ride the waves again. The beaches were then filled with wetsuits and boards, and it became evident that surfing, in its most primal essence, sells.
Freedom, trips to natural paradises, respect for the environment ... Values that have hooked this practice to more than 23 million people, according to the International Surfing Association. But for a few, like Aranburu or the Galician Gony Zubizarreta, it is also a profession. They met at the age of 11 in a championship in France and together they experienced the latest kicks of that hippy and sugar cane lifestyle, from nights at the beach. "So the championships were a party," recalls Aranburu. It was that image of the surfer as a true vividor that the surf fashion brands exported in the late nineties. In the two thousand the surfer dream became universal. From New York to Madrid, everyone wore the mythical sweatshirts and swimsuits with the Quiksilver, Rip Curl, Billabong stamp ... And so, the companies that had been born as family businesses at the hands of surfers became international companies with millions in billions.
In the heat of that fashion boom and with brands dedicating part of their budget to promoting surfing as a sport, a generation of high-level surfers was hatched in Spain. Eneko and Kepa Acero, Pablo Gutiérrez, Jonathan González or Pablo Solar became the first Spanish athletes to live off the waves and a benchmark for young people who, like Aranburu and Zubizarreta, had been following in their wake. Today, at 35, they are survivors of that national dream team that made history.
They are also the veterans of the current Spanish team, where they team up with Vicente Romero (28 years old), Leticia Canales (26), Ariane Ochoa (22) and Nadia Erostarbe (19). For the first time their sport will be Olympic and they don't want to be left out. Kelly Slater himself, 11-time world champion and who some consider the Michael Jordan of surfing, is trying to get into the competition. The fierce fight to qualify (there are 40 places, 20 for men and 20 for women) started two years ago, but there is one last chance: the World Cup in El Salvador, undated by the coronavirus.
20 years have passed since the first World Cup in which Spain participated, in Brazil. Zubizarreta, who is the team captain today, was then the youngest member. As it had already happened years ago in territories with a long surfing tradition such as Hawaii, the United States, Australia or France, the Spanish began to federate to make the leap to the world championships. "A group of kids who competed at the national level and led by Moncho Gil (father of one of them) promoted the creation of the Spanish Surfing Federation, which was born in 1999," recalls Ramón Rodilla, from A Coruña who became the year 2000. in the first national coach. “When we arrived at Porto de Galinhas, in Recife, we were amazed. There were at least 1,500 surfers of 45 nationalities, the public cheered for their favorites and the atmosphere had little to envy to that of soccer. ” They finished eighth and the following year, in South Africa, they got their first medal: silver in tag team (team). Professionalization had begun. And surfing became a Spain brand.
Cantabria is surfing. Basque Country is surfing. Canary is surf. Local governments did not take long to ride the wave. It became the summer hobby of many and the tourist attraction that has filled the coastline of specific schools and clubs (more than 600 today). Spain, with a fairly recent history worldwide, is making its way. The Pantín Classic Surf Pro organized in Valdoviño (A Coruña) since 1988 is since last year one of the two most important Qualification Series (circuit prior to CT) of the World Surf League of the world. With an investment of more than 1 million euros and a prize of 40,000 (with equality between genders), this QS10,000 test is only comparable to the US Open of the North American country, a leader in this sport.
Sneaking into this event is like entering Hawaii, the birthplace of surfing: the thousands of visitors who attend that week cheer on each wave; the children ask for autographs to the top of the planet; Huge screens broadcast each manga live (that's what the rounds are called) and journalists from all over the globe interview surfers from their countries. Food truck caravans coexist with stalls of surfer fashion brands and there are conferences of new materials of boards or ecological wetsuits. “Surfing without the environment is nothing. We have always been at the forefront in cleaning the seabed and raising awareness ”, explains Andrés Otero, coordinator of the World Surf League in Spain. All its events are, from this year, "plastic free".
In the last edition of Pantín we brought together the six members of the national team, accompanied by their coach, Pablo Solar, and their physical therapist, Rafa Sellés, for the photo session that illustrates these pages. Dressed in the national team uniform (a white and blue tracksuit), the print departs from the individualism associated with its discipline. Lifestyle gives way to competitive sport.
The youngest of the team landed in a professional surf and with the new technologies at their service. But they are orphaned by powerful sponsorships. "When Aritz tells us about his 14-year-old trips to Mentawai (Indonesia) with everything paid ... we are amazed", explains Ariane Ochoa, 22 years old. "Our generation has not experienced any of that," regrets this Bilbao who was fond of surfing when schools already numbered hundreds in the country and who was second in Europe and fifth in the world at 16 years old thanks to the support of her parents. Also her partner Leticia Canales, 26, needed the family mattress. "In our case, entering the Olympic Games has meant a change because now we live in a high-performance center in Getxo," they say. “It is a project between the Basque federation and the private company Basque Team, which are committed to Olympic sports. Still, financial support is not what it was. Especially in the junior categories (under 18 years), which is when you need it the most to squeeze your potential, "says Ochoa.
Vicente Romero, a Spaniard born in Florianópolis (Brazil), has also noticed the change. After years making accounts to make ends meet ("I live on small sponsorships and with the money from each prize I pay the following circuit. But if I don't get a prize ..."), he has just become, along with the canary and veteran Jonathan González (40 years old), the first Spanish surfer to receive an ADO scholarship (25,000 euros). In addition, the federation has seen its budget grow and also helps it financially (with 30,000 euros a year). “Something that until now we could not do. We depended on the brands ”, explains Lourenço Chaves de Almeida, vice president and manager. So there is a generation gap between Aritz and Gony and the rest of the team.
With the 2008 crisis, the fashion brands that supported athletes so much collapsed. To the economic debacle was added the irruption of low-cost surfer fashion , from the hands of giants such as Inditex or Primark. In just five years, firms such as the French Rip Curl went from entering 125 million to 75 million, the Australian Billabong was engulfed by the American Quiksilver and the sponsorship bubble burst. “In good times they gave clothes and 3,000 euros to any fairly good kid to compete. When you stood out it was something else: Rip Curl paid me participation in the entire world circuit, which costs about 50,000 euros, and they also gave me a salary higher than that figure to live on ”, recalls Pablo Gutiérrez, champion of Europe (2011) , who today is head of sales for Rip Curl Spain. “The budget we had then only for Spain is the one we have now for all of Europe. With these means we can only bet on the most crack ".
In new remittances they have to be the best if they want to have financial support. But to be the best you need investment. "Surfing is a very expensive sport," recalls Pablo Solar, current national coach. "That is why the economic injection that the Olympic Games carry is so important." Especially in a country like Spain, where, before declaring itself Olympic, the Higher Sports Council gave the national federation an annual budget of 120,000 euros. In 2019, between bonuses for being now a sport of interest and the measure of 1% (of football rights), the figure rose to 800,000. "Still, it lags far behind other minority sports like baseball," Chaves de Almeida explains. Compare their situation with that of neighboring countries such as Portugal, France or Germany, where "they are investing much more in their surfers." Or with new powers such as Peru, which allocates millions to build training facilities for their own.
With his sights set on the Paris Games, in four years, Chaves de Almeida is looking for a way to make a quarry. She would like to build a wave pool, which would cost 12 million, according to her estimates. “With hardly any resources, our juniors have been fourth in the world. And they are young for their category. It means that we have quality and a lot of potential. And that if we manage to exploit it, we could create a new golden generation that would come of age being number one in the world ”.
“For me, as a child, surfing was going out to sea there in Galicia and having fun. Become a colleague of a somewhat older boy who could take you in his car to nearby beaches where there were waves, "recalls Zubizarreta. "But a few years ago you saw that the kids of 11 already had a personal trainer, nutritionist, psychologist, physical therapist ... and now even wave pools!" Both he and Aranburu are aware of the possibilities that this technology offers for the little ones. A basketball court or tennis court is easy to build and is the same across the globe. But the waves in the North Shore (Hawaii) have little to do with those in Bells Beach (Australia). Until now, the only way to master them was traveling. But federations are beginning to see swimming pools as gyms of the future. And Spain is a benchmark. Wavegarden, in the Basque Country, was a pioneering project in the world when its architect, surfer and engineer Josema Odriozola, launched it in 2005. After 15 years of research (“very hard”), this two-hectare lagoon built Outdoors, with funds designed in the image and likeness of sailors and with water to fill 20 Olympic swimming pools, it is a surfer's paradise on days without waves. There are more than 25 waves in the catalog that are modified depending on the direction and intensity of the wind and can manufacture up to 480 per hour. Unlike other similar projects, the Odriozola technology allows to create several different waves at the same time, so that a professional can be practicing an aerial in an area of the lagoon while a junior tries to stand on the board with a waikiki (gentle initiation waves).
Wavegarden is not currently open to the public. It is the base of operations where they create new waves for their headquarters around the world, from Australia to Texas or Bristol. In 2021 they hope to inaugurate the one they are building in Malaga and are in the process of doing others in Barcelona and Madrid. But at the moment in Spain only a privileged group of surfers, among them those of the national team, can be passed from time to time. Odriozola's children, Hans and Kai, ages 13 and 14, also go whenever they can. "It is very good on a technical level because it allows me to try the same maneuver over and over again," says Kai, the oldest. "And there are waves that we don't have on the beaches here and in the pool you can meet them and practice them without traveling." Both he and his brother are two of the most promising figures in European children's surfing. "Now you see these children who, at the age of 13, master maneuvers that I did not manage to do until I was 18," says Vicente Romero.
When it was announced that surfing - along with skateboarding, karate, climbing and baseball - would be Olympic, the possibility of holding the competition in one of those pools was raised. "Thinking of being practical and monetizing the audiovisual show, the pool is a guarantee," says Rob Gunning, organizer of the WSL in Europe. "Because there you will have 100% safe waves, and good." But for most athletes that would strip surfing of its true identity. "One of the most difficult things in this sport and what makes it wonderful is the ability to adapt to the environment," explains Leticia Canales, number 13 in the world and who was just two positions before entering the coveted CT. "It is not a question of technique. It is not enough to repeat a maneuver a thousand times, but you must be totally in tune with nature. You depend on it. " They have to study the currents, the type of seabed, the speed and direction of the wind ... Everything counts. Kelly Slater, who has her own wave pool and holds a competition there each year, commented that if she is given a list of the top surfers to attend, she can foresee who will be the medalists. But not in the sea. "I can face the best in the world in one sleeve," says Canales, "that if I read the sea better and choose which wave I ride the best, I can win." It is part of the magic of a sport where being the best is not 100% decisive. That is why at the Tokyo Games (and also in Paris) they will compete in the open sea. "However, the pool is a brutal tool that will change everything."
Indomitable sport is tamed to participate in the highest sporting competition in the world. And that has generated controversy among the surfer community. "I can understand purists who continue to live in a more hippy way," says Aranburu. "But the Olympic Games are going to create opportunities for the new generations."
