Happy Christmas from the Mamas Surf Club

Taryn and I were going to go out and do the water shot yesterday, we really were.… The sun was shining , there was a perfect glassy little wave and only two guys in the water. The only problem was the temperature ….. hovering around zero. We still considered it, it looked kind of tempting and lethal at the same time.

“I’m warmer than yesterday.” she said.

“Me, too. Then only thing is I’m wearing ski socks, thermal long johns, three jumpers a ski jacket and fur gloves.….. it might be a little colder in the water.”

Then I remembered that the heating had gone in my house.

So what you get instead is this slightly more dramatic shot of Johanna, on the right taking some serious air.…..

Posted by Wilma 

Photo Mark Shapiro 

Christophe Reinhardt on Women and Waves

Before I ever met Christophe Reinhardt, I came to Guéthary on holiday and bought a postcard of him in the village shop. He was surfing a big wave with his daughter Valentine held delicately above his head on one arm, and a garland of hibiscus flowers round his neck. It was an exotic image, and I wanted to be a part of it. By a fortunate turn of events, I ended up living here and Christophe taught me to surf, although I was a little disappointed when he told me that I might be a little too heavy for that particular move.

Walking into his living room, you’re left in no doubt that you’re in a surfer’s house. There are boards everywhere, leaning against the walls, and suspended from the ceiling on pieces of driftwood. Pride of place goes to his red Lightning Bolt boards from Hawaii, which he surfed at Sunset and Pipeline in the seventies - big wave riders trophies hanging on the walls like a big-game hunters antelope heads.

There are photos of the Reinhardt family- his father Bruno, one of the pioneering surfers of the fifties, his teenage son Bruno ripping on his short board, and baby Lina kitted out in nappy and life vest for her first trip out to the peak.…

So with his background as French champion and big wave hellman, how did he feel about scouring the coast for the smallest possible wave with a group of forty year old women. Some of whom - I’ll stand up and be counted - were terrified of a knee-high shore break.

“What’s the question again? How did I feel about getting in the water with ten beautiful women in bikinis?” Always charming. “Do you know that my instructors were fighting about who got to work with the Mamas every Saturday.”

But did you really think you’d be able to teach us to surf? I, for one, was touched by Christophe’s belief that I might one day be able to paddle out back and take a wave by myself …… standing up. I thought he’d seriously overestimated my potential, and it’s a tribute to his patience that he never gave up on me.

“I can teach anyone to stand up, that’s the easy part. But what I was really impressed by was your determination. I wasn’t sure that you’d really keep going, but you seem so motivated, some of you have got really keen. Or more than that …..what’s the word?”

“Obsessed?” I suggest.

“No” Johanna corrects me, “the word is addicted!”

“I feel like it really changed your lives, the fact that you did it, and that you overcame your fear.…. You know surfing is my life, and I love being able to transmit my passion to other people . Or to put it another way.....surfing is my addiction and I love getting other people hooked.” We all laugh. 

“Talking of which, you’ll have to excuse me, Wilma,” he takes a long red board from the wall, “I love talking to you Mamas, but I think Avalanche is working and if I stay here chatting too long, the wind might go onshore.” 

Avalanche - the name says it all- it’s not called Snowdrop, it only breaks when the swell is massive and it’s Christophe’s favourite wave. 

This is how it looked at Avalanche today. Mamas are glad they got in the water yesterday before it got up to 4 metres..... nice and glassy and not at all too small in Hendaye! Best dressed surfeuse award went to Taryn. She was Christmas shopping in Biarritz when she got the call, she didn't want to miss the tide so she just grabbed her board and arrived in a lovely satin dress.    

                                                                                                                         

Photo by Wilma                           

Winter Wonderland

Today is the last meeting of the Mamas before the winter break. As the swell looks like staying over three metres, that’s going to be in the AirTT tapas bar in the village. Johanna is off to spend Christmas in winter wonderland in Northern Sweden, then to Verbier for the ski season.

Winter isn’t very long in Biarritz, but it does happen. Anyone who can gets out for a month or two round new year, that way you can miss it altogether and arrive back for spring all fresh and tanned. Snow Queens like Johanna head to the glaciers, other people bubble wrap their boardbags and take the long haul to Bali, Brazil or Australia.

The rest of just us head down to the surf shop to buy a new pair of neoprene gloves and booties. Personally I draw the line at the cagoul - if it’s that cold, I sit in the car with the heating on, getting vicarious pleasure from watching the hardcore guys getting gnarly waves and ice-cream head. We’d all love one of those new suits with battery operated heating system. I haven’t got one yet, but I have got the next best thing- Mamas top winter tip - a plastic bag to put on your car seat so you can drive home and get in a hot bath without getting changed. Take a can of Hinano Tahiti beer with you and your almost in Polynesia.

Winter is unpredictable. It can go two ways.…. some days you step outside and the Bay of Biscay is behaving

 exactly as it would in a sea shanty. It’s time to batten down the hatches and break open another bottle of grog. Or chill the rosé and go down to the salt water spa in Hendaye. Then a couple of days later you wake up and it’s 20 degrees...centigrade.... in January. The waves are perfect and they’re empty. Your heart goes out to those poor jet-lagged jet-setters in Indo fighting their way through the shorebreak on Kuta beach with a thousand australian tourists. 

And you think, “Oh, yes, sometimes I win!”

POSTED BY WILMA

Photo of Johanna by Felix Oppenheim