Is Benas Surf Journal

SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN
IN THE MEDITERRANEAN:

Seven surfer girls and Sardinia is their destination. March 2010

A trip. Deserted waves of clear blue water. A group of surfer girls. Landscapes, roads, cliffs, with Nature as their only companion. All of these is waiting on a Mediterranean island with so much to discover: Sardinia. They will travell all over it and an aquatic female photographer will go with them. Different mentalities, ages and life experiences joined together by the thrill of surfing on a roadtrip searching for waves. Without any further claims than that: enjoy pure surfing

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HOW THE IDEA OF THE TRIP STARTED

The idea of this trip was born from the willing of showing how lives surfing a minority that has been growing in the last years: the girls who surf in the Mediterranean. Any sensitive person can realize that the situation of women in the world of surfing is not easy. There are also many discussions about the level of surfing and the possibilities that it offers in the Mediterranean. Although this project has been born from a personal experience of these two realities, it does not try to either discuss, claim or prove anything. It simply wants to show other ways of living surfing that, even being outside the centre of the surf industry, they continue to evolve and beat on their way, preserving a great deal of authenticity. That something that comes from the inside.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

After the trip, the main goal is to communicate and transmit all the experiences lived in the island to keep on dreaming. So video and photo reportages will be prepared and sent to different specialized magazines and webs. Some of this material will be published on the web www.asiplanchaba.com dedicated to the world of women’s surf, skate and snow.

THE ISLAND OF SARDINIA

Sardinia is an island of the western Mediterranean, placed between Corsica to the north, the Italian peninsula to the east, Tunisia to the south and the Balearic Islands to the west. Its mountainous relief contrasts with its beaches of crystalline water. It is the second largest island in the Mediterranean and is largely uninhabited.

Sardinia is still an undiscovered island, where tourists come mainly from the Italian cities closer and rarely from other countries. There it flows a sense of immutability, as if even in the most modern, urbanized and developed regions throughout the island everything continues to be more authentic and real than elsewhere. The island really seems to be a place out of time and history

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THE SURF IN SARDINIA

The surf in Sardinia today is a solid reality. The numerous Surf Clubs that have been turning up in the recent years show how the surfing community in the island has been considerably growing. Thanks to these Surf Clubs, always being ready to defend the island from who knows no respect for nature and local people, Sardinia can still be considered a true surfers paradise. Its emerald green sea, deserted golden beaches and its relative isolation give the possibility to surfers to discover for themselves that unique place with that unique wave that they can truly call their own.

Sardinia is a reference point for Europe, since not many other areas can be compared with its west coast. The island has a great potential from a surfer’s point of view and mentioning all the spots along its 1849 km of coastline is not an easy task. In the Cagliari coastline, for example, there are more than twenty-five surfing sites one can choose from. The annual rate of surfable waves is also high for being in the Mediterranean, as it is of almost 200 days. So the west coast of Sardinia can be for surfers a good wild place to get lost looking for beaches and reefs of all shapes and sizes.

THE RIDERS

Seven different girls have been invited to join the trip. They all have different origins and stories with surfing. None of them is a professional surfer neither they are sponsored, so they are unknown surfers with a good surfing level. But what is most important and the reason why they have been included in this project is a certain spirit that they all have in common: the combination of a genuine passion for surfing and an everlasting taste for new ocean experiences

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The visitors…

Elisabeth Recasens

22/ October/ 1984, Barcelona.

Now it has been 8 years since I started surfing. My paternal family is from the Basque Country, and we have always spent our summer holidays in Zarautz. Watching the sea and the surfers from Zarautz since I was small, together with the influence of my uncle surfer, made me start to feel a great fascination for surfing. I give thanks to my loyal fellows in the CNB and specially to one of them, for passing me on everything I needed to know when surfing, so that now I can look back and see all the years of adventures and constant challenges that I have been living.

In Barcelona, despite there are times when waves are good, they are nothing compared to other places. However, knowing the sea and atmospheric conditions while listening every night to the weather forecast can help you to know where the best conditions are. Here in Barcelona I move to surf from the Costa Brava (north Catalonia) to Sitges (south Catalonia), depending on where the better conditions are. The surf has also come to bring me to Costa Rica, the Canary Islands, France and all throughout the North of Spain. And the places that I have left to explore are endless … I have also competed in several occasions here at home, getting good results, being in the first place of the Catalan Surf Contest for the last three years. Something that once began as a simple entertainment has become the engine of my existence, my whole “lifestyle”. For me, it can be summarized as: “I do not know who would I be now if I didn’t surf”. It is essentially a perfect combination of fullness, purification, adrenaline and fun, a real connection with nature and myself.

Carla Manrubia

14/02/1991, Barcelona.

I started surfing here in the Mediterranean. I have travelled several times to Suances, in Cantabria (North of Spain). In three of these trips I joined a Surf Camp called “Camp Sewaeskola Girl”, where I took surf lessons at the School Solar with Mirka, Deva and Pablo Solar. I have also travelled to the Basque Country (Zarautz, Bakio, Sopelana …) and the French Basque Country (Anglet, Biarritz, Hendaye …) several times. Now my biggest thrill is to go to Australia for a year to improve my surfing.

My quiver consists of two boards: a fairly wide 6.0, which I don’t use much, and a 6.4 which is the one I normally use. As for competition, I participated in the Catalan Surf Contest, being in the third place and I would like to participate in more competitions in the future. Surfing for me is not just a sport. I know it may be typical and yet it sounds strange, but this sport has really taught me a lot, not only about the sea but also about life. It is what has made me become the person I am now without regreting it . The contact with Nature makes people better, it teaches us how to love what is around us and cherish every drop of happiness that the world gives us. It shows us how to be happy with a sunrise, a sunset … or with the “simple “ fact of riding a wave …

Patricia Peñas de Haro

14/05/1980, Mallorca.

I started bodyboarding 15 years ago because my sister did, while a trip to Tenerife (Canary Islands). When I came back to Mallorca (Balearic Islands), I started to get to the water every time there were waves and just until now… I usually went bodyboarding in Cala Mayor, in the south of the island and when the swell came from the North, my parents also took me to Cala Mesquida or Cala Agulla. At that time, they also used to take me to bodyboard in Lanzarote (Canary Islands).

It has been about 5 years from now when I bought my first surfboard. At the beginning, I spent much less time surfing than bodyboarding, as I felt it harder to row and ride a wave standing up because I was not used to. So I always ended up grabbing the bodyboard because I could enjoy the waves better. But little by little, I began to improve somewhat with the surfboard. Now, I just bodyboard or surf depending on the kind of waves, as surf has given me the opportunity to enjoy waves which I would not have ride with the bodyboard. It has been since I started surfing that I go to Bali every year for about 20 days or a month to improve in both sports. I have only participated in three contests that have been organized in Cala Mayor. I do not really like to compete surfing and bodyboarding because it is a sport I do for fun and to empty my mind, as when I’m surfing I forget about the rest. I suppose it’s also because I’ve competed in many other sports and the bodyboarding and surfing have always been something different for me. Bodyboarding and surfing completely changes your whole

life as you start organizing your time depending on the

swell forecast. All of your travel destinations become places with good waves. It has also greatly influenced my studies: I started a Physics degree because I wanted to be a meteorologist but then I changed and studied Geography, I specialized in Climatology and now I am doing the PhD thesis on the frequency of waves in Mallorca.

Núria Boldó

20/03/1991, Alicante.

I started surfing with a Bic 7.3 that my parents had given me. Little by little I started using shorter boards just until now, that I usually surf with a 5.10. I used to go down to the beach sometimes alone and sometimes with friends, but I always got to know someone who motivated me to go ahead, to stand up! I went to surf every time that I could, no matter how good the waves were and also when it was flat, to train rowing… I didn’t care, I just wanted to learn to surf . After swallowing a lot of foam and after many anecdotes and unforgettable moments I learnt somehow to feel my body, my board and my wave.

Although Alicante, where I come from, isn’t the best place in the Mediterranean to surf, there are good waves from time to time. I normally surf in Campello, a small village at the north of Alicante. Here we don’t have the best surfers either the best waves … but is the place where I feel more relaxed while surfing.

I feel surfing like a big explosion of feelings. In just one second I can travel throughout all the possible moods that you can imagine… I laugh, I jump, I love, I feel angry and disappointed, I can cry of joy and sadness at the same time. What I feel while surfing is something I can’t explain. I don’t do it because someone tells me to, is just that there is something inside me that simply pushes me to grab a board, either to surf, snow or snake and to try to get better every day, every moment. It’s something that you experience on your own and that it makes you feel different and unique. Surfing is like myself: pure feeling and life.

Marta Terrassa Bonín

18/03/1986, Mallorca.

I am from Marratxí (Mallorca) and I feel very closely linked to the island. The first time I tried to surf was on the island and didn’t do it again until the following summer, because at that time I was studying journalism in Barcelona. The summer of 2007 was crucial: I bought my first board, a round nose 6.2 Panic Point, funboard type, made by a local shaper, Esteban. My brother was the one who taught me everything I know, as he did with kitesurf too.

During the 2007-2008 academic year I went to finish my studies in San Diego. I chose this scholarship because I wanted to really learn surfing and I also knew that it was one of the better campus of California. Then I bought a 6.3 Webber shortboard. It was harder to start with that,

because there were times when I hardly stood up, but I didn’t give up. Between classes I ran to the spots in front of the campus and I stayed there in the water for hours, rowing at Black’s beach, a really hard beach break, which has been called “Biceps burning” (no need for more explanations!). Then I went back to Mallorca and back to Barcelona. And now I spend my free time surfing when the Mediterranean waves allow me.

I have three boards: a 6.3 Webber, a retro fish 5.4 Takayama and a longboard 9 ‘single fin Panic Point. My favourite spots are Swami’s (Encinintas, California), Honkys (Maldives) and in the Mediterranean, Berberechos (Mallorca). Between all the surftrips I did, I keep a special memory of my first ones in the Canary Islands, Maldives and my year in Baja California. Although it is said that the places shouldn’t be visited twice, I will go back to Maldives next summer. And as soon as I can, I’m planning to go one year to Australia.

The biggest dream of my life is to travel the world surfing and learning all than I can learn with a notebook at one hand and a blue pen in the other… you never know!

The possible guides…

Two Italian surfer girls are interested in joining the team. Both of them have a good surfing level and have been surfing in Sardinia before.

Valentina Vitale

2/11/1984, Rome.

I started surfing pretty late, when I was 18 years old (now I’m 25). I’m an italian surfer so unfortunatelly we don’t have waves everyday. I can deal with that travelling all around, which I love! My recent surf trips have been in Indonesia, Australia, Marocco, Spain, France, Portugal, England, Fiji, Tonga, all around Italy of course, and I only want to travel more and more.

My Quiver is: 5’7’’ for italian smallest waves, 5’10’’, 5’11’’, 6’1’’ and 6’3’’. I compete every year in the Italian Surfing Championship and I was Italian Champion in 2006 and 2009.

Surf is my life, I love it. Now, my boyfriend I have our own surfschool called Ostia Surf (www.ostiasurf.it), in my hometown.

Giulia Ramoni

8/12/1984, Rome.

I was born in a family of sea lovers. My parents have always sailed: my father was a coach and my mother was involved in several races, even when she was pregnant with me. Maybe that’s why I have the sea running in my blood!

I started with sailing when I was 5 years old. Later on I learned to windsurf but I needed a more direct contact with my element … and so I got into surf. My quiver is simple: I have my almost inseparable 5’11’’ and for bigger waves I use a 6’3’’. Finally, I also have a 5’7’’… my Canary board!

Surfing is my only drug, as it is so addictive for me! That’s why all of my trips are surfing destinations … France, Canary Islands (Tenerife and Fuerteventura, where I lived for three months) and Indonesia (I’ve been there twice). Surfing for me is freedom. In the water, watching the horizon, is the only moment when I can break free from the everyday stress … and when I think of what I feel being inside a tube … Yahoooo! Is such an indescribable emotion!

We welcome any brand, store or media interested

in collaborating with the project to contact

us by email or telephone:

Laura Serrano +34652940683