Arnaud Mestelan

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The Surf Culture Bug

with Arnaud Mestelan

« Catching a nice wave and riding a good line is all that matters. »

1994. It is in his bedroom that Arnaud Mestelan's parents made Beach Bum swimsuits that were, at the time, stamped with the Made in Biarritz label. This was undoubtedly where it all began, by chance and by passion. “I discovered surfing in West coast street markets. I tagged along in the back of the car”. He also went along when his parents traveled from the Basque Country to Galicia, all the way to Portugal, and sometimes travelling as far as the Canaries. But it was always at home, near Biarritz, that his father introduced him to surfing, like a natural legacy, passed from father to son. “In the 1980s, my father went to Indo every year. He brought me with him for the first time in 1998. Surf culture makes you want to travel, to see if there are tubes elsewhere.” And elsewhere, he went there too; Chile, Peru, Australia. Arnaud left home at 19, giving him time to discover the country. “One day, I ran into Robbie Page on the platform at the Biarritz train station. He was heading to Australia. He said to my mother, I'll take the young one along, he can stay with me. I spent a month with him and then 2 months roaming around Australia. I did my surfing military service with Robbie.”

It was a story of encounters, of admiration too. When you learn by doing, surrounded by veterans who hold the truth of the past, you end up having a global vision of the art. “Surfing was passed on to me, but never imposed. I learned some valuable lessons.” he explained, remembering the heckling he took in Guéthary surrounded by the old-timers when he was 14. “The old-guys”, as he called them, are Thierry Organoff, Sylvain Cazenave, Jean-Pierre Stark, René Bégué and all his father's buddies, those who shared their knowledge through wetsuits that never dried out and anecdotes of sessions told like adventure tales. “These guys had been to Hawaii! They were legends to me”, remembered Arnaud, convinced that without knowing surfing history, you're missing out. “Either you see surfing as a sport, or you do it in the spirit of martial arts. That way, you know where it comes from and you build your experience. Having surf culture in mind is essential.”

“Having surf culture in mind is essential.”

He was 12 when Arnaud got his first Stark board. He learned to ride shortboards before trying out one of his father's old boards, a Willis Brothers brought back from a trip to Hawaii. “It was a thicker board than I was used to surfing. It just clicked, and I loved it. It is this direction, this path that Arnaud wanted to go from then on. “I also discovered old boards thanks to Litmus. The film got me into Single Fins.“ With a single, Arnaud discovered, above all, the sense of gravity and understood the need for a real bottom turn to get back up high on the wave. “That's where you can pick up speed and ride a wider line. I want to ride perfect waves and, above all, to have fun. » Today, boards inspired by old designs have his full attention. “Catching a nice wave and riding a good line is all that matters. I'm not here to surf big waves, but perfect ones. It is, however, at surf spots like Avalanche or Lafitenia that you can find him lugging his 10 '4”, a replica of a board made for surfing Sunset, for waves 4 meters and above. “When people see me coming up with this, they tell me, you're going to kill yourself, but I have no desire to push my limits too far. For me, surfing is a passion, not a sport. That's how I was brought up." Arnaud, who has always been a member of the Biarritz Surf Club, the oldest surf club in France (1963), long chaired by Jo Moraiz, was now evolving toward a technique that he mastered and loved.

Today, through the family shop, Arnaud pays tribute to this corner of the world where he grew up. Located under the arcades of the municipal casino facing the Grande Plage, "Aux Guides Baigneurs'' serves as a mythical surf destination in the Biarritz landscape. “In the beginning, the store wasn't my thing, but when my father died, after passing by it several times, I finally did what I had to to keep it going. Beyond surfing, what interested me most was Biarritz's maritime heritage.” Arnaud likes to say he was lucky. Surfing was passed on to him. It has always been there. In line with the paternal legacy that was transmitted to him without force, it is this bug that he is passing on to his two daughters. “The 5 and a half year old seems interested in surfing. I sometimes find her in the garage wearing a wetsuit standing on the boards. The older one likes the ocean a lot, but doesn't seem interested in surfing. She prefers to row at sea, it's a different approach to the ocean. She introduced me to coastal rescue. Through the shop, we share an interest in the history of the "Guides-Baigneurs", in short, the circle is complete.”

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