Louis Marchiset
"I grew up in the Basque Country. I was born in Bayonne and spent my whole life in Bidart". This would suffice as an introduction. For Louis Marchiset, the essential stuff is close, in his eyes, underneath his hands and his feet. "Why go anywhere else? Why catch planes when I already live in paradise? I'm home, with friends, what else could I ask for?".
"La Rhune and Parlementia, that's where I spend my days. I know I should go somewhere else, but I believe I have established a connection with these places".
Louis is nineteen, but he could be forty years older. Most of the time we can find him in Parlementia, where he learns from the elders of Guéthary. "We spend our time on the sand, chatting. It is some deeper than surf itself. They pass on life values that help me in the water." Louis is as original as endearing, shifting between maturity, humour and innocence, without having to choose one, just like his hobbies. "I am a fisherman. When I was a child, people would laugh at me because fishing is an old man's hobby. They would imagine guys sitting by the river on camping chairs, but there is a very sportive kind of fishing. Waiting to catch a big fish is like waiting for a big wave: when you catch a big one, you always remember". When conditions allow, Louis practices longboard; when it's windy, he gets his foil out; when the sea is rough, he takes to the mountain for some climbing. "I love nature. I need to be surprised all the time, and I try to be at the right place at the right time. La Rhune and Parlementia, that's where I spend my days. Even if the wave is the same one, the changing direction of the swell or the colour of the water makes every session different. I know I should go somewhere else, but I believe I have established a connection with these places".
"Surf was more than an outlet, it saved my life. I focused all my anger on it."
While many sleep well into the Sunday afternoon after the Festivities in Bayonne, he wakes up at the crack of dawn to climb to the top of La Rhune, Aiako Harria, or Jaizkibel when the sun appears over the horizon. "That morning, I got a call from my friends who asked, with very rough voices, where I was. They had just left a club, but I was on my way to La Rhune". He talks about this solitude with clarity and distance. He would like to get rid of it, but he feels attached to the enjoyment he gets from it. Here, at the top, he has everything that fascinates him in sight: the Pyrenees, the rivers, the ocean, the region where his father put him on an eleven feet longboard at the age of three. "I would then get my foam board and walk three kilometres to Embruns beach, in Bidart, with my feet all sore from the tarmac. I did that for ten years, by myself, enjoying it, and people thought I was crazy". At fifteen, he joined a club and, following the advice of his trainers, started longboarding. According to them, he had a special grace and look when he surfed. Thanks to their encouragement, he was proclaimed French longboarding champion sub23 in 2021. Despite the accolade, Louis does not seek success. He tends to push his own limits, not submit to the ones others set up for him. His only rule is to never be where he is expected to be. "For me, it's more exciting to ride a tube or rollers with my longboard in La Graviére. I want to change the image of longboarding". Armed with serenity and determination, one could think that, despite not being twenty yet, Louis has a plan. "Nowadays, people want it all, all the time, immediately. Both surf and fishing make you focus on what you really need. Often, this is patience and time. It all comes in the end".
Until now, the young surf instructor hadn't felt the need to travel, but this winter Louis went for an adventure to Morocco. Best case scenario, he would find a perfect wave; worst case, he would find beautiful scenery, very different from home. "What impressed me most was the different culture. I now want to find out how people all over the world live. That's what drives me to leave the Basque Country. I leave to come back home a better person". Then, Louis finished his introduction the same way he started it, with surprise, emotion and real spontaneity. "I had a very difficult childhood; I was bullied at school. Surf is more than an outlet for me, it saved my life. I focused all my anger on it. Today, I don't even think about that anymore, I've managed to do everything I wanted. Maybe that's where I get my maturity from, I've been so lonely that I've had time to ask myself many questions. And today I have the answers".
