My PhD led me to El Fronton and the Canary Islands?

Me and a poster of my PhD research

Who knew that after another 10 hour day of working on the complete draft of my PhD I would be led right into the center of bodyboarding history. Well, that's exactly what happened. Let me explain. After 3 years of working on the same PhD project and nearing the end, I basically locked myself away for a few months to finish the draft of about 350 pages of research (80,000 words). Getting tired of editing and refining day after day, I had enough and so after a grueling 10 hour day, I impulsively said to myself that I needed to get out of here as soon as possible.

I quickly looked up Ryan air flights to see what was the cheapest and I noticed Gran Canary Island was a cheap flight. Island = sun and beach, so I booked the ticket without looking at my calendar to see if I had any other prior engagements. I desperately needed a break!

After booking my 3 days in Gran Canary where I was going to be stoked just to leave the cold England behind for a bit a sunshine, my brother told me that there were waves there. Bonus, although I had just brought back all my bodyboarding gear to Cali my last trip home. Usually I at least leave a pair of fins and rashguard in the UK but this time I did not. I researched and found a place there where I could rent stuff as well as looked up the local surf spots and checked when the swell was going to hit them. Upon arrival, I immediately surfed Confital since that was near my hotel. The next day, I headed out to surf El Fronton.

After driving around the city and asking nice people to point me in the right direction, I came upon this little point break with only 3 guys out. As I watched what I believed to be El Fronton, another bodyboarder walked by me and carried on past the rocks. My curiosity caused me to follow him and I am SO glad I did. Once I made it to the top of the rocks, in the distance I saw glassy waves, air reverses, and backflips spotting the water.

I quickly jumped in my car and drove straight there only to see a black van in the parking lot with Mike Stewart as the driver! What was he doing here? I was just on holiday, taking a much needed mental break from my studies so that I could be refreshed to finish my thesis and there in front of me was Mike Stewart. Even more, when I paddled out to the waves, I saw GT and lots of other bodyboarders that looked familiar to me (although I have literally been out of the bb scene for over 10 years now so I only recognized a few of the old schoolers). When asked how to come in from my session at Fronton I was encouraged to just take a wave over the reef. I must admit, that was a little sketchy for me as I grew up only on beach breaks in Newport Beach.

Once I came in I heard someone in the distance yelling my name and its Manny Vargas! I did his IB Summer Slams back in the day and I hadn't seen him for probably over 10+ years. Long story short, I ended up extending my plane ticket twice to stay in paradise, had a super fun session with only one other out and Manny doing water photography, played in this swimming pool type thing adjacent to the ocean, took photos of the El Fronton Invitational and got to hang out with the best bodyboarders in the world, who by the way, are all pretty cool guys.

 

 

Read more about my trip to the CANARY ISLANDS

Crazy how everything worked out. I can only say that I am thankful that Christmas came early to me and that not only did I get sunshine and beach, but I got to paddle out with some of the best bodyboarders in the world all in a desperate plea to take a mental break from my thesis. SO thankful to God and so blessed for this intersection in paradise. I hope everyone has a happy Christmas! See more pics of the El Fronton event and of Gran Canary Island on my facebook page