Team France receives their gold medals. Photo: Tweddle
Antoine Delpero is one of the best longboarders in the world – the 2009 and 2013 ISA World Champion and 2013 ASP World Championship, 3rd classified. He’s from a small little French town called Marseille.
First of all thanks for your time, Antoine. It’s a real pleasure to introduce to our Chinese friends a champion like you. Let’s start with a classic question. When did you start to surf and where?
I started surfing when I was really young around Marseille. I was probably seven or eight years old. I first started on a bodyboard and stood up on it. Then I started taking my father’s longboard and, at the age of 13, I had my first surfboard, which was a big Ben Aipa shortboard found in a surf shop in Biarritz.
What does surfing means to you? Which surfers have influenced you most?
Surfing is my way of life. Every day is planned around surfing, depending on the conditions. When I was a young boy, my grandfather used to record the world longboard championships, which were on french TV at this time, and that’s for sure what influenced me towards my future. Watching all these guys making nose rides and big turns in every kind of waves was awesome.
How is your relationship with your brother Edouard, another excellent pro surfer? You often compete against each other, but how do you feel about it?
We live in the same apartment. We surf a lot together, we push each other. When we compete against each other, there is no pressure. We just want to have fun and do the best we can. Sometimes I win, sometimes he does.
You have been crowned ISA Longboard World Champion twice. Congratulations! What are your next professional goals and projects?
Actually, I’ll go to Nicaragua for the ISA Stand Up Paddle Championship. That is the next goal. I don’t think only about competitions, though. I built a Stand Up Paddle brand called Bonz Supboards three years ago, and I’m in charge of the shape and design of the boards. That is something that I’m focusing on these days.
Photo: Delpero
Who supported you during these years and who you want to thank for the help in achieving your goals?
I’ve always been supported by my family and friends, and they are the first people I’d like to thank.
There are two other people who I want to thank in particular – the first one is Christophe Mougino who came into my preparation when I needed him, to work on my mental tools, and the second one is my shaper Alain Minvielle with his brand Minvielle Surfboards, who has always been kind enough to make really good boards for me and for free.
Also, I want to thank Oxbow who has always been behind me and my other sponsors Vans, XSories, GoPro, Laboratoires de Biarritz, FCS, Atua Cores and Honda.
We all have been fascinated by your performance during the last ASP contest in Riyue Bay where you lost in the semifinals against Piccolo Clemente. What is your opinion about the surfing scene in China? Have you noticed any changes in these past few years in Hainan?
First of all, we had very good waves this last year compared to the first year I came. The wave at Riyue Bay is a very good wave, and there must have plenty of other good spots around. I can tell that Chinese people seem to be more and more interested in surfing.
Can you give some advice to our Chinese friends who have just started their love of surfing? Do you have special training systems or technical habits to suggest?
I used to have a special training system, but not anymore today. I think the best advice that I can give them is to have fun, which still the most important thing in surfing.
What do you think the local and international surfing communities should do for a better development of the sport in this country?
I think having big events and professional contests in your country to show Chinese people what surfing can be at its highest level is a good way to start. It would be nice to have some free lessons to allow people to discover surfing during these big events.
Photo: Delpero
Thanks to your travel schedule, you always have new content in your pocket (videos and pics). What kind of message do you want to send through your videos during your trips? Can you tell us more about your equipment?
I’m always traveling with my GoPro camera and its XSories accessories. It is a perfect way to show what we are doing. You can have some incredible view from inside a barrel, for example. My brother and I always try to find new ways to film our surf sessions to make them more and more entertaining. We often go to the water with one camera and film each other, follow each other on the same wave to try to find some unreal point of view.
Any new projects coming?
There are a lot of clips from our last trips that are waiting to be edited.
Thank you very much for your time, Antoine. We hope to see you again in Riyue Bay for the next World Championship Event.
Thank you for your kindness!
