At the Roxy Jam in Biarritz, you can not only watch the best female longboarders of the world manoeuvre their planks most gracefully through the fine waves at the Cote the Basques, but also have the experience of a lifetime.

As the dedicated snowboarder I am, I couldn’t really warm myself to moving waters before, but watching all those girls on their longboards definitely made me wanna try myself.

So not only did I try longboarding for the first time in my life but went for the whole Roxy experience including race boat sailing and surfing on a pirogue!

Roxy sailor Samantha Davies, who sailed around the world single-handed, cruised the coast between St Jean de Luz and Anglet with her famous brightly coloured Roxy boat and took us on an amazing turn. I have never been on a race sailing boat before, so I was quite surprised to find myself lying flat on the deck as the boat took up some speed because it tilts almost 45 degrees sideways! Fortunately the sea was pretty calm, so lying on deck was a bit like sitting on a sun chair, but I wouldn’t have wanted to experience that with a rough and bumby sea – you would have to hold on pretty tight not to fall off… But it got really amazing when Sam unfolded the huge, beautifully printed Roxy sail, that blew up over the boat. With the beautifully illustrated face and the little surfer above our heads we picked up quite some speed and sailed along the coastline to St Jean de Luz, which was a truly amazing experience.

After this trip on the biggest boat I’ve ever been on, I decided it was time to try one of the smallest I’ve ever seen: the Hawaiian pirogue. This small canoo-type boat with an outrigger at one side is moved by paddles and used to surf! Yes, surfing in a boat, it’s amazing. Of course you have to paddle all the way behind the line up first (many many thanks to Guy and Marco, who did most of the paddling for me!) but once a nice wave catches it, it’s the best feeling ever. It’s a bit like a rollercoaster on the sea when you speed towards the beach jumping trough the whitewater. Sounds like something you would enjoy as well? Then head to Biarritz, the Woo Outrigger is surfing at the Cote des Basques until October!
woo-outrigger.com