Zinc on your face and salt in your hair, the board under your feet and the next wave in sight: Surfing makes you happy – once you’ve managed to stay on top. Biliana Roth and Dominik Baur explored Europe’s surfing hot spots and captured the faces that give this sport its soul on the route between the north of France and the south of Spain.
Gordon’ s goal is to live in peace and quiet. And to ride one or two great waves in between, of which there are plenty here in La Torche.
gives. The German has lived here for ten years, in a trailer surrounded by 25 hectares of land, ten cows and lots of other surfers who, like him, simply enjoy life. When the prospects are right, Gordon turns up the music, handles the wax, gets into his wetsuit and spends eight hours in the water on such days until he almost becomes a fish himself.
For Marco, surfing is like meditating. The head clears, the mood rises, the feeling of freedom spreads. The Italian needs this balance from his everyday life as a management consultant – not a job that fills the heart, but certainly the bank account. Marco has been on the board for five years and keeps coming back to Cantabria, where friends first gave him a taste for the waves. Surfing is like taming a frightened house cat: it takes time and patience. The cold of the ocean, the steering of the board, but once Marco was on top, without trembling, fearless and free, it was all over for him.
Bordeaux is her home, surfing Elodie’s passion. More excited than her pupils, the budding teacher leaves the classroom only to spend every free minute on the board and between the waves. Every summer, she travels to Capbreton in France, where she not only goes bodyboarding, but also works as a lifeguard to ensure safety on the beach. During her studies in Germany, she realized that she couldn’t live without the sea. The roar of the waves, the foaming spray, the damp sand – it’s all as much a part of Elodie as her blonde hair and mischievous eyes, which shine brightest when she talks about her experiences in the water.
Fabrizio works where others spend their vacations. As the captain of a 20-meter sailing boat, he spends his everyday life side by side with the waves that later try to bring him to his knees on the board. Originally from Pisa, his life has taken him all over Europe, to Switzerland, Germany, France and the Costa Vasca. Every day, Fabrizio plunges into the sea, which he loves at least as much as his wife. The latter copes well with the competition – as long as her lover returns to her in the end.
You could be forgiven for thinking that salt water had been rushing through Fred’s veins for a long time, that’s how much time the Argentinian spends in the water. As a captain, the Portuguese Algarve is his workplace, which, unlike office workers, he also visits after his shift. He explores the coast in his camper and gets that feeling again and again on his board that nothing else matters but him and the wave.
Biliana Roth and Dominik Baur: The Flow
These are images that kindle wanderlust like a gust of wind kindles a campfire. Squeezed between two book covers and spread over 224 pages, “The Flow” features surfers who have found their home on the coast between France and Spain. Here they met Biliana Roth and Dominik Baur; she, the interaction designer from Zurich, he, the freelance photographer. They both have an eye for a beautiful picture, which is why it is easy for them to always press the shutter release at the right moment on their journey from the north of France to the southernmost tip of Spain. Surfing is one thing that fascinates the two of them, but the people behind it are another. Biliana Roth and Dominik Baur, “The Flow”, Benteli Publishing ca. 53(www.bilianaroth.ch and www.dominikbaur.com)
