Jeśli obserwowaliści tegoroczne zawody Polishg Surfing Challenge prawdopodobnie słyszeliście o występie zawodnika ze Stanów Zjednoczonych. Stas Labarthe pochodzi z Kalifornii i od roku mieszka w Polsce. Zainteresowała nas jego historia i postanowiliśmy dowiedzieć się więcej na temat tego, co robi w Polsce i jak znalazł się na zawodach PSC 2010. Oto co Stas powiedział nam o sobie:





Tell us something about you.

I am 26 years old. I was raised in Tahoe, California U.S.A. I grew up skiing in the winter, and going to the beach in the summer.

When and where did you start surfing?

I learned to surf in Santa Cruz, California when I was 13 years old. When I was 18 years old I went to Peru for the first time for 1 year (since then I have returned 3 times). There I spent my days surfing, and working (giving surf leasons). In Peru I saw the longest waves in my life. Chicama Peru has waves that can strech for 2.2 km…

You spent a few years living in Hawaii…

Yes, when I was 20 years old I moved to Hawaii. I worked as a carpenter, building houses. I surfed a lot, I loved the life style, the people there are very friendly. I would go to the North Shore in the winter for big wave surfing. I have an ‘uncle’ on the North Shore of Oahu of Hawaii, this is the surf ‘meca’ of Hawaii. I surfed the biggest waves of my life here (6.5 – 7 m.) at Sunset Beach. There is a place called Waimea Bay that can have waves up to 10 m. but I only wached this from the beach. I know the danger of this power – I had a situation in 6 m. surf where I came close to death.

When and why did you come to Poland?

I have now been living in Lodz for the past year. I moved here with my wife (she is Polish).

What do you think about the country?

I like Poland, but the ocean is quit far. I find the culture different from Hawaii in a way that people want to move very fast. In Hawaii life is slow, people are kind to one another (most the time).

What do you think about the contest (PSC) and the Polish surf scene?

I took part in the PSC 2010 and I had a lot of fun but I felt the judging was unfair. From what I saw in the final, Janek Korycki was the obivous winner, but I guess the judges were wacthing only their friend Lukasz Bromski.

As far as the Polish ‘surf scene’ I see far too much hype (marketing). I like to have fun, without caring what other people think about me. This could be a culture difrence as well…