Even Landlocked Switzerland Is Trying to Catch a Break in Surf City

HUNTINGTON BEACH —  All Philippe Buttet could do was grin when asked about the Swiss surfing team.

“We’re the Jamaican bobsled team of this contest,” he said. “I guess some people have a hard time thinking Switzerland and surf. But here we are. And we’re having a great time.”

Waving their country’s flag, Buttet and seven teammates cheered countrywoman Mara Hlasek during her heat Monday at the World Surfing Games in Huntington Beach. Hlasek was having a particularly difficult time with the surf, and seemed to be too far out or getting beaten up in the shore break.

Wide-eyed and smiling, Hlasek could only laugh after her heat.

“I couldn’t see out there,” Hlasek said. “I looked around and said to myself, ‘Boy, these girls can surf.’ ”

When a reporter asked about her strategy, Hlasek looked back at the breaking waves. “Don’t think too much. That’s what my strategy was.”

Switzerland borders no ocean and has no surf shops, so it’s amazing there are nine surfers here from the country. But Buttet said, the sport is growing.

“It’s becoming fashionable and we’re getting a lot of interest from the snowboarders,” said Buttet, who lived briefly in Huntington Beach two years ago and is the only team member who has been here. “For most of us, we learned how to surf while visiting other countries.”

Switzerland isn’t the only team that doesn’t have much of a surfing tradition. Take Germany for example. Some of the German team members surf on the Island of Sylt in the North Sea. But the River Isa is the home break for eight of the 14 German surfers.

“There are certain times of the day when there are actually waves on the Isa,” German longboarder Frithjof Gauss said. “There’s this big wall, and when the wave comes in, you jump in on your board and it takes you out.”

Despite losing his heat, Gauss is enjoying his visit. “I’m having big fun,” Gauss said. “I’m going to have a massage and after that have a beer. I love this place. This is what surfing is to me.”

South African surfer Brad Bricknell is amazed these teams are here.

“I didn’t even know they knew what surfing was in Germany,” Bricknell said. “I think it’s great that they’re surfing in places like Germany, Switzerland and Denmark. It just shows you the communal spirit of surfing.”

That spirit was apparent throughout the day as the 36 competing nations lined up on various spots on the beach north and south of the Huntington Beach Pier. Nowhere was that spirit more apparent than with the Colombian team.

Compared to some of the more heavily sponsored teams such as the United States, Japan and Australia, the four-man Colombian team looked like a rag-tag bunch. But as one surfer from Ireland said, the Colombians epitomize what these games are about.

To get here, team manager Andrea Valesquez sold his car to raise money to buy plane tickets. The team’s two surfboards and surf bags were punctured by customs officials when they arrived in the U.S.

“Apparently they thought that anybody from Colombia must be carrying drugs,” said Colombia’s Jose Tamer, a bodyboarder. “But that’s all right. We’re all here and surfing in the surfing games.”

Tamer, who is an engineer in Colombia, said the team consists of a music teacher, a student and an interior designer. And all are dedicated to doing well. However, Tamer said because there is no sponsorship, financing was a strain.

“We all had to use our own money. But no matter what happens here, it’s important that we go back to our country and promote the sport, especially for our young people,” Tamer said. “We would like to show the world that not everybody from Colombia is a drug pusher.”

Notes

San Clemente’s Geoff Moysa, representing the U.S. team in longboarding, had another good day, winning his heat with 20.10 points. With a south swell from New Zealand providing waves up to five and six feet, Moysa took advantage of some of the nice left and right breaks to pull some floaters and cut-backs.

Shane Beschen and Taylor Knox begin surfing today as round one of the men’s main event starts at 8 a.m. Also surfing will be Australia’s Michael Barry and Luke Egan.