Off the coast of Saint-Jean-De-Luz is France’s own big wave, Belharra. A fickle bruiser of a wave, that breaks over reef a few miles off the coast. Perhaps best known due to Jamie Mitchell’s insane wipeout there, back in 2014.
These days, few people are keen to take up the rope to whip into a few. But for Clement Roeyro and mad foil hound Matt Etxebarne, the end of January saw a big ol’ swell track across the North Atlantic — and they knew it was their only chance to score France’s premiere big wave. Here’s Matt’s account along with photographer Tristan Keroullé, who was there for the ride. All images by Tristan.
Pony up! Time to hit the line-up.
Matt
“I come from a family of fishermen in the Basque country, so I grew up hearing stories about Belharra. My family was afraid of it, but ever since I was little, it’s been a dream to surf this wave at home. When I was 12 or 13, we used to go and see Belharra with my mum and I used to cry because she wouldn’t let me go. She’d always tell me “you’ll go when you’re 18”.
Heart in throat.
“I used to see all the locals surfing these huge waves and one day there was a huge swell. I didn’t go to school, I went to Belharra without saying anything. An incredible first towing experience. Since then, we’ve had several surf and foil sessions in giant waves and it’s still amazing to surf the home spot as it’s rare for the wave to work.
“Belharra is a fast-moving wave that can reach record sizes on the biggest days. There’s a lot of water, so each wipeout sends you deep for a long time. It can be very dangerous to fall in. In recent years we’ve had some of the best surf and foil waves of our lives. The memories are that it goes super super fast on the wave and it’s very hard physically to keep up with the bumps.”
Tristan
“The day before it was a classic Belharra swell, with zero-to-light offshore wind, sunny weather, crowds in the line-up. There were big waves but it just never got massive. Then, the day after on Tuesday 28th, the swell was supposed to be way bigger but with more wind. There was only a short window before it got stormy.
I was supposed to shoot for Matt Etxebarne who was aiming to tow foil the wave, driven by Paul Loustau. We were all due to meet in the morning, at the car park of Saint-Jean-de-Luz harbour, to put the skis in the water, but I had no idea who would be there too.
Look, the foil revolution is here. Matt out at Belharra. It’s a crazy concept foiling over all the water.
“Not many turned up, just six ski-crews, way less than the day before. There was Matt Etxebarne who was tow foiling, Paul Loustau, Romain Laulhe and Hermine Bonvallet driving, Clément Roseyro surfing, Gautier Garanx and Julien Nuggs on safety, Arthur Picard filming, Rémi Blanc filming and driving and myself on stills.
Big waves are where Clement is comfortable.
“When we saw the swell, we knew we had to move quickly. We could see it breaking. Outside the harbour it got stormy really quickly, the ski ride was horrible but we made it to the line up. The atmosphere was way different from the day before, thick cloud cover and cold wind that was already pretty strong, everybody was soaking wet and cold without having to jump from the ski.
If your chop hop drops into this, what next? Clement, just contemplating what’s next.
See Belharra is big, but it’ll offer you a little entry.
“Matt Etxebarne was the first to take the rope. He got a few waves, with one really solid. It was hard to foil in such stormy conditions. Everybody else was watching, navigating the undefined line up to avoid massive mounds of white water and being in position to shoot was a true challenge.
“Then Clément Roseyro decided to go. He tried many waves and finally got a really good one that kept on growing. Bigger and bigger. That was, for me, the wave of the session. Few minutes later, the wind got really strong making it almost impossible to ride and also dangerous to navigate on a ski. We headed back to the harbour, really cold and exhausted but so happy to have witnessed the wild face of Belharra.”
Til next time, Belharra.
