Russian athletes in the World Surf League

Andrey “Carr” Boldyrev – the first Russian big wave surfer, nominee of WSL Big Wave Awards in the category “biggest wave” – told “Championship” how it all started.

“Surfing in my life began with the movie “On the Crest of the Wave”, which I watched in my early childhood. Even then I was already thinking about the fact that I wanted to skydive and surf. Slowly but surely I was on my way to it and in 2008 I got on a board. But it just so happened that I was always drawn to something more, so in 2015 I came to Nazaré, Portugal and big wave surfing came into my life.

So what is big wave surfing? It’s riding waves of six meters or more in height. The perfect place for it is Portugal. The number of storms in the Atlantic is simply huge, so waves come there all the time. Big-wave surfing did not exist in Russia until recently. It all started when I first came to Nazare, looked at everything that was going on there, and came to the conclusion that big-wave surfing is not done alone. I realized that I needed a team, so in the spring we met with Delfin (Andrey Ovchinnikov), talked and decided to join forces to come to Nazare at the beginning of the season with all the necessary equipment and try to join the race for the biggest wave in the world.

Sometimes I thought I was overestimating our capabilities, but each time I convinced myself that if we approached the issue the right way, we could start competing against some really tough guys in a fairly short period of time.

We studied the intricacies of freediving and human anatomy to learn how to hold our breath properly. Eventually, when we got to Portugal, it turned out that we knew a lot more than surfers who had been surfing for 30 years.

I realized that we had to constantly train and prepare ourselves from a theoretical point of view, so I re-read a huge amount of material on every possible topic, from jet skis and water techniques to board structure. We studied the intricacies of freediving and human anatomy to learn how to hold our breath properly. Eventually, when we arrived in Portugal, it turned out that we knew a lot more than surfers who had been surfing for 30 years. In Nazaré, we practiced every day and very quickly started getting out on the big waves with everyone else. Within three months we became the first Russian surfers to be nominated for World Surf League awards.

On December 11, I became a nominee for theWSLBig Wave Awards in the “biggest wave” category, and just a week later we caught a huge wave for Delfin, and he was nominated too. We didn’t make it to the finals, but the very fact that we were the first Russians to be honored in the World Surf League gave us a big boost for further action.

Big Wave Surfing is a cat and mouse game with the elements.

Big Wave Surfing is a cat and mouse game with the elements. You’re out in the open ocean, in a place that no lifeguard will ever set foot in, and no good wizard in a blue helicopter will come to rescue you in case of emergency. You’re constantly risking your life, but the thrill you get in return is worth it.

This year we rode waves 15-18 meters high. The biggest wave ever conquered by a surfer’s board is 24 meters. Judging by the forecasts, there is a possibility that a 50-meter wave may come to Nazaré, which means that new records will be set. And we are ready to get back into the race for the biggest wave on the planet.