BLUE CRUSH

ST. BARTHS’ JUNIOR CHAMPION, TESSA THYSSEN

Twenty-two-year-old St. Barths native Tessa Thyssen has been surfing practically her whole life and it’s paid off. A natural talent, this island girl is a former European junior champion, world junior vice-champion and even world junior champ. Despite recent setbacks like her local sponsor’s departure after Hurricane Irma, she’s progressed with a limited budget and is currently ranked #26 in the world (as of press time). This year she hopes to make it onto the Women’s Championship Tour, the premier league of surfing, with an eye toward the 2024 Olympics. Currently based in Mexico, we caught her between legs of her busy travel schedule to learn more about the beguiling life of a female pro surfer.

When did you first learn to surf? When I was about 4, I started standing up on a boogie board and riding the waves of a small beach in Guadeloupe, where we lived at the time. My dad started taking me out on a surfboard when I was 5, and a year later I had my own surfboard.

What’s it like growing up in St. Barths as a child and a budding surfer? I lived in Guadeloupe until I was 10, then we moved to St. Maarten for two years and then to St. Barths. I spent my entire childhood on the beach and in the water. I can’t complain!

What is it that keeps you surfing day after day? Surfing for me is a way to connect with nature. The ocean is an element I always admired. I was never good at expressing myself with words, and it’s only when I’m surfing that I really am free to express myself in a way I feel comfortable. Like a painter on a blank slate. Surfing has been my passion since the first time I rode a wave by myself. When I’m surfing I feel completely free and have the most fun. Competing is pushing myself to do better, and justifying my surfing to other surfers, as well as the audience, and achieving the goals I set for myself is the most satisfying of all.

Do you think anyone can learn to surf? Any advice for beginners? Of course anyone can learn to surf. Surfing can be done at any kind of level. Don’t look at me as a standard for the kind of fun you can have surfing. Learn the basics—that is the hard part—but from there on it’s all fun!

As a former European junior champion, world junior vicechampion and even world junior champ—do you find that the competition has gotten harder over the years or easier? The competitive level is getting higher and higher. Women’s surfing is always a little behind that of men, but we’re catching up fast. Current women’s competitive surfing is like men’s competitive

surfing 10 years ago or so, and the gap grows smaller each year. I think it’s good that the competition gets better, because it forces me to push harder.

What is the training like? Give us a day in your life in Mexico. I consider St. Barths home, but I “live” with my boyfriend in Mexico. I actually spend so much time traveling during the year that I don’t spend that much time in either St. Barths or Mexico, but a little more in Mexico. My boyfriend is very athletic too, so it makes it so much more fun that we can train together and push each other to do more all the time.

What is the hardest thing about surfing professionally? One of the hardest things is traveling all the time and living out of a suitcase and board bag. It is also hard not having any major sponsor, and I always have to manage on a small budget and on my own. Some surfers have family or a coach to travel with and can stay at nice hotels close to the contest spots. I always have to get organized with other girls to share a room, etc., just to keep the cost down. I think it’s possible I could have made the Championship tour by now if I had a bigger budget. Unfortunately, success does depend on money in this sport. Lots of good surfers had to abandon their dreams because they simply couldn’t afford to travel, but I’m not giving up. I’m really looking for a good sponsor who will go to the top with me!

And the most rewarding? The most enjoyable part is traveling to new places, getting to surf different waves and meeting a lot of people.

LEARN MORE @tessathyssen

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