How A Green 5’0″ And A Family On A Remote Island Saved Charly Quivront
Plus: After 11 years on the QS, Charly is just a few heats away from making the CT.
Despite ushering in the Enlightenment, developing the most revered cuisine on Earth, and being in a near-constant state of revolutionary verve, the French don’t have the reputation of being hard workers.
Equitable healthcare, living wages for all workers, arguably the most beautiful metropolitan area in our planetary system.
Despite all of this, Charly Quivront remains eager to flee France and see the world. This year he’s in the midst of his 5th year on the Challenger Series and 11th year on the QS.
Despite the Napoleonic effort and great surfing ability, Charly — in all fairness — has not come especially close to making the CT. Last season, he had four 33rds, two 25ths, and a 13th. This year however? A 49th, a 9th, and a 5th. Now, that might not sound world-leading, but it is… it puts Charly at #8 in the CS rankings and within the Top 10 CT qualification line with two events left in the season (Portugal’s just started, Charly’s in H5 R64).
But Charly doesn’t just work hard in a jersey. He also works hard fighting against the amorphous, elusive, living blob that is the surfing industrial complex. He has consistently remained relevant by releasing clips via his YouTube channel, “Où est Charly?”, and has retained his Volcom sponsorship for nearly two decades — through all of ABG’s unfortunate culls.
As part of this YouTube series, Charly just released an edit (see above) from his trip to an undisclosed location which you can probably guess, but will nevertheless appreciate seeing.
The video revolves around one misadventure: the airline lost all his boards. The only reason he was able to surf at all was that a family he met on his ferry ride offered to let him use their son’s board. The catch? Their son is like 10 years old, and the board is 5’0″.
Charly made it work though, in spectacular fashion. We phoned him up to ask a few quick questions about the edit while he was in the airport on his way to the next Challenger Series event:
Stab: Why did that family have that board? What’s the surfing community like out there?
Charly: I actually met the family on the ferry on the way there. Pretty much everyone was feeling seasick, and I ended up helping one of the family members who was throwing up overboard. That’s how we got talking. I explained my situation to them, and it turned out they were heading to the area to go kitesurfing. Their son had a surfboard with him, and they told me, “Come meet us at the spot tomorrow. We’ll go have a look. We might not even surf, but you can use our son’s board.”
And that’s exactly how it happened. It was a completely random encounter, but without them, I probably wouldn’t have been able to surf that day. It’s crazy how things can work out when you’re travelling.
As for the surfing community, to be honest, there was nobody else out there apart from that family. Surfing is still relatively underdeveloped in that particular area, although there are other parts of the territory where the surf scene and local community are much more established. But in this remote corner, I didn’t see a single other surfer during my time there. That’s part of what made the experience so unique.
Since it is so remote, how did you even know where to go?
That’s a million-dollar question! I’d had this place on my radar for a long time. Because of competitions and my schedule, I’d never really had the opportunity to make the trip, even before it started getting more attention and more people began heading out there.
I finally managed to find a window between two competitions, and everything fell into place in the best possible way. I already had a rough idea of where the spot was, and luckily, a local friend who was already there called me up and invited me to come surf these waves. The timing couldn’t have been better.
That said, it’s still one of the most remote and logistically challenging places I’ve ever travelled to for a surf trip. Getting there is a real mission, which is also part of what makes the whole experience so special.
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