With minutes to spare, young Nicolás García Andrade snatched victory at this year’s WSL Boardmasters event in Newquay, Cornwall, with a solid 7.4 to back up his 8.67 score. Leaving local surfer Ben “Skindog” Skinner and Frenchman Edouard Delpero in his wake.
Shortly after his impressive win Nicolás García Andrade went on to win again, this time taking the Spanish National Title. Longboarder Magazine caught up with Nicolás shortly afterwards.
Fistral Beach to the podium.
Introduce yourself
My name is Nicolás García Andrade. I am from Gijón, a city in the Principality of Asturias, a region in the North of Spain where I usually surf at Salinas beach. The sponsors supporting me are Vita Surfboard, a board factory in my city, Macho fins, who
make my longboard fins to perfection, RVCA and a Californian wetsuit brand with their custom suits from Japan. I got into longboarding thanks to my dad and his friends, who are local longboarders in our town. In the old days, it was just me and my friend Lago as young longboarders.
Growing up I was influenced by Joel Tudor, because of his superfluid style and classic style. I watched endless videos of Joel to help define and refine my surfing.
How was the Boardmasters event for you?
When I got to the final, the goal was already fulfilled for me. I entered the water to give it my all and try to take the victory home. Even though I knew it was going to be a very tough heat since I had two of the best competitors in the water with me, Ben and Edouard, it was a tough final the first minutes, everyone had caught waves, and I was still waiting for the good wave that could give me the score.
That wait became hard. When I found the wave of 8.67, I knew that if I could keep my cool to get another good wave for the backup, I could take the win. Thankfully another left pulsed through and I got the backup!
1st Place 2022 Boardmasters.
Your celebration was unique; what was it?
Well in Gijón, cyder is the traditional drink of my region that is made with apples and what makes it unique is how you pour the cyder into a glass. It is poured from above your head into the glass to help release the sweet smell of cyder. I did it on the podium with the bottle on top of my head. I love to do this every time I win to represent my home.
Celebratory pouring
What are your plans for 2023?
For 2023 the first thing will be to wait to see if I can qualify for the World Tour – if I do – I will then search for financial support to help me compete. I will also continue to do the European contests and take time out to chill and surf with my family and friends. When I’m not surfing, I work at a local surf school and give longboard lessons.
Here is my favourite playlist for your enjoyment :)
