Hector Menendez Interview
The Spanish pro talks art, photography and skateboarding, and rants against the competitive world of surfing.
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In a DIY t-shirt and arms inked with Sailor Jerry designs, Hector Menendez cuts an unusual figure among the bleach-blonde hairdos and boardshorts of the professional surfing world. HUCK caught up with this black sheep of the Nike 6.0 team in Capbreton.
HUCK: When did you start surfing?
Hector Menendez: I started quite late because I was living in the north of Spain and I was into snowboarding. My parents were pretty stressed with work and the weather so we moved to the Canary Islands, and that’s when surfing came into my life. I was about 12. Everyone in school surfed so it felt like the natural thing to do.
Do you like competing?
I don’t really like the way competitive surfing is going. I have competed before but when you’re young, it’s impossible not to if you want to earn some money and have the chance to travel. Once you start travelling, you can kind of skip competitions and be a freesurfer. It’s a natural process because you learn a lot but I don’t want to see surfing like that. I don’t really like tropical places and I don’t want to go to Bali. I mean what’s going to happen in Bali? Are you expecting something different there? It’s good to have a little bit of confrontation because otherwise you’re flat and I think that’s the worst thing you can be.
What’s wrong with the way competitive surfing is going?
When I first went surfing in Fuerteventura, you’d just go down to the water and if you crossed with another car you’d stop and be like ‘Hey the waves are good, go for it’. Now you go to the beach and it’s like ‘Who are you?’ or ‘Who’s your sponsor?’ I don’t like it. With skateboarding you just hang out and if you’re good then that’s cool but if you’re not, you can still have fun. But if you go in the water and you’re not a good surfer, you won’t get any waves because the other guys won’t give you a chance.
Tell me about Wasted Youth Society?
It started as an idea with a couple of friends; one’s a surfer and the other’s a photographer. We have the same thoughts about surfing and don’t like way some of the guys are more interested in money than how surfing makes you feel. We wanted to criticise that because surfing is just our way to waste time. That’s where ‘Wasted Youth’ came from. But now it’s turned into something quite different. It’s kind of a collective but it’s mainly me updating the blog with paintings, photos, music and movies I like.
What kind of art are you interested in?
Photography and painting. I’m mostly working with ink and acrylic at the moment. I’m not a good painter but it just feels good to draw and express something. Brian Morris is really good. I go everywhere with my camera and try to capture moments to tell a story.
Do you think art and surfing mix well?
Yeah, I think art mixes with everything. I think it’s a waste of time to live without creativity. When you’re young, you have a lot of ideas but when you grow up, in school and work, they teach you to do something else. I think it’s pretty important to feel good doing something whether that’s art, music or surfing.
And do you hope to surf professionally forever?
It doesn’t really bother me. I think you kind of evolve. I see a lot of friends who are stuck on one thing, like if they skateboard they would never do BMX, but why not? I started snowboarding then I changed to windsurfing and then I finally got into surfing. Maybe in ten years I’ll be… playing golf! It’s just about feeling good. As long as I like it, I will keep doing it. I don’t want to see myself making a living out of surfing. I just want to keep learning.
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Hector Menendez Interview (text) by Shelley Lee Jones is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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