BEACH CULTURE WORLD TOUR

“What’s De-action JC? I am hosting the Beach Culture World Tour finals at the end of February, would you be interested in flying out to Barbados to shoot and be one of the judges?” Oh boy what a tough decision to make in the midst of UK winter, just as it’s starting to freeze over! This invitation from Brian Talma was a ticket to trade icy cold mornings for icy cold beers and for once I had no hesitation to say “yeah man, book me up!”

Words & Photos John Carter

THE CONCEPT
You have to take your cap off to the visionary concepts of legendary Barbadian water-man, Brian Talma. Blessed by living in a Caribbean tropical windy paradise, Brian has utilized his infectious personality and unique look to reinvent and promote his colourful career in windsurfing that has spanned over three decades. His latest project, which he claims is his ‘biggest ever’, is the ‘Beach Culture World Tour’, which aims to show off the unique lifestyle of various top level watermen and women, promote destinations, while also include a bit of friendly competition both on and off the water. Fun and attitude are the key ingredients of success for the participants. “The waterman who has the best time, is the most entertaining and inspirational, will emerge as the champion” is the name of the game according to Brian. Each athlete is paid up front to play and part of the way they are assessed by the likes of myself as one of the judging panel is through their ability to work it with the media, be the most creative and score the raddest shots! Also key to the ‘BCWT’ is using the media opportunity to showcase the island and support the local community from the grass roots upwards. From what I could gather, we were even going to judge the restaurants that were supporting us, maybe I could even persuade Brian to include beer and rum tasting sessions, now there is an idea!

JET SET
I flew out to Barbados with Virgin airlines which was all in all a pleasant experience. Virgin offer a 23kgs luggage allowance, plus a free bag for sports equipment also weighing up to 23kgs, so you can take your own windsurfing gear if you are shrewd on the way you pack. The flight to Barbados is around 8 hours and in that short space of time I exchanged a chilly 4 degree morning for a balmy 28 degree Caribbean breezy afternoon. Brian was waiting with a big smile outside the Grantley Adams airport to meet me in his brightly self-painted Toyota pick-up. Within minutes we were headed towards deAction centre at Silver Sands beach, the premier location for windsurfing on the island and all set for an action packed week!

DEACTION CENTRE
There is no doubt when you arrive at deAction Centre that Brian has put his own personal stamp and influence on every detail on the property. The buildings are all painted with bright Rasta colours, with various statements and poetry written by Brian on every wall and most items. To the left of the entrance is ‘the boat’, an old wreck of a fishing boat that Brian has turned into a fascinating museum documenting the legacy of his career in water-sports. The whole vibe about the place is relaxed, colourful and inviting. The beach front centre is stocked with plenty of windsurfing, SUP and kite equipment which is available for rental and also boasts a restaurant and two vacation units both typically furnished with Brian’s unmistakable style.

Out front is the glistening turquoise lagoon, perfect for freeride and blasting until it hits the reef about three hundred metres offshore where a playground of waves awaits. The Caribbean trades blow port tack side onshore, with the windy season spanning all the way from November through until July. Brian’s advice for wave sailors bringing their own equipment is to bring a big wave board and a 5.8m and 6.2m to cover the light wind days. In January the wind was 5m for two weeks straight but typically it can be in that 15-18 knot range, where bigger equipment will save you from bogging around in the water. Brian has no doubt that his centre is the very best location for people that want to come and windsurf in Barbados! “Anyone who can water start proficiently and can handle a wave or slalom board will have a ball at my place” he claims with confidence. “We are directly on the beach, we have the best apartments, storage, rentals and the whole package for visitors!”

CAST OF CHARACTERS
Once settled into my apartment a few miles down the road at Long Beach, it was straight back up to Brian’s centre for the Beach Culture World Tour opening ceremony.

FIONA WYLDE (Wylde style)
The fearless nineteen year old, Fiona Wylde, has been a breath of fresh air to the windsurfing and SUP world! Originally from Hood River in Oregon, she moved to Hawaii a few years ago and soon established herself as one of the best wave riders at Ho’okipa, only narrowly losing to world champion Iballa Moreno in the finals of the Aloha Classic last autumn. Her dream is to become the best water women she can and she is planning to compete on the PWA and stand up world tours.

HOPE LeVIN (Wind warrior)
Twenty three year old Hope LeVin hails from the beautiful Turks and Caicos Islands and started kiteboarding at the age of eleven, which helped her develop a love for the ocean and water sports. Hope has competed all over the world on the kite tour and is also passionate about looking after the environment and taking care of her playground, the ocean!

BERND ROEDIGER (Crown Prince)
From windsurf to stand up paddling, Bernd is a charger in any water sport he pursues. Brought up sailing amongst the cauldron of talent in Maui, with the support of his father ‘Norm’, Bernd has never been far from the water and feeding off the likes of Zane Schweitzer, Connor Baxter and Kai Lenny for the level of energy they have for the ocean. Bernd’s ability speaks for itself with multiple Aloha Classic victories against the best in the world at Ho’okipa and plenty of podium results on the SUP world tour.

YOURI ZOON (Black fly)
Twenty six year old Youri Zoon grew up in the Netherlands and was an extreme sports addict right from a very young age. Youri originally learned to windsurf in Holland but decided to switch and focus on kite boarding and to compete on the PKRA world tour. In 2006 he severely damaged his ACL and was forced to miss a couple of seasons but came back stronger on his return and went on to be the world champion in 2011 and 2012.

RONALD RICHOUX (Mellow Yellow)
Ronald (44) started windsurfing at the age of 12 and he is what we’d describe as the French version of Peter Hart, albeit a few years younger! Ronald has been teaching windsurfing all over the world and his passion for the sport speaks for itself. He is a friendly, mellow character but rarely off the water and always keeping busy; a dark horse in this competition and one to watch out for. He has been part of the Goya Brand since their birth in 2005 and is also an Osteopath.

BRIAN TALMA (de Action man)
Brian who is now just over 50, started windsurfing at the age of 17 and was the pioneer of the sport in Barbados. He finished a BA in business administration in 1988 and immediately opened up his deAction centre at Silver Sands the same year. He entered his first ever PWA event in 1989 and was instrumental in bringing the tour to Barbados in 1993 and 1994, both of which he won! In 1988 and 1992 he represented Barbados at the Olympics in Seoul and Spain, while over the next ten years competed all over the world on the PWA world tour. In 1998, alongside his best buddy Josh Stone, Brian played a significant part in launching the freestyle discipline and helped develop and promote the tour into what it is today. In 2005 he introduced the sport of SUP to Barbados and went on to be one of the key personalities to launch the sport into Europe. In 2007 he redeveloped his deAction centre in Barbados and started promoting his beach culture art, painting and writing his poetry and designs on canvases and wooden signs all over the island. In 2009, he formally joined the Naish windsurfing and SUP team and stocked his shop with all their goodies. The key to Brian’s success has been his ability to evolve, be creative with his ideas while always working closely with the media. He may appear to be a laid back Caribbean waterman, but when you get to know him you will soon realize that his mind never stops working on how to keep pushing himself and promoting his career.
“ Beach culture revolutionizes the mind! It is a way of life where your passion is driven by what happens on the beach and out on the water ”

BEACH CULTURE WORLD TOUR

So what is Beach Culture exactly? Over to the Action Man himself for his very own explanation. Brian Talma – “Beach Culture is anything that revolves around the ocean. From picking up driftwood and creating art out of it to windsurf, kitesurf, paddle surf and any water sport. Beach culture is a way of life! I tried to change the way people think in Barbados about how they can make a business like a surf school or photography out of Beach culture. Beach culture revolutionizes the mind! It is a way of life where your passion is driven by what happens on the beach and out on the water.”
With the athletes given Brian’s guidelines for the competition format, we all headed down to the centre at the crack of dawn for our first taste of the action. In Barbados the wind tends to be stronger from 7am until midday, so we were all at the beach, bright and early to catch the premium conditions. So with the objective purely to have fun and to be prepared to put your reputation on the line by trying any other sports, all the riders hit the water for the early session.

Brian’s judging guidelines don’t involve man on man heats, with three waves and two jumps to count; at the BCWT it’s more about having an awesome session on the water but also coming back with the pictures to prove it. ‘Wydle style’ and ‘de Action Man’ were first out on the reef, but to our surprise Youri snatched a rig out of Brian’s centre and joined us in the waves. Fair play to Youri, he was surprisingly handy on the windsurf kit, throwing loops and smacking lips as if it was his main sport. Brian and Fiona were determined not to be outdone and were picking off the gorgeous turquoise waves and ripping them apart in the morning sunshine.
Since I was judge, I felt it my duty to make the long swim with my camera to keep an eye on the proceedings and make sure no crafty tricks were going down. Brian seemed to have the advantage by utilizing his big board and the 6.2m and was having a blast in the waves. You can just tell by the way he navigates his way around the water at Silver Sands that he knows this reef like the back of his hand, knowing which waves to smack and when he has just the right gust to nail a jump. At 50 years of age, Brian really is the Caribbean’s very own version of Robby Naish; an all-round waterman that is still ripping just as hard and still having a tonne of fun on the water with just as much passion for the sport as when he started.

SURF’S UP

After a quick break for some fresh fish and salad for lunch from the restaurant at deAction centre, we were straight into the next challenge with a surf session at a beautiful break called Freight’s, five minutes down the coast towards South Point. Once again we wasted no time at all hitting the water for a fun session on longboards with all of Brian’s five children – Sunshine (13), Starlite (11), Lion (8) Rainbow (6) and Ocean Blu (4) joining us. Freights really is your dream set up, the offshore wind grooms the waves as clean as a whistle and the turquoise water is so clear it is ridiculous.
Over the next two days the action never slowed down, with constant banter between us all and non-stop sessions on the water. ‘Crown prince’ had been ill for the first two days, but once he hit the water he was having a blast, especially sup’ing the waves on the far side of the island at Basheba. ‘Wydle style’ spent a lot of time encouraging Brian’s children to surf which was cool to see, while Hope charged hard on her kite, in the surf and even learned to windsurf. Over the weekend the wind did its thing in the mornings and dropped slightly in the afternoons, but there was still plenty of breeze for Brian, Youri and Ronald to all take the freeride gear out for a beautiful blasting session outside the centre. Each evening we would vote on a champion for the day, basically the male or female that had embraced the essence of the Beach Culture World Tour, had the most fun and scored the best shots was voted the winner. The pace never slowed down over the weekend until it came time to the final results, where we all cast our decisions at the final voting session. The atmosphere was tense as everyone handed in their slips and it was down to me to work out the winner, the pressure was on! Hope, Fiona and Brian all clocked up several votes but storming ahead to be the Beach Culture World Champion was Youri, who’s constant efforts windsurfing, sup’ing and kiting were enough to sway the decision from the majority. In the windsurfing department, I’d say Brian had to take the glory but with that sneaky advantage of the 6.2m, ‘Wydle style’ never had a chance on her 4.5m!

BARBADOS GRINDS

My votes for the best food were split between The Fish Net in Oistin’s fish market and Chicken Rita’s. The Oistin’s fish fry is a must do in Barbados and the night to most avoid is Friday, when the place is overloaded with tourist buses from all over the island. The rest of the week is much more relaxed and the fish here is amongst the best I have ever tasted. At the Fish Net, a plate of swordfish, tuna, marlin or mahi-mahi will set you back about £10, it is all freshly caught and is barbequed right in front of your eyes! Our second evening was spent at Chicken Rita’s, a small local style shack, set back just off the road. You have to navigate through the broken roads to find it, but the journey is well worth it. Rita’s specializes in, yep you guessed it, chicken! Not just any old chicken though, Rita’s is fried Barbados style, comes with tasty fries and can be washed down with local rum or ice cold Banks beer. Locals reckon it’s the best chicken in the Caribbean and certainly scored my vote as the tastiest and most relaxed place we ate at during the week.

BARBADOS – ISLAND STYLE!

Barbados is the easternmost Island in the Caribbean and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. The island is pear shaped and around 21 miles long and 14 miles wide and is much flatter than many of the neighbouring Caribbean Islands. DeAction centre is close to the airport on the southernmost tip of the island and is the best location for windsurfing. As for surfing, just around the coast from Silver Sands near the red lighthouse are the breaks of South Point and Freights. Freights is the more user friendly of the two breaks with amazing clear turquoise water, while South point is slightly more punchy and more suitable for short boards. When a decent swell hits Barbados, the waves break at various spots all down the West coast and there is always a wave at Bathsheba on the North East Coast, although it can often be onshore with the easterly trades.

Soup Bowls at Bathsheba is easily the heaviest surfing wave on the island and is well known as one of Kelly Slater’s favourite breaks. Brian has sailed it once in his thirty year career, so don’t count on it as a windsurfing option. Tucked away on the eastern tip of the island are Harrismith Beach and Bottom Bay, both stunning beaches in their own right. Bottom Bay is a pure white sand beach, with amazing water colour enclosed by high coral cliffs and surrounded by tall palm trees. Less than half a mile away Harrismith is another stunning beach and has the ruins of an old plantation house on the clifftop overlooking the pearly white sands.

EVOLVING

So what is the secret to Brian’s’s success and incredible thirty year career in water-sports? After retiring from the PWA world tour Talma could have easily faded away, but instead he has continued to bring new energy, ideas and concepts to the table and is always in the spotlight of the media. Brian explains: “The key to my success is evolving. I am fifty and still surviving in the business. It is competitive out there and everybody is trying to manoeuvre. The one thing that kept me alive is creativity. Ideas like my Boat and the BCWT have helped maintain the interest. With the boat I said ‘Ok, what can I do here?’ I know, I’ll make a Brian Talma museum and celebrate my thirty years in the business. I’ll make it something people want to come and see and a landmark on Barbados. I look within myself for inspiration, I was called the ‘Irie Man’ for a long time but then said to myself, Brian who are you; the ‘action man!’. I am authentic to who I am, so the word ‘Action’ started up and I moved on. Back in the day I had a budget for boards and rather than spend all my money on new gear I spent some of the money to make music. Everybody laughed at my music but it worked! All the top level competitors went to the event but I was the one who was invited up on stage even though I was ranked maybe 25th.
All these concepts created me a fan base and I have always managed to work my way in with the media. These ideas separate me from the rest, that’s my angle! The boat separated me, the music separated me and the Beach Culture World Tour has separated me! Freestyle separated me for five years while I was in the top ten, but then I moved on. I am investing in the Beach Culture World Tour because I believe in it and it is working! It’s a competitive environment, so you have to be creative and define yourself. You have to be brave to take these chances, but I roll with my ideas and put myself out there. With my creativity I take the same chances as a windsurfer riding Jaws or throwing a fifty foot back loop. I am on the edge just the same as those guys and a lot of people are scared to do something different. That’s fine by me! My brain is continually conceptualizing. Everything I do I want to make better. I never stop, I even wake up at night with new ideas; my brain is never switched off!”

ARTIST
One part of Brian’s influence around his centre is his amazing artwork. His mother was an artist and took him to view many galleries and exhibitions as a child. When his children were young, he used to draw and paint pictures to help them learn and inspire them. “I painted fish, birds and different symbolisms when they were very young to keep them interested”, Brian reflects. “In 2007 I started painting the boat and putting all these symbols on it. At the time my son Lion was very sick and I used the boat to help me get through it. It turned out my son was fine but I kept going with the painting. I took my art on tour and sold it all over the world. That era was extremely successful and was just another way I have created another angle to keep the interest going. My biggest art piece ever is the boat. It is a statement of what I have achieved. It is a symbol of my legacy and it brings people to the beach”

SUMMARY
So now the Beach Culture World Tour is well and truly out there. Brian is not messing around with this concept and truly believes more destinations will buy into the idea. As for the athletes, he hopes to create an exclusive club where more riders will want to be a part of the ‘BCWT’. With appearance fees, top level media on hand and exotic destinations to explore, who in their right minds would not want a piece of the action? “I want to create intrigue for the tour” says Brian with a wide grin. “Riders and destinations are going to ‘want in’ once they see what we are doing, we are creating friendships having fun and promoting ourselves. I truly believe in this and am sure this will grow into bigger and better things”

“ Beach Culture is anything that revolves around the ocean. From picking up driftwood and creating art out of it to windsurf, kitesurf, paddle surf and any water sport. Beach culture is a way of life! ” Brian Talma