Valerie Duprat
“Tandem girls have the privilege to see the wave like only the pelicans do.”
Frederic Branger
“I've always wanted to be a dancer, I guess I'm almost there, kinda."
As a baby : I was born on 01/01/1974 in Saint-Denis (near Paris, France). My parents, Christiane and Rene, just got to bed after celebrating New Year’s Eve but I decided that the party was not over ! They agreed that one like me was enough and I stayed an only child.
As a kid : I discovered ice skating on TV when I was
5 years old. Neither one of my parents knew how to skate… They had
to learn as I begged them to take me skating. Then I enrolled in a local
club and they had to take me to the ice skating ring three times a week,
including Sunday morning at 7am. In addition they had to spend whole days
in the cold for the regional contests. Most of the time I was so stressed
out that I could not successfully perform the routines.
It was time for me to move onto a less demanding activity…
As a teenager: I played tennis not because I like it (I hate running) but to spend some quality time with my father. Meanwhile I studied Biology and got the french baccalaureat degree.
As a student: I discovered my very first passion: snowboarding. I had a student job at a snowboard shop, selling boards and skis. I could get enough money to take as many snowboard trips as possible. The instructors were the best. Later I qualified for the national student championship. Meanwhile I was still playing tennis, not because I like it better than before, just to have fun with my friends.
As a PhD: After I defended my thesis in Biochemistry, I found a post-doctoral position at UC San Diego. I convinced my boyfriend Vincent to move to California with me (I would not go without him). He accepted right away as he was an inveterate surfer.
As a wife and a mother: I married Vincent in San Diego in April 2001. Frederic was Vince’s witness (They were working together as lifeguards in France and met by chance in the line-up in San Diego!). Little Valentin was born in January 2003.
As a surfer: I started surfing because I was tired of
waiting for my husband on the beach. My first board was a shortboard,
I was scared of a 2 foot wave, I would not go in only when the weather
was perfectly warm and sunny… No need to tell you that I was a pretty
bad surfer for many years, until I found tandem surfing.....
As far as I can recall, I’ve always had my hair wet. It’s
ridiculous really; if I add up the hours I’ve spent in water over
the years, it probably makes up for a quarter of my life!
As a child, my parents could not take their eyes off me for fear of
finding me submerged in a fountain or a pond. In the south of France
where I grew up, the sun often shone and the freckled red haired boy
that I was, must have felt better cooling off in water.
My parents figured out fairly fast that for my own security they’d better make sure I knew how to swim so they signed me up for lessons when I was four. At six, I started swimming for a competitive club! Needless to say, I loved it. The following year, my family moved from the Mediterranean coast to the Atlantic coast and I discovered waves…
From that summer on, I was hooked on the ocean – I could not
get enough of it. So for the next few years I spent summers riding waves
and winters swimming laps.
As a teenager, I started surfing through the winter a lot more; the
sport was gradually becoming my lifestyle. I started working as a lifeguard
as soon as I turned 18, and started organizing my "Endless Summer"
trips to places like Indonesia, New Zealand and the Caribbean. I was
working small jobs and surfed as much as I could. Not a bad life, but
at 22 I decided it might be time to go to college.
Knowing full well that I probably wouldn’t finish school unless
I went somewhere I could surf between classes, I packed up all my surfboards
and headed for Southern California. I graduated from UC San Diego four
years later with a B.A. in literature and a Ph.D. in surfing!
Just kidding, but it’s true I did a lot of surfing during this
time. I surfed all around San Diego, traveled to Baja and central Mexico
a lot, and experienced riding all kinds of boards; from the six-foot
shortboard to the big wave gun, the retro fish to the classic longboard,
and I loved it all. I also started spear fishing and bodysurfing a lot.
I guess you could say California is a good fit for me.
Through college, and up to this day, I’ve been working as a surfing
instructor. It pays the bills and it has allowed me to share my passion
of the ocean with thousands of people. One of my favorite things to
do at work is to ride with kids on their board and have them do tricks
like head stands or shoulder sits.
So when a year ago my friend Valerie suggested we try to tandem surf,
I loved the idea. We tried, discovered it was actually doable, and started
surfing tandem several times a week. The photos on this website testify
to all the fun we’ve been having. Now we want to share it with
you and take you to the beach.
-Fred
Tandem surfing came into our
californian lives during the Halloween week-end 2004 after watching an
old longboarding video showing a black and white sequence of tandem surfing.
I liked the figure skating-like lifts; Fred evoked his daily surf teaching
experiences in which he was taking waves with his young students on the
same board. Joking about combining our expertises, we decided to give
it a try the next day. We borrowed a big foam board from Fred’s
surf school (Kahuna Bob Surfing School) and… it was technically
a total disaster … But so much fun !!!
In only one session, the magic of tandem surfing had already soaked our
souls. Learning by watching the biblic video “The Art of Tandem
Surfing” by the legendary Barrie and Steve Boehne, and from the
precious advices of other couples, we worked the lifts on the beach and
in the water on a tandem board kindly lended by Pat Weber (San Diego Surfing
Academy). A couple of months later, in order to meet more couples, we
enrolled in our first tandem contest and for the first time surfed for
the Swamis Surfing Association. Since then, tandem surfing has become
part of our lifestyle. We fully enjoy surfing together in everyday exhibitions
(each tandem session is an exhibition according to the enthousiastic reactions
of the public!), official exhibitions or contests.
With this website which visually testifies to all the fun we have tandem surfing together, we officially invite you, your family members, friends, future tandem surfers, the public as well as sponsors, to share the unique experience of dancing with the waves….
-Valerie