Natxo González: “(Ramón Navarro) was my father from the beginning”

The Basque big rider says that Chile had a key impact on his career: "It changed my mindset and I said: 'This is what I want. This feeling is the heaviest I have ever felt in my entire life and I want to repeat it'”


April 7
|EN Recent
|POR DUKE

Basque big wave surfer Natxo González makes clear the influence that Chile had on the beginnings of a career that led him to become one of the best big wave riders in the world.

In a recent documentary released by Red Bull Surfing, he tells how after winning the 2012 Punta Galea Challenge, at the age of 17, he met legendary Chilean surfer Ramón Navarro (who was a finalist in that tournament) and received an invitation to travel to Chile with him.

“He took me to his house and showed me the waves around Chile. I remember getting into a giant tube at Punta de Lobos, which changed my mindset and I said: 'This is what I want. This is the heaviest feeling I've ever felt in my life and I want to do it again.'”

“(Ramón Navarro) was my father from the beginning,” he says, and in archive footage he is shown in Chile exclaiming with perfect left-handed shots breaking behind: “I will never forget this experience in my life!”

The Red Bull production shows Natxo and his friends dominating waves in the Basque Country with the final gem of a slab not so explored by surfers who surf it on an epic day.

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