One afternoon in Guethary, with Romain Maurin 

To celebrate Tribes 2025, our family surfing competition, Hoalen spent an afternoon with Romain under the Basque sun.

Today, Romain welcomes Hoalen for an afternoon in his beloved region, the Basque Country.

A retired professional longboarder and World Surf League competitor, Romain glides with effortless ease over the waves of the Basque Country and Landes region, which he knows so well. And with good reason: surfing is more than just a passion for the Maurin family, it's a family tradition.

Son of Francois Xavier Maurin, pioneer of French surfing, our ambassador carries on the family tradition. His father introduced him to the joys of surfing at a very young age.

His track record speaks for itself: two-time European longboard champion, he became French senior longboard champion (28-35) in 2013. He won the “Longboard Seniors Men” title in 2013 and twice in a row won the French Longboard Masters category (35-39) title, in 2016 and 2017.

This passion never left him, and after years of traveling and competing around the world, he courageously returned to school at the age of 27 to earn his degree in podiatry.

Living with his family on the Basque coast, Romain is a regular participant in the Hoalen Tribes competitions, which he has won several times with his father and in which he has competed with his daughter. In keeping with the spirit of our intergenerational event, he shares and passes on his passion for surfing to his two daughters.