Interview

Name: Danilo Eduardo Placencia

Age: 28 years old

Nationality: Chilean

Time Surfing: 8 years
Activity: Surf Instructor

Surfing implies a commitment and knowledge of nature, because there are not two equal

waves, each day is a different experience.

Factors of surfing like wind, the strength of trend or the direction of floodwater makes surfing

unique.

1. At what age did you start surfing? And when did it become a passion?

I started (surfing) following my older brother. I was starting college, I was 20 years old and right away it became my passion

2. How did you become a surf instructor?

I wanted to do something different, and I love to teach. Then with my brother and friends created the Surf School and there I have become a Surf Instructor.

3. Who is your biggest inspiration?

The happiness and the tranquility that the ocean gives you each time that brings colossal waves.

4. Have you always live by the sea?

It is something relative. Because of my job and studies I have had to be away a little but I'm always back to the beach. If I am in the city I am thinking about Surf.

5. Describe your best surfing memory?

I have many, but last Christmas something wonderful happened. A hunbacked whale scared all of us, but at the end we finished taking care of it and playing with it.

6. Which countries have you ridden? Has traveling benefited your surfing, and what knowledge have you gained from it?

I have surfed principally in Chile, because here we have the best waves. But I also know some waves in France, Spain and Portugal where I have learnt about the evolution of beaches and people related to the surf.

7. What inspires you to carry on surfing?

The surf is always giving us new experiences. You meet a lot of people with projects and ideas related to protecting the beach, the ocean and the earth that is one of the things that inspires me.

8. Have you had to incorporate a healthy life style to benefit your surfing?

Totally. Since I started surfing my body and my mind work like a fifteen-year old but with more experience, with creativity and energy. For this reason I do not smoke or drink and I practice different kinds of sports as yoga, snowboard, long board, indo board, ect.

9. What advice would you give to anyone looking to get into surf?

That surfing is a personal experience, in which being constant and organized are fundamental to learn. Also to have a vision that surf is not only to be on the surf board and to read the waves, it is much more than that. it is about having friends, taking care of the beach, respecting the animals communities that live in the ocean, etc.