WindsurfingUK Issue 1 | Page 42

42INTERVIEWRUSSELL GROVES Once the summer season is done, do you head off on trips yourself? Being on the water is all year round on Lanzarote. June/July/August are the windy months with waves in Costa Teguise. October through to March we get waves on the north shore. So it is only a case of which board takes priority in the bag. Costa Teguise is now my home again and so it is where I go on the water. I had a B&B in the north of the island in Maguez, and a windsurf/surf/kite/mountain bike academy for 15 years. I travelled every day, riding the best spots. It was hardcore discovery with many excellent wave riders. I sold everything and moved back to Costa Teguise, where I could sail kinder swells that did not punish my body so much. I also wanted to stop all of the driving and searching. Would you ever move back to the UK or is this it, Lanzarote is your permanent home? I have no plans to move back to the UK but you never know. Lanzarote is my home. I have lived here longer than anywhere else. uk WIND SURFING “I travelled every day, riding the best spots. It was hardcore discovery with many excellent wave riders.” Any final shouts, thanks and praise? Who do I thank? Well everybody, I would not be here now without you. I am riding Fanatic and North Sails at the moment with Maui Ultra Fins. But thanks also has to go to all the designers and manufacturers I have been involved with over the years. R&D has been a large part of my life. My passion is to ride waves and be one with the ocean, which is like a form of meditation. This year I coined the slogan: ‘living to ride’. And that’s what I tell everyone: ‘live to ride’.