84INTERVIEWRICHARD ATTREE
But apart from the weather, Tenerife is an amazing island. I
thought of the downshift as moving to El Médano rather than
to Tenerife, but the whole island has surprised us with its
diversity and unexpected possibilities: spectacular rugged
scenery, the highest mountain in Spain, incredible lunar
landscapes, forests, a variety of micro-climates… When it’s
not windy (which isn’t very often) we go mountain biking up
in the forest.
Apart from the outdoor/sporting opportunities there’s a
vibrant capital city (Santa Cruz, population roughly 500,000)
with a rich maritime/colonial history, thriving cultural
scene, fanatically supported football team (sadly no longer
playing in La Liga, so not-so-thriving), a university, a carnival
that's only rivalled by Rio… To be honest, we don’t miss
much about the UK … OK, maybe British humour, the
English language, and the rolling green countryside.
The main issue, living here, is the language. Our Spanish is
still fairly basic – enough to get by, but not to go into
conversational subtleties, tell a joke, that kind of thing. It can
be tricky getting things delivered – even from mainland
Spain. And then there’s the mess that is Brexit – but you
better not get me started on that!
I’m very fortunate
to ‘live my dream’
(to use the jargon
of reality TV), here
in El Médano.
Now I’m a writer
– it’s who I am!
Stories,
characters, ideas,
words are my
obsession (along
with windsurfing,
of course)
Has moving meant more time on the water?
It certainly has! Being self-employed, living next to the beach
in Shoreham, I was fortunate to get plenty of TOW, but El
Médano is just phenomenally consistent. The waves may not
be world-class, but the wind statistics certainly are. You can
get around 150 days in an average year and you can wear a
shortie most of the time.
These days I’m more into quality than quantity. My sessions
are shorter and I’m more choosy about what conditions will
motivate me to stop writing and go windsurfing.
What type if windsurfing do you mainly
indulge in?
I’d call myself a wave sailor. I’m not into speed, racing, or
freestyle tricks – just riding waves, however small and mushy
they are. My narrator, Nick, puts it like this, “Once I experienced
waves, windsurfing without them became two dimensional.
Waves add the Z axis to the X and Y. They’re the contours, hills,
mountains, in an otherwise flat, featureless landscape.”
I also enjoy the occasional jump… but not loops – at 65,
I have to look after my ageing body. The warm water helps:-)
Tell us about your writing background
I’ve always loved books and I wanted to be a writer, but I got
diverted into writing music rather than words. In my twenties
I was playing keyboards in jazz, rock, and soul bands and
then I made my living as a composer of music for TV, working
at the BBC’s renowned Radiophonic Workshop, before
going freelance. magazine: ‘Life on the Reef’ about life as an ex-pat windsurfer.
It was the first time I had anything published and I just knew
that I was finally doing what I loved best. Music was only ever a
job – a rewarding, well paid job, but never my first love.
When we downshifted to Tenerife I retired from the media
music business and it gave me the opportunity to get to grips
with writing. I wrote a series of articles for ‘Boards’ Since then I’ve published two books, co-authored with my
wife, Nikki: ‘Nobody’s Poodle’ (2013), a short novel written
from the perspective of our rescue dog, and ‘Somebody’s
uk
WIND
SURFING