Cover photo: 24 weeks 🙂 Photo by Kassie Zandstra
Disclaimer: This blog on surfing and pregnancy was originally posted in Dutch, on the website of surfgirls.nl ( https://www.surfgirls.nl/post/surfen-tijdens-je-zwangerschap)
I always say surfing to me is more than just a sport or a hobby, it’s a lifestyle, it’s how I met many of my friends, it’s how I met my boyfriend and it’s why it is so wonderful to be able to work remotely and flexibly. And on top of that, hopefully, I can share this with one more mini-person in the long run! But before diving into surfing and pregnancy stuff, let me give you a bit of an idea of who I actually am:
Who am I?
Manon, 35 years old, born in Brabant, The Netherlands, then studied in Nijmegen but left for Argentina somewhere halfway through (in 2009) for what would be an ‘Erasmus’ semester, then stayed in Ecuador in 2011 and 2012 for an internship and Master thesis and finally from 2013-2018 I lived in Cali, Colombia and worked for an international research center for tropical agriculture. First as an employee and since 2016 as a freelancer. And no, I am not a scientist, I work as a Communications Specialist, mainly focusing on everything related to sustainable development: climate change, reforestation, sustainable agriculture, etc.
In 2018 I wanted to move back to Europe and ended up fairly haphazardly in the south of Spain (on the coast of the province of Granada). I’ve been living there for 5 years now with two Colombian cats who made the crossing with me, and my Brazilian boyfriend joined them 2.5 years ago. And in the meantime, we have a nice collection of 4 shortboards, two longboards aaah and now… a mini surfer in my stomach 😉
Finding the waves
Anyway, I hear you thinking: ‘um Manon, Quito (Ecuador), Cali (Colombia) and now the Mediterranean Sea, not really surf spots par excellence! And that’s right 😉 During my years in South America, I always wanted to learn how to surf, but that was only once a year when I went to the coast in Ecuador, or to Nicaragua or Peru for work. Never took a lesson, always with a surfboard that friends had left over (always a board that was way too small and full of holes) so of course that didn’t help at all!
When I moved to Spain I said: ok, but now for real! In the village of Salobreña, where I live now, there happens to be a surf school, and ok .. there is not necessarily a swell every week, but once a month! And anyway, we had lessons twice a week, with surf skates or just to paddle and learn duck dives. In addition, I really started to get the hang of it and I went as often as I could for a long weekend to El Palmar (in the province of Cádiz, and therefore the Atlantic Ocean) and my remote working trips were increasingly combined with surfing trips. Along the coast of Portugal and northern Spain, to Indonesia, Mexico and indeed .. to Brazil 😉
Surfing in my favorite spot: Enghenoca (Brazil) Photo: Marcio Freire
Brazil during COVID-19
Here I stayed somewhere during the outbreak of the pandemic with a canceled flight. When I managed to get back to Spain after a few weeks, I received (ok, after quite a few months after it) a voucher for the canceled flight. And then winter ’20-21 the umpteenth lockdown in Spain was coming, I thought, I’m going back to Brazil and won’t come back until spring 😉 (before everyone falls over me, in Spain you could go to the abroad, the problem was to come back during lockdowns, but I wasn’t planning to now ;))
No sooner said than done. Traveling through northeast Brazil with a kite and a surfboard, I got the tip to go to a surf village, Itacaré. I caught the bus (and boat, and another bus) and was just in time for a sunset surf!
Braziliiillllll
The moment I paddled into the water, completely enchanted by the beautiful sunset and colors, I forgot to look to the right and almost got over-surfed. Fortunately, this surfer reacted a little faster than me and jumped off his board, but yes…. etiquette is etiquette, so, of course, I had to apologize to this gentleman. This turned out to be a Brazilian from another province who was also on a surfing trip with friends. And after some chatting back and forth, yes… they still had room in the car and yes, if I wanted to come along the days to go to all kinds of spots in the region. Of course!!!
Fast forward 2.5 years and we ended up traveling through Brazil together, we traveled in my van from Albania to Spain for three months, we did a 6-week surf trip along the entire coast of France, now living together in Spain, getting married the next year and …. so get a little surfer in September!! (So it was quite a good idea to go to Brazil at the time. By the way, his version of the story is still that I was not distracted by the colors of the sunset, but by all his cool tricks. Sure, sure ;))
In addition, we will move (if all goes well) before the baby arrives to the surfing village of Somo in northern Spain to continue our surfing lifestyle for ourselves and for the little one.
Surfing with boyfriend in southern Portugal
Anyway, back to what we were really talking about.
Surfing, and pregnancy? How?
uupsieeee 😉 Photo by Alicia Soblechero
First of all, no, I didn’t feel great for the first three months! I was very nauseous and often threw up. In addition, I was so absurdly tired that I had to take a siesta every few hours. I found this quite difficult, not only because I’m used to always having quite a lot of energy and being able to exercise, but also because few people (or at least not my work clients) knew that I was pregnant. So then I had to show up in a Zoom meeting for hours with my nausea and fatigue as fresh as possible. In addition, my pregnancy also came somewhat unexpectedly and I found it quite difficult to mentally turn the switch.
What I soon found out is that I had to keep moving and exercising. I’ve always worked out a lot and know that this is the best recipe for my body, even though the ‘sentence’ was rather hard to find when I hung over the toilet seat again. I also went surfing in those weeks, but it certainly happened more than once that when I finally arrived in the line-up I threw my entire stomach contents out over my board, and then came out again without any energy had to go. And of course, my boyfriend had no problem with it. I thought that was so very unfair..! 😉 But.. from week 12 it suddenly went much better! Nausea gone, energy back! Fantastic! And the surfing went pretty well again.
24 weeks pregnant. Just to be sure, I put the two side fins on my longboard next to the single fin. Just a little more stability in these times of somewhat shifted balance 😉. Photo by Kassie Zandstra
Adapting to my new ´me´
I did notice that my condition and strength were getting less, and of course, I was also getting heavier. So I adjusted my decisions every time: first I decided that I didn’t want to surf in ‘dangerous or crowded’ places anymore, far from the crowd because the last thing I wanted was to receive someone else’s board in my stomach. When it was stormy with a strong current, I also decided to call it a day, I didn’t really have the condition for that. Until week 20 (so halfway through pregnancy) I managed to keep it up with my shortboard, but I’m really too heavy for that now (I’ve gained 10 kg in the meantime) so that board really didn’t get me any further. So I have now switched to a longboard.
My pop-up is also rather slow-motion in the meantime, trying to find my new balance, so a longboard is just a bit more forgiving than a shortboard.
What does my doctor say about this?
I think it’s a really great feeling to still be able to surf, and ok.. I’ll be honest. In a two-hour session I might only catch two waves. Because indeed, I stay far away from the crowd (and therefore also the peak), I lean more on my chest and knees and make a kind of hollow back to make room for the belly: not really the most efficient way of paddling and speed, and I also take as few risks as possible. But hey.. something is better than nothing!
By the way, I’ve never asked my midwife if it’s ok that I’m still surfing. At our first conversation at 9 weeks, she said that it was better not to go snowboarding or something (while we had just gone boarding that day before. In fact, the day I got the positive pregnancy test somewhere on the border with France and Spain in my hands, we went snowboarding in the Pyrenees) and that pilates and yoga were good pregnancy activities.
The day we had the positive pregnancy test in our hands and we went snowboarding 😉
My boyfriend then gave me a nudge with the message ‘don’t say you’re still surfing, kite and skate’. So to be honest, I listened to my own body much more than really seeking medical advice. Of course I have read some blogs from other women who continued to surf during pregnancy, and in particular about recovery after pregnancy. But I myself don’t know anyone, and actually don’t see anyone, with a belly on the board. And sometimes I actually think that’s a shame… how nice would it be if there were a community of (future) mom surfers!
The reactions of people around me
The reactions of other surfers in the water are really nice. Most of them look rather doubtful at first and ask me if this is really such a good idea. To which I say that I am always very careful, but at least they don’t want to surf me off my board. And when I have a wave, the reactions are really so much fun!
A while ago I found it very difficult to surf with my boyfriend. Our level has always been different, he has been surfing since he was 18 and lived on the beach with swell every day. So I can easily say that his level is very high. I… well, I surf with a shortboard, but I don’t do tricks or barrels or anything. I have also noticed that I let myself slow down mentally much more often, afraid if the wave is too steep, that I can’t do it, etc.
This is often a thing where I get frustrated and start comparing myself to him, but it became even more so when I was just pregnant and my condition and strength suddenly deteriorated. I spent an hour trying to even get into the line-up against the current, and my boyfriend already had his 25th wave with all kinds of tricks. Yes, to be honest, I really didn’t find that very fun and inspiring and could get really angry if he was complaining at wave 26 that he had put his foot down just a bit wrong and therefore couldn’t have done that one trick completely right. Hello! Perspective, please?!
How I shifted my mindset
Now it’s different, I know it’s quite special to still surf with 6 months pregnant, and I didn’t expect it myself, so I can now really enjoy every moment on the board. How nice would it be if I could keep this vibe, without frustrations, and be happy with the level I have, for the rest of my life!
How long do I think I will keep surfing? I really have no idea!! I really listen to my body in this. As long as it still feels ok, why not? But comes the moment when I think, ok, this is no longer pleasant or safe. Sure, that will be quite a difficult moment, I also found it difficult to realize that the shortboard really didn’t work anymore, but then I accept that too. I’ll be back next year.
Although I also find that exciting. What will it be like after giving birth? How will my body be in six months? Will I regain that strength and fitness? Will I get the mindset back? I know that medically I have to wait 6 weeks anyway, but for surfing, you need a good condition. So it will take a little longer. We hope to go to Brazil at the end of January, so hopefully I will be in good shape again to be able to surf again at my favorite spot in the world: Enghenoca (Itacaré, Bahia. But don’t all go there at the same time ;))
Do I have any tips and advice for (future) surfing moms?
Do what feels right for you. You will receive so much (well-intentioned) advice about what to do and what not to do, and believe me… I really have no idea what my body is doing and the hormones don’t make it any clearer, but I trust in my body and hair can, and I trust that I will recognize the signals when it is ready.
But… what I would actually really like would be to have a community of surfing moms. I’ve already searched for meetings or retreats, for example, but I just really can’t find ANYTHING!
So.. if anyone does know them, recognizes themselves in this story on surf and pregnancy, or knows surfing mamas in Northern Spain, please let me know because I think I’m going to really need that community in the rather exciting period who will also come again with all the changes!
Surfing in Mexico. Photo: Juani Canton
