Young, talented, and probably the nicest person you'll meet on the beach, Álvaro Almendras is one of a kind.

After his trip to India to learn about its culture and lifestyle, he returns with two things on his mind, surfing single fin and practicing yoga.

Álvaro never stops looking for new epic projects that always relate to his commitment and integrity to the world of surfing. This is what the style of his photos and his surfing style show, which caught our attention from the beginning.

We are happy to welcome our first national ambassador with the incredible editing and interesting interview below to find out more about this talented surfer.

 

 

 

Hello Alvaro! To give us a little more information about you as a person, tell us where you are from, what spots you frequent and what the environment where you surf is like?

I was born in Santiago de Chile, but I am currently living in Algarrobo. Maybe it's hard for me to say that I'm from somewhere, but now Algarrobo has taken my heart. And the people I've met here have made me fall in love with it.

It seems I'm starting to put down roots.

I like to ride a Longboard, and I am always looking for places to do it, in that sense the V region has several places that are being explored for that. Also the V has some flagship Waves nearby and some very good ones for Longboard.
So I go to Concon, a small town, and some good places on the V to ride a plank.

There is something that I really like about Algarrobo, and that is that surfing is very genuine, it has not yet been “professionalized” as much as in other places in Chile, and that means that you always see the same people in the water, all with enthusiasm. to improve and many times just for fun. I find that makes it quite unique, and you can still have sessions just in the water in a UNIQUE landscape, for me that is memorable.

What other things besides surfing are part of your routine and what are you especially passionate about ?

What I'm really passionate about is self-knowledge. An important part of our development has to do with that, and in that sense surfing is within that.

Without knowing ourselves, without observing ourselves, without wanting to be better human beings, it is basically impossible to improve something. That's why I like Yoga and also surfing, because I believe that both contribute to that path.

Finally, the way we move physically, what we feel & think and how we behave, are seen both on a wave and on a mat. The fundamental thing is to want to look at it.

So on a day to day basis I try to do that. Practice Yoga, surf, study, work and share with the people who contribute to life.

What is your day-to-day life like and how do you manage to integrate surfing or training into your daily routine?

Well routine is something super important, in fact every time I lose it is when things start to go not so well xD.

Many times we think that routine is something mega military, something stiff, very rigid hahaha, even uncreative, stupid.

But the truth is no. I like a definition of routine that mentions it as “When everything has its space and coexists.”

The lack of routine is a sign that there are things that do not coexist, that something takes on more importance than it has. In the end, balance is something more observable than we think.

That's why I like to get up early, set aside time for my family, the house, my work, my yoga practice, and to surf too.

I don't always succeed, but when I don't, I know what things I need to improve. In the end that is Yoga.

 

Do you have a favorite spot or type of wave?

The other day I was talking with a friend about Longboard waves, very rough like that hahahaha.

And I don't know! There is something that captivates me about a small, perfect, clean wave. It is as if he saw all the beauty of the sea condensed into something apparently “little”, but with a simplicity that sincerely captivates.

So “half a meter is better than a meter” lately in my life hahahaha. ah! and obviously clean waves with tubes, that is also something that excites me.

I have many favorite waves, it depends on the moment.

How would you define your way of living surfing and your experience in the sea?

The trip to India and Sri Lanka marked a before and after in my life, that is without a doubt.

But not only for being there in the country that was the birthplace of what I had been studying for so many years. There was something else.

I was just sitting one day, perhaps a little reflective, and I saw in my “mind” something very clear, that in fact marked me.

“Modern society has a very, very high consumption pattern rooted and naturalized. Basically it is the way we relate, sometimes we think it is just about buying, but the truth is that it is not. They are all the ways in which we fill our voids by acquiring external things that give us an appearance.”

AND I SAW MYSELF IN THAT! .

That was an explosion in me, a certain anguish but tranquility, it's difficult to explain hahahahahaha.

Well! That explosion in me marked the way I see the sea and surfing today. I already liked Longboard, but being in one of the meccas of the discipline impacted me!

In the end, it is about the subtlety, control and delicacy that the longboard has is a very profound and simple challenge at the same time, that is unmatched.

So I always try to look for that, deep simplicity. Try to understand the excess of appearance that we have, see it in myself, and try to return to the simple, genuine, to the apparently “little thing.”

That's where Yoga and Surf come together perfectly. The sea is my home and Yoga is the school that teaches me how to inhabit it.

There is a current of Japanese Buddhism that works on increasing the “emptiness”, bringing out extra things in us. I don't know if there is anything better to practice this than surfing beautifully on a Longboard,

Would you dare to give us honest feedback about the Patience Fins material and its brand identity?

When I saw Patience Fins for the first time, I was excited, I was happy that something like this was being created in Chile. I found it risky and genuine,

I immediately noticed their aesthetics, the way they expressed themselves, the surf they were aiming for. And that attracted me a lot.

Then we just had to coordinate things with the brand for the Longboard festival that we were organizing in Region V, and I was convinced. Pure love for what they do, free of immediate aspirations, and with an admirable will.

Later at the same festival I was able to see the fins up close and nothing to say, they had thought of the most diverse templates for Longboard, a clean aesthetic, and quality materials. A complete success for our country.

 

Regarding content and projects for this year, do you have anything planned? Any destination in mind ? Now that COVID restrictions finally seem to give us a break, what would you like to be able to do after a few years with such reduced mobility?

Yes always hahahahahahaha. With the restrictions it was a little difficult to think about traveling, and it also coincided with the construction of our house and our Yoga school here in Algarrobo, which also had us a little full.

But I have three projects in mind that I would like to complete during this year and next.

The first thing is that I started recording “conversations about 9 feet”, which are interviews with some people that I find important for the board in Chile. That's three chapters, with three interviews and I still need some things to finish it, but here we go, I have it very much in mind.

Afterwards, I really want to record and advance in showing Longboard waves in Chile. Sometimes we have been left with the idea that Chile is a super strong and powerful sea, and that it is. But that also coexists with good and perfect waves for planking, you just have to know where, when and how to go to those places.
I think there is something nice about moving forward with that.

And lastly, I would like to go to Mexico, the cold has me a little bad and I want eternal plank waves with mango juice waiting for me when I leave hahahahahaha.

I hope life gives me these opportunities.

 

Why did you choose the ELAV - Universo keel?

When I started reviewing Patience's fins, it was difficult for me to make the decision hahaha, they kept calling me.

But the Elav has a contour that I was looking for, very versatile, and it is a fin that forces you to be super subtle in your movements, which at the same time when well positioned supports perfect at the tip. A perfect mix for me.
Although it is a more technical fin, it has worked for me. In fact, he gave me some memorable Hangtens.

On the occasion of welcome, you gave life to videos and photo sessions as the new pilot of Patience Fins. What was the recording and editing process like ? Tell us about those sessions and your feelings once you've surfed with the Universo keel?

Then to record and take photos, I had seen some spaces that I found beautiful to show the keel, which I also believed went well with Patience's aesthetic. So I looked for a nice light, and I started taking photos.

Also Nela, my girlfriend, helps me a lot to take photos that I can't do alone, so she also has more than one credit in this hahahaha.

What does progress in surfing mean to you?

When we go surfing, we not only go with the board and the suit, we also go with our personality, our traumas, our achievements and virtues.

So when we think about changing something we don't like about our surfing, we're also thinking about changing something about ourselves.

If we only think about the external, the visible, it will be a more frustrating and infertile path. On the other hand, we do see it as a possibility of observing ourselves and changing the way we do things, it will also transform something inside, that is progress.

So progress is something completely personal, the way, the challenges, and the places are as diverse as there are surfers' personalities, therefore infinite hahahaha.

In the end, we will all end up surfing on the board that allows us to hahahaha, “our best maneuvers” will disappear like our younger years xD

And what will remain?

That's the question in the end

 

Where do you want to see yourself in 10 more years?

Uffff how difficult it is to think about 10 more years hahahahaha.

But I would like to continue feeling happy, being a contribution to others along with doing the things I like, like Longboarding for example.

I would love for the Yoga school to be a space for the development of people, both at the level; physical, mental, emotional and social. Also, continue enjoying and accompanying the people I love.

And finally, saying less about the things I don't like about society, and finding a perfect balance between being a Yoga practitioner and drinking chelita hahahahahaha xD

Finally, I would like to thank my Yoga teachers, thanks to them I am a little happier and more flexible.

My friends for simply being. I owe a lot to Rai for teaching me very nice things about the board and about me.

To my other great surfing family, Puntas de Sur, who have taught me infinitely, I am always grateful.
Above all things, to my family; my father, my mother and my girlfriend, who are the people who have expanded my capacity to love, and have contained me in my most difficult and joyful moments in life.

And to Patience Fins for making me part of your family <3

As always, you will find his incomparable creativity with a true ode to longboarding surf style on his Instagram @nadaremosenlacorriente

Alvaro's ventures:

@avastha_yoga