Hector Santamaria is my favorite surfer in the world. Is he yours too?
Would you like me to tell you a secret? My favorite surfer on earth is Hector Santamaria. He is from Puerto Rico and positively sparkles.
I heard a story from Surfing Magazine’s famous Brendan Buckley about Hectorch once. He said he paddled out one completely crowded perfect Trestles day and as he paddled he heard a loud siren coming from the lineup. As he got closer he heard people yelling at the siren, “HEY! SHUT THE FUCK UP!” but the siren didn’t shut up. And then he saw Hector Santamaria sitting on the peak, waving his arms in circles, head to the sky, screaming out a siren sound.
What does he think when people yell him to shut the fuck up? I asked him and he answered, “I don’t care. I don’t care. I’m just giving it my best. I’m not trying to kill anyone. When they yell, ‘HEY! SCHUT UP!’ I yell back, “You don’t pay my bills!’ Hahahahhahaha! And then I say, ‘Chi power. Chi power. No chi suckers!’”
What is not to love about that? It is the most anti-depressive! And just watch the way he surfs. Watch his body movement and the way he flips his board. Watch the way he draws different lines. Watch the way he has fun. Ain’t that the most important?
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red belt/sash = kook
No joke, I saw a guy with a headband on in the water last week, way up in 5/4 territory in no man’s land NorCal. It kept getting pushed down over his neck everytime he duckdived and I had just kept hoping that he had made millions from hydroponics and would gut anyone who called him out on it. Then he got into a not-so-indescript Tessla and I wished he was dead.
Haha; wtf; I guess when you’re in touch with the chi and/or large amounts of cash, you accessorize.
It looks like he’s holding a 5 kg weight in his left hand. Most of the time it slings by his side, with him moving it just enough so that it levers the rest of his body through a turn. Sometimes he throws it a little behind or above him, and his whole frame follows with gusto into a ‘Mr Whippy’ reverse. I like it!! And what’s that around his waist? It’s about time people started accessorising with wetsuits.
Ughhhhhhhhhhh I don’t care how good he is, making noise for the sake of making noise is unforgivable.
you and me could be fast friends
no offence but: low speed airs, dickless turns. Yuck. Lucky he’s got an angle.
nice edit though.
Steph Gilmore > Hector Santamaria
There is almost nothing worse in this world than people making loud noises. Just shut the fuck up, everybody else.
dat hair flick tho!
Yes!!!
Chas, how could you? Scooby will be gutted!
you sure this is not Ibis in disguise?
Really Chas? Out of all the surfers you could pick..this guy is your absolute favorite? I think he is your favorite this week. Tune in next week when Ryan Callinan drops an edit and he is Chas’s latest favorite surfer in the whole world
Get the WSL commentary crew kitted in this guys Jesus tunics.
Turpel would look a treat in purple and imagine Strider and Pete Mel in resplendent robes in the channel- Oh My
Bahahahahahaha
Well filmed – me like.
Good surfer laidback cruisy style.
Don’t know about the “Chi” calls though – cant be that much fucking “Chi” out crowded Trestles!!!
the first 20 seconds is ablack and white masterpiece. where has this filmmaker been hiding. holy. fucking. shit. the new jean-luc godard. sign them up for the remake of
Masculin Féminin
viva la old stuff
New Vintage Style
No, he is not my favorite surfer. I am inclined to say that I happen to be my own favorite surfer… but then I’d be lying… wait, I thought Jalian was your favorite, Chas?
Just spent two months in isabela PR surfing with him. One day while I was out on my sponge at middles with him and juan carlos gerena he paddled over and asked me if he could shred my Drop knee deck. I swapped boards with him and watched him standup body board pretty damn decent middles.he was hyped on it I had to pull my board away from him to get it back. On a car ride back from a contest at domes he told me he was an alien, and that I was one too and I was surrounded by platinum and red chi. No bullshit two days later I saw the platinum chi particles in my vision while riding through aguada(and I was sober! ). This kid is the real deal and while the chi shit sounds far fetched, its fucking real and ill stand by it. If you dont know this guy personally you probably wont ever understand it. People have given him shit for not surfing gnarly shit, but if he doesnt feel the chi at a spot he doesnt paddle out, when the chi is on the kid has so much insane style and ability (he can pretty much rodeo flip on command) He’s definitely one of my favorites to watch surf and one of the few truly good people ive met in my travels.
from PR but in CA right now hector is the man and the chi is strong! and he can rodeo flip on the shoulder of 2fter its nuts
A bit of Derek Hynd in his style.
Looks as if he might like a bit of Derek Hynd in his ass.