And when it reaches Bells Beach it forms the largest wave in the world. and I will be there
Kathryn Bigelow, They Call Him Bodhi
——————————————-
I say to Chau Peitx (64):
–You were a strange girl.
And she shrugs.
And nods.
Well, in reality, he is still a strange character now: so many years later, Chau Peitx still looks out his window in Vilamacolum to check the winds of the Alt Empordà.
And if they blow, that day we sail.
-Daily?
–Every day, every day.
–You are a strange character.
–I was the black sheep of my family. But not now, huh?
(Her husband, Ramon Arnaus, sails with her; and their daughter, Rita Arnaus, is the 2021 world runner-up in kitesurfing, which is kite surfing: the specialists rise, fly over the sea).
(…)
No, Chau Peitx is no longer the black sheep.
–Francisco Arderiu, my maternal grandfather, had a tailor shop in Pasaje de la Concepció in Barcelona and was also an adventurer. And together with my uncle, who was called like him, he founded the Núria Alpine Club. They both raced in cars and motorcycles. I didn’t get to know them, my uncle was killed in a Barcelona-Zaragoza rally, but I inherited their passion from both of them.
–Well, cars are not the sea…
–When I was a girl we spent summers in Arbúcies. She was the youngest of three brothers and was always very thin. The doctors recommended the sea for me. They took me and I discovered it, and I didn’t want to leave: the whole family changed their summer place and it suited me wonderfully. It was very curious, really. Neither my parents nor my brothers were into sailing. They never came to see me compete nor did they understand me. And I, at family meals, was only aware of the palm trees. If they moved, there was wind. They have only understood me now, seeing what my daughter Rita is like.
Our daughter, Rita Arnaus, arrived at sea immediately; At two years old he had his baptism; Today he is a kitesurfing star”
–But didn’t you feel alone in those beginnings in windsurfing?
–I was. I was the only girl in a group of boys. Although they were also few, eh? Just five or six. One fine day, in the Bay of Roses, I was watching the currents and rolls when a handsome boy approached me. He came to ask me how to navigate with the board. Over time we met on other beaches and in other championships, and finally love was born. It was Ramon (her husband).
Chau Peitx, on Barceloneta beach
–And between the two of you you ended up enrolling Rita, right?
–Rita arrived at the sea immediately, you can imagine… She was two years old and she accompanied me to the beach, to one of my windsurfing training sessions. I told him: ‘Stay here with your friends, now I have to sail a little.’ And she started crying.
-AND…?
–When we returned from the session, we put her on the board for a while. He quickly got the hang of it.
Read also
–Did you already aim?
–We didn’t think he would become the character he is. In those first years kitesurfing arrived in Spain. So it was really dangerous.
–…?
–You were alone with your bar, there were no brakes or safety systems. And things happened.
–What do you mean?
–Every year someone died.
–…?
–Even so, Ramon opted for kitesurfing. It was cheaper. You needed less material, not as heavy, there was no mast or boom. The kite is easy to transport and store. You take kitesurfing by bike or walking, you don’t need a car, you pick it up under the bed… That has become more popular, and today it is safer.
–And among the masses of practitioners, Rita is a professional, she makes a living from this, right?
–When I was a junior I didn’t make podiums. But I wanted to be professional. We told him: ‘If you get into the world Top 10, go ahead.’ In her second year she was seventh. Then, fifth. We barely had to put in any money. He took advantage of birthdays, gifts from grandparents… He traveled with just enough and in Brazil he found a sponsor. At the age of 18, she was already going to live in the Caribbean, in Antigua, paying for it with what she had earned as a waitress in a beach bar. He competed with Gisela Pulido (multiple world champion). He only made us suffer a year and a half ago, when he broke the cruciates in his left knee practicing a trick at a World Cup in Qatar.
-AND…?
–This August he returned to the scene. He went to a World Cup event in Dunkirk with his father. She finished second.
Read also
#Chau #Peitx #pioneer #rare #bird
