Our last week in France was filled with friendship, laughter, emotion, good food and wine, and even a couple of surfs, all overlaid on the excitement of the Rugby World Cup happening all around us.
But let’s take the last day first. Having spent our final night in Anglet with dear friends Maurice Rebeix and wife Natatxa Soms-Ferrer (featured in last week’s NT), I drove the autoroute north for the airport at Bordeaux, stopping halfway at Contis-plage for a last lunch of our stay with another remarkable Frenchman whom it has been my honour to call a friend for more than 25 years.
Two years ago in this space I wrote: “ ‘I ain’t been twin since yesterday,’ the surfing mariner Emmanuel Berque posted on social media last week. ‘Maximilien fell asleep peacefully, but didn’t wake up anymore … gone naked and without any instruments.’ Just as they had made their Atlantic crossings, alone in their tiny sailboats, navigating wild seas by the stars. And with those simple words, my friend Manu brought the curtain down on the strange and wonderful lives that these identical twins shared. Having visited them often at the rambling family home, I could picture the scene that morning in the tiny bedroom they shared, sleeping side by side on thin mattresses, and it brought a tear.”
Lunching in Contis last week with Manu and Dan Herbert (who founded Chez Dan, where I held my rollicking 50th birthday party so long ago, with the Berque twins down on their knees in the mosh pit in praise of Texas blues sensation Tracey Coniver) a slightly battle-worn 73-year-old Manu Berque confides in me, “It is difficult now, because the two is now one, but we have to go on.” And go on he does, publishing a new version of the book of their heroic and historic sailing adventures, Les Mutins de Micromegas, and releasing a film version which has shown at festivals across Europe and the Americas.
Signing the new edition book for me in a stroke-affected wobbly hand, Manu says: “You will like this better. Max took the dirty bits out, I put them back in!” I remembered that when I wrote a profile on the Berques for The Surfers Journal some years ago, Manu told me: “The late ‘60s and early ‘70s were like a long wet dream.” Now, an old man in a small seaside town, keeping the spirit of his beloved twin alive by thinking for two, he is comforted by his daughter and grandchild, the product of the only year of 70 (uni days) when les jumeaux Berque did not share a humble bedroom.
We call for more wine and raise our glasses in a toast to the future.
Jumping back to the first day of the week, Sunday, after a few waves out the front, most of the day was devoted to the second reunion of the Quiksilver Europe marketing team circa 2003, the first having been held on our last visit in 2018. Jointly organised by my former 2-IC Dave Mailman and Roxy’s Nadege Alloatti, this reunion was even more fun than the first, with most of the old crew attending, including French friends Maritxu and Brigitte Darrigrand (the former marketing chief of Roxy Europe and a Quik Europe co-founder, respectively), Manu Labadie and Nadege with baby Romy, plus Aussie expats Simon Wootton, Jasper Sanders and Barry McGrath. It was held at le Bar Basque in Guethary, one of our favourite old haunts, where Jasper is now part-time chef (and the food is amazing). Through the Sunday arvo promenade throng, we could view our old second-floor apartment across the street (with the black knight of Malibu, Miki Dora, in the flat above), looking out through a shuttered Basque window at the surf break of les Halcyons. So many memories, so many laughs, so many saluts!
During the week I also caught up with a few other former colleagues who couldn’t make the reunion, including Basque big wave star Peyo Lizarazu (now doing well in real estate in the border towns of St Jean de Luz and Hendaye) and expat Aussies surfboard shaper Phil Grace and surf legend Stephen “Belly” Bell. After 25 years on tour as Kelly Slater’s righthand man (when he was affectionately known as Belly Slater), our mate is now focused on Bell, his new superstore, factory and distribution centre in les Landes, and on helping stepson Leo Fioravanti (currently #9 on the WSL world tour) become the first Italian to win a surfing world title.
Back at our digs in Bidart, a swarm of former All Blacks stars and an army of supporters had hit town determined to party their way back to happiness after losing the first match of the World Cup to hosts France. Our personal hosts, Denise and Jeff Bradburn, another former Quiksilver colleague and longtime surfing buddy, have strong associations with the All Blacks since Jeff narrowly missed selection in the ‘80s and moved to Europe to play club rugby, a well-worn path which has resulted in a huge expat rugby community in le pays Basque.
As Aussie ring-ins, we joined in the week of festivities in homes, bars and restaurants from Bidart to Bayonne, but I also got to spend a bit of beer and surf time with Scott Robertson, the hard-hitting back-rower and former All Black, and star with the Crusaders in Super Rugby, who had recently been named as the new All Blacks coach, effective after the current World Cup. Having spent three seasons playing for Perpignan, Scott speaks near-fluent French, loves a beer and a glass of wine and is no slouch on a SUP. Great bloke.
And suddenly we’re touching down at Gatwick on yet another delayed British Airways flight, with just a week in the UK between us and home.
