Aritz Aramburu: ambition, enthusiasm, hard work and gratitude. These are some of the characteristics that accompany one of the best European surfers of the 21st century, the perfect ambassador of Spain for the rest of the world.
Besides being a surfer, Aritz has qualities, tastes and interests that you may not yet know. Do you think you know everything about this passionate athlete? Here are the details about Aritz Aramburu that will undoubtedly be of interest to you. Don't miss them!
1. Discover the beginnings of this great Spanish surfer. Where does Aritz Aranburu come from?
Aritz Aramburu comes from a family of fishermen and people who belong to and love the sea. He was born in Zarautz in 1985 and his life has been completely linked to the salt water and the waves that form on the coast of his city. It is not surprising, therefore, that Zarautz is his favorite beach. It is the one where he grew up. “You don’t have to travel that far to find good waves,” says the athlete. At the age of 7, he got on his first board to surf a wave that has yet to come to an end. Aritz has become a reference for national surfing, he has thrilled his followers, he has transmitted an exemplary philosophy of life and he has mobilized so many people that he has filled buses with fans who have followed him to his championships, or he has gathered a crowd that has gathered to watch him through a giant screen that broadcast Aritz’s waves from Tahiti.
Aritz, besides being an exceptional person in the water, is also exceptional outside of it. Determination is a quality that he carries as his banner. Whenever he has set himself a goal, he has visualized it, he has visualized himself doing it and he has pursued it with all his being. On many occasions, he has also confessed to combining this characteristic of his personality with another: extreme competitiveness. The surfer does not like to lose even at marbles. He enjoys contact sports like boxing, because someone has to win. And to win you have to fight!
Aritz was nicknamed by those close to him as Pottoka (pony in Basque) or Power Txiki, names that came from the power in his strong and muscular legs, which he had since he was little.
Although Aranburu's life has been a torrent of praise, media, brands interested in him, awards and cameras for years, his humble, pleasant, discreet and polite personality has not been affected. This shows that the athlete has a very good head and knows how to identify what really matters.
2. What does Aritz understand by happiness?
Thanks to our research and the follow-up we have done on the athlete's career, we can say that Aritz's description of happiness is something like waking up one morning feeling the sea nearby, going to the shore early in the morning with his friends, seeing that there are very good waves and not too many people surfing and spending the day there, putting his feet on the board and feeling part of the sea. A good post-workout dinner with a beer to end the day and going to bed knowing that the next day will have a similar structure to the one he just lived.
“Having a swimsuit, a board and a friend to share some waves with is more than enough for me,” says Artiz. How good does that sound? Aritz’s life revolves around surfing, which is not limited to just practicing this sport, but makes you think that you live day after day thanking the sea for the waves it offers you and knowing how to take advantage of them. Surfing is what keeps Aranburu alive, it is what drives him.
3.What does Aritz Aranburu enjoy most about surfing?
As usual, Aritz's favourite move is the tube. He says he could go around the world looking for them. Feeling the water enveloping you and enveloping you for moments, until you reach the point where it's just you, and around you tons of crystal-clear water that completely remove you from the world, from the outside, must be a unique sensation and one that probably every surfer dreams of.
The surfer stands out for his intelligence when he says that, from the experience of competing, collaborating or simply surfing, he also takes away the previous experience, that of traveling to the prize, that of meeting the local people of any place he goes to, of immersing himself and being infected by the culture of all the places he visits. Of feeling part of them. He tries to avoid nerves, stress and the fear of not being enough or having to deal with frustration, to live each stage of his life to the fullest.
4. Who does Aritz Aranburu admire most of all?
Aritz's all-time favorite surfer is Kelly Slater, and he beat him twice out of the four times they have faced each other; once in Teahupoo (Tahiti) and once in Supertubos (Portugal).
However, what remains in Aranburu's memory is the feeling of gratitude he felt when he knew he was going to face him. It was something he had been waiting for all his life and he knew he had to give his best, take advantage of the moment and not think negatively. Make the most of the experience.
“I also have a lot of respect for Tom Curren and Tom Carroll. They are over fifty years old and when they talk about surfing they get excited like eight-year-olds who are freaking out about their first waves,” says the surfer.
5. Discover the first steps of Aritz Aranburu in the world of surfing!
Today we claim that he is the first Spaniard (and the only one to date) to qualify for the exclusive World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour circuit.
Aritz's life as a surfer began when "Gallo", a blind professional surfer from Zarautz beach, began training him. Every day, after school, the Guipuzcoan would go to the beach with his board to spend the whole afternoon training at Gallo's school. After a while, he began to sign up for small local competitions, in which he usually competed against surfers older than him, since there were few of his category. His father was in charge of taking him to compete in Las Landas, in what was then the best championship for young surfers in Europe, the Quik Pro-Junior.
At the age of 14 he won it, and Quiksilver offered him the chance to travel around the world meeting the best surfers of the brand and learning from them, however, it was in 2002 when he began to rub shoulders with the best surfers in Europe.
6. This is how Aritz Aranburu took off in the world of surfing. Don't miss it!
Another important year in Aritz's career was 2007, not only because he won the European championship title, but because, at just 22 years old, he managed to qualify for the Championship Tour, a true milestone in his career and in the history of national surfing, but an ankle and knee injury forced him to lose his place on the tour.
However, the WSL granted him the injury wildcard that allowed him to return the following year. After a few years competing in the WSL Qualifying Series qualifying circuit, the Guipuzcoan achieved re-qualification for the Championship Tour in 2014 after signing an epic season.
From here on, the achievements of the surfer from Guipuzcoa are counted by the spoonful. In addition to being remembered the first Spanish athlete to qualify for the exclusive WSL Championship Tour circuit, It is also because it has the top 34 surfers in the world.
A feat that no other Spanish surfer has achieved to date. Not to mention that Aranburu beat eleven-time world champion Kelly Slater twice.
His great merits in competition as the first national athlete to reach the elite of professional world surfing have earned him a star on the walk of fame on the Cantabrian beach of Somo.
“It is impossible to achieve any goal if you don’t dream about it” - Aritz Aranburu.
8. He was the founder of the Shelter Surf Camp in 2016.
What is Shelter Surf Camp? The idea that gave rise to this project was born in 2012, with the collaboration of the NGO Kind Surf and Almudena Fernández, the top model who was Aritz's girlfriend and with whom he had a 6-year relationship.
The project took the form of a surf school, located in Zarautz and launched in 2016. This initiative is driven by the desire to share the passion for surfing. Specifically, by the desire to believe that surfing could help children who were at risk of social exclusion due to their family situation or a physical disability.
Finally, Shelter is an academy for teaching how to surf, which has the Kind Surf program, focused 100% on carrying out other social activities, such as Emakume Surflari, which are technical training days with promises.
Despite being a private company, the main characteristic of Shelter is the strong social aspect that they carry as their banner. They organize talks, conferences, etc. The team is made up of Ane Cano, who is the director of the center, also Indar Unanue, who is a professional surfer, and many others who form a powerful team in the development of the project. This center is open all year round, that is how we differ from the others.
Besides, Shelter is also part of the International Surf Therapy Organization, an organization that houses associations from all over the world and that works to have surfing officially considered as a therapy for people with depression, anxiety or for people who are very stressed with work.
Aritz Aranburu puts the training and coaching in the hands of Diego Martínez at Shelter Surf Camp, in which he also participates; and they take them both to surf and to socialize, such as to the Quik Pro-France, where they can experience a surfing championship among the best in the world and meet some of them.
“Thanks to surfing we can help children at risk of social exclusion” - Aritz Aranburu.
Surprisingly, Aritz is also a restaurateur. For four years he has kept the Shelter Surf Bar open, which also has a very strong social programme.
In fact, Shelter's social activities were funded by the income from this establishment. They also participated through the establishment in initiatives such as removing plastic from the seas, using sustainable materials in the establishment...
Although Shelter Surf Bar has now had to close its doors, the surfer has opened a window, creating an Akaula burger restaurant, which will function as a synonym for Shelter Surf Bar.
9.Aritz Aranburo participates in many other social projects:
Zarautz Pro-4 Teens
In 2016, Aritz and his team organised the Zarautz Pro4 Teens, a surfing championship for Spanish boys and girls under 14 years old to offer them the chance to enjoy surfing and to show the best what the life of a professional surfer would be like.
COVID friendly
On the other hand, due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19, Aritz launched an initiative to reward the work being done by people on the front lines of the Covid-19 pandemic, giving away a class at Shelter Surf for every sale made in its online store for two weeks.
10. Aritz Aranburu had his own TV series!
Have you heard of #GoAritz? The Goaritz show was a television program created in 2016 in which the protagonist, Aritz Aranburu, shared his experience with viewers during his participation in the World Championship circuit.
Aritz also had his own YouTube channel, called ARITZARAMBURU, where he posted his experiences from each trip, thus sharing a little bit of what those of us who were not physically accompanying him could not see.
More trivia: 2021 Olympics?
Aritz is determined to row towards the Tokyo Olympics. The Basque Team athlete wants to continue writing pages in history and become the first Spanish surfer to go to the Olympic Games.
First up, though, is the World Championship in El Salvador, where the best surfers from each country will battle it out for the world title and to secure one of the 12 remaining spots for the Tokyo Olympics.
"When I started surfing I never thought that surfing "I could be an Olympian. After so many years competing in different circuits, the Games are very attractive to you. It is very important for this sport," says the athlete.
Which Is it Aritz Aranburu's Palmares?
2019
- Champion of the Rip Curl Santa Marina Challenge in Santa Marina, Loredo (Cantabria)
2018
- Runner-up of the Pro Santa Cruz in Praia da Fisica, Santa Cruz (Portugal)
- Runner-up in the Punta Galea Challenge in La Galea, Getxo (Bizkaia)
2017
- Billabong Pro Tahiti Trials Champion in Teahupoo (Tahiti)
2016
- Champion of the Allianz Perfect Chapter in Praia do Norte, Nazaré (Portugal)
2014
- Qualifies for the WSL Championship Tour (Top-34 world) of the WSL
2011
- Champion of the Pantín Classic in Pantín, Valdoviño (Galicia)
2010
- Maresia Surf International Champion in Florianopolis (Brazil)
2009
- Third at the Billabong Pro Tahiti in Teahupoo (Tahiti), her best result on the WSL Championship Tour
2008
- Earns WSL Injury Wildcard to Requalify for Championship Tour
2007
- Qualifies for the WSL Championship Tour for the first time (Top-34 worldwide)
- WSL European Champion
- Champion of the San Miguel Pro Zarautz in Zarautz (Gipuzkoa)
As you have already seen, ambition, hard work and enthusiasm are not the only things that drive Aritz. We hope that you have been able to get to know him a little better and that you wish him, like us, the best in his race towards the Tokyo Games!
