If you are a fan of waves, adrenaline, and water sports, you probably already know the protagonist of this post: Kepa Acero, a Basque surfer and explorer who has dedicated his life to being on the board and traveling in search of dream places where he can feel nature and share new perspectives with the world. His adventurous spirit led him to become the European junior surf champion after having participated in hundreds of competitions previously. When he decided to start exploring the world, he didn't do it alone; he did it with his drone and travel camera that have accompanied him on all his expeditions. Thanks to this, he has been able to offer the world a window to show his reality up close.
1. Where was Kepa Acero raised?
Kepa Acero was born in 1980 in Algorta, Vizcaya (Basque Country, Spain), and although his mother was born in Durango, Vizcaya, and his father in the Old Town of Bilbao, they moved before Kepa was born due to his father's job; a philosophy teacher who passed a competitive exam in the 80s and began directing a high school in Algorta. He grew up surrounded by his two brothers on the coast, and therefore, he soon developed a passion for this water sport.
2. How did he get into surfing?
In Algorta, where he and his family lived, surfing was always a sport for the wealthy, for those who could afford the high price of boards and suits, but during the 1980s, coinciding with Kepa's childhood, surf equipment began to decrease in price due to the democratization the sport was experiencing, and luckily, Kepa and his brothers were able to access it. The first to enter this discipline was his brother Eneko, who was given his first surfboard at age 10. Soon Kepa and Iker, his other brother, followed in his footsteps and immersed themselves in this world.
3. Did you know that his brother Eneko was Spain's first professional surfer?
Eneko Acero, Kepa's older brother, started practicing this discipline when he was only 10 years old, after receiving his first surfboard. His beginnings in this sport coincided with the opening of a skatepark in Algorta, a place where many children and young people began to refine their movements before heading into the water. If you want to perfect your surf technique on land, don't miss our collection of surfskates, ideal for simulating the wave's movement on asphalt. Eneko got on the board for the first time without knowing he would be good at it and quickly began competing among top professionals. At that time, he became the ISA junior world champion in 1996. At 13, he participated in the European championship and won it. After that first victory, many others followed, and he became European champion again two years later, in 2001. Later on, after accumulating numerous successes, he became the director of Acero Surf Escola without leaving competition aside, although he did relegate it to a secondary role. Having had this example at home, Kepa Acero could be nothing but a surfer.
4. What was the project Five Waves, Five Continents about?
In 2010, after having closely explored surfing as a professional, Kepa Acero decided to create a project called Five Waves, Five Continents which consisted of traveling through Namibia, Indonesia, Chile, and Australia in search of the best waves and the best places to surf and recording everything to share with the rest of the world. Despite the interest this adventure generated, in which Kepa adapted to each culture searching for waves and with which he achieved more than 400,000 views on YouTube, the surfer did not have initial support from any sponsor until seeing the success the project had.
5. Why did Kepa Acero quit competition?
After having won the European junior championship at just 18 years old, being sponsored by the best surf brands, and having traveled to Australia and the United States to surf, he decided to venture into free surf and traveling at 25 years old advised by his sponsors, but he soon discovered that this did not fulfill him either. Therefore, inspired by the lifestyle of Australian and American surfers from the 70s, he took his backpack and board and set out to find places where no one had surfed before to show them to the world, without guides or sponsors.
6. Did you know he suffered a serious accident while surfing in 2017?
It was in 2017 when Kepa suffered a serious accident while surfing at Mundaka beach, Vizcaya. He hit the ground headfirst and lost consciousness until two of his companions pulled him out of the water and took him to the hospital. He had broken his neck, had a broken dorsal vertebra, a displaced cervical vertebra, and the blow almost reached his spinal cord, something that could have left him paraplegic for the rest of his life. He has mentioned in several interviews with national media that on the day of the accident, January 2, 2017, the surfer was born again. After the accident, he gave away the surfboard he used that fateful day but did not become afraid to continue surfing; he simply felt that this was a new opportunity life had given him to keep exploring his passion stronger than ever.
7. When did he start uploading videos to YouTube?
It was with the project Five Waves, Five Continents when Kepa Acero realized that his stories interested people, and moreover, he managed to connect with internet users so as not to feel so alone during his travels. When he started, he had no idea how to use a drone or a video camera, but little by little and thanks to experience, he became a master of audiovisuals. He began uploading videos to his social networks when he was in Namibia, a trip in which he confesses to having felt loneliness very closely, and there he decided to share his journey around the world. In 2010 he uploaded his first video to YouTube and success gradually came. The surfer has accumulated more than 180 videos on this platform and has managed to have more than 15,000 subscribers on his channel.
8. Searching for waves discovered another passion.
This surfer and content creator in search of the best waves in the world found in surfing a way to get closer to cultures and ecosystems. This is how this adventurer ventured into the icy sea of Antarctica and although he couldn't surf due to lack of waves, he chose to swim, accompanied by hundreds or thousands of penguins where he claims he was the invader. Or also, when he was in the Amazon searching for the Pororoca, a wave that travels for an hour on the Amazon River, upon finding it, it turned out the wave was too small to ride, but in exchange, he spent 5 days accompanying an NGO that works with indigenous children.
9. Which trip marked his life?
The surfer took a van trip in which he visited his favorite places in the Basque Country seeking to connect with his land and nature. He enjoyed this experience so much that he shared it on social media from start to finish, and later, a 5-episode podcast was launched narrating the encounters he had with great travel companions like navigator Unai Basurko and mountaineer Alex Txikón. On this trip, he proudly admired the wonder of the place where he was raised and realized the importance of valuing what one has before going out to discover the world.
10. Surfing in Africa?
In 2012, Kepa Acero embarked on a new adventure alongside American surfer Dane Gudauskaus, and together they undertook a trip to Africa that resulted in an exciting documentary called The Delicacy Before Us. It features great moments of both surfers fully engaging with African surf culture through its gastronomy, lifestyle, and stunning locations. The Basque surfer acknowledged after this trip that it had been one of the most thrilling of his life due to the message of awareness it conveys. For your own adventures, equip your vision with our sports glasses, designed for maximum protection in any environment.
After getting to know more closely the career of the Basque surfer Kepa Acero, we can affirm that his humility, sensitivity, and dedication go beyond surfing. He is a person who decided to dedicate his life to adventure, nature, and surfing and had the generosity to share his most amazing experiences with the rest of the world. Without a doubt, his projects leave no one indifferent, especially if surfing is one of your great passions, which is why these kinds of stories are what inspire us to create surf t-shirts that capture the spirit of adventure and freedom.
