ADAM LEWIS: CROSSROADS

The world sometimes works in mysterious ways – top British wave sailor, Adam Lewis discusses how Covid ultimately led to him quitting the World Tour after relocating to Maui where he met his wife, Lydia & now shapes for Goya & Quatro.

Words: Adam Lewis // Photos: Fish Bowl Diaries and John Carter

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THE COVID ERA

The last time I competed on the PWA was back in 2019, which was the last full year of the tour prior to Covid. I competed on the whole tour that season, which was my last year competing. Then Covid happened! I had come to Maui for the Aloha Classic in 2019, at that point I was doing a lot of the research and development for Duotone. My plan was to stay and work with Kai Hopf and work on the new wave and foil sails for the next season. We actually went to the Canary Islands in December 2019. For whatever reason, my mum who works in healthcare, called me and said that if myself and Kai needed to get back to Maui, in the next month, you might want to leave soon! She reckoned travel could be weird for a month or two! I spoke to Kai, and we both flew back to Maui straight away, just to continue our workflow. I fully intended to do the whole tour again the next year and was enjoying working on the wave sails. I was excited for the 2020 season. A couple of weeks after we arrived, everything closed down. I have been home a few times over the last year or so, and some surf trip here and there, but since 2019 I basically stayed in Maui.

LEARNING HIS CRAFT

In 2020 I was still running all of the wave sails for Duotone and then in that period I had already started tinkering with boards. I’d started to make most of my own wave boards, and after trying them, the other guys on the team started wanting to use them too. Kai has a CNC machine in his workshop that he just built himself. I was already cutting some fins and boards on the CNC machine and learning how to run that part of the manufacturing process. I loved working with Kai, the guy is a genius, I learned so many different things, he lives and breathes design. Off the back of that, Pio from MFC asked me to come in and do a couple of mornings a week to run his CNC machine, as he needed help with that. At the same time, as I already mentioned, I had been shaping my own windsurf boards and was kind of falling in love with the creative endless problem solving of board design. At home in Cornwall, there was a shaping bay that I could use and I’d been having fun messing around with my own surfboards for the last 6/7 years, I feel so fortunate to of had that experience messing with foam, that kind of gave me the confidence just to go for it.

SAME WAVE LENGTH

While I was working for MFC, which is all part of the same building as Quatro and Goya, Fransico (Goya) and Keith (Teboul), both saw me working regularly and that I had good knowledge of the CNC machine and the design software. Also, they knew I had a background in development and that I was really interested in this side of the process. I remember bumping into Francisco one morning walking my dog and we got chatting about development, nothing really in particular, but I remember being blown away by how he thought and simply his sheer passion about windsurfing. Whenever I spoke with Keith, we seemed to agree on a lot of ideas on how to develop equipment and on board designs and the lines we wanted to create on a wave. The bloke revolutionised wave board design twice, so when he’s talking about design, you listen haha! I felt like we all had similar goals, actually looking back on it now, it was really obvious straight away. I think we all shared the same kind of passion about making products and how we want to push windsurfing. That love for the sport and the products frankly regardless of profit really stood out. They called me in one day and asked me to come and work for them.

AN OPPORTUNITY TOO GOOD TO MISS

I loved working with Kai, and I still see him a bunch here on Maui. But, from those conversations with Franscisco, Keith and Lalo (Goya) too it felt like an opportunity I could not miss. There was also Levi Siver working at Goya, Kai Lenny, Jason Polakow and Marcilio Browne! It felt wild to be working with all these guys I had really looked up to. If you are interested in windsurfing, the HQ in Maui really feels like the Mecca! It’s kind of outrageous! I grew up running home from school and watching Levi’s windsurfing movie ‘Resonance’ as a kid. I also had a DVD with Francisco Goya called’ Alive’! They were the two main DVD’s I had at home that I watched as a kid. To work with them is nuts. That is a dream come true for a young kid from the UK. To work with Keith really closely is truly inspiring, just how much he still gets excited about that creative side is really cool alone! As I mentioned before he has revolutionised wave board design twice, not to mention foil, tow surfing and pretty much everyone who paddles a board at Pe’ahi is now on a KT.

It is funny to think that this little workshop we have here is so important – even in the realms of big wave surfing. We are setting the industry standard for the best performing big wave surfboards as well as windsurfing boards.

CROSS ROADS

This whole change of direction happened naturally for me. I am still only 35, and I felt like I was still really competitive on tour with a World Cup podium in Tenerife and loads of results in the top 5/6. If Covid had not happened, I would have definitely competed and would be still competing now because I loved it. But this was a crossroads moment and it felt like this opportunity was something that I wanted to pour my heart and soul into. I am not somebody who likes doing things by halves. When I was competing, I had a very strict training program and I put everything into that. During Covid my goals changed and my focus shifted. I love my life in Maui now honestly. In some ways I don’t miss the tour now that I am doing this. I am surprised how I feel. When the Aloha Classic is on, I feel a bit emotional about it as it’s a bit strange not to be competing. I went to the beach and I was caddying for Brawzinho a bit and was there with the team when he won the world title, I was just watching the mental games of the guys going through everything. I did feel I missed that element of competing. There is something really cool about that side of the sport.

MYSTERIOUS WAYS

The Summer before the whole Covid thing came along I had just split up with my long-term girlfriend in the UK. It is funny how life works out because at the time after the breakup I was a bit lost. I was so grateful for windsurfing as a distraction at the time because it meant that I just poured everything into my sailing. It is funny how that break up ultimately led me here. I met my wife Lydia, and we have built a little house, which we live in now. It’s like a big caravan and is on a trailer. We built it together, got married, we just had a little boy, we have a dog as well. It is amazing how it has all worked out. The way the whole thing turned out is kind of wild. I was back in the UK, down in the dumps. If Covid hadn’t have happened, I would have not of had the chance that I had with Lydia, and I would not been living here in Maui. I guess sometimes it feels like everything is happening to you, but it is actually happening for you!

THE PERFECT DAY

I met Lydia one of the first times I came to Maui for a photoshoot around 2015 or ’16 I think. She was sharing a place overlooking a surf break here with Amanda Beenen, who was on tour at the time. We’d all go adventuring on the no wind days, to Hana or some waterfalls etc. We always stayed in touch and whenever I was back on the North shore, we’d always see each other in the surf or something. There’d always been this real spark between us, I always looked forward to seeing her when I came to Maui. Then around the start of Covid she came for coffee one morning and never left, we’ve been together ever since! We got married in Covid. Actually, we sort of eloped, it was the perfect day. We both have a reputation within our own families for going rogue, so it suited us down to the ground. We went for a swim in the ocean in the morning, got dressed up in the beach car park and drove to the court house. There were still all the social distancing rules, so we got married outside the court house under a beautiful old tree with this super cool old local judge. It was just about us, for us, and being married to Lydia is best thing I’ve ever done!

ROLE CHANGE

The last few years I suppose my own personal windsurfing had to take a bit of back seat because of everything going on. I still sailed a bunch, and we had loads of development work to get on with for Goya and Quatro. I was doing a lot of testing. I am really looking forward to the winter of 2024 and having more free time to sail. It was quite an adjustment to go from being a full-time professional windsurfer to all the work I do now, honestly, I think my time management was horrific, I didn’t know how good I had it haha! That said working at Goya and Quatro is really relaxed. We don’t have set hours, so when it is windy and the waves are epic, most people are out of the office by the early afternoon, but we still manage to knuckle down when it’s flat. I am really looking forward to this winter and those days where we down the tools and hit the water. It’s a little cliché, but sailing is also really important to the work that I am doing. You need to spend that time on the water, and ride the boards that you are shaping, to be able to see where you are at. It’s the time, love and literal lifetimes of experience that are getting poured into the products we make and that is what sets us apart.

THE PROCESS

Keith does all of the design files for all of the boards and then we CNC them. For example, with the last couple of boards for Marcilio Browne, the hands-on stuff, I have done it. I have been doing that for the last couple of years now. I get to work with Keith very closely. We make a lot of boards together. If there are any matters I am struggling with I will grab him and he will come and give his opinion. To work with him is phenomenal. For everything he has achieved in design and shaping, he has zero ego or anything like that. He is always super happy to explain what he is doing, what he has done and why. The whole process of making a board is very technical too. There is so much information to process. It is very cool to have a person of his experience to work with and learn from.

Working with Brawzinho is amazing as well as he is also a very technical rider. He will come in, halfway through the build, measure everything and check how the board is progressing as we can adjust little things with the rocker or outline if needed. So, to work with Braw is really rewarding because he cares about every millimetre. Every millimetre makes a difference! The proof is in the pudding with his results and when you see him sailing. It is super satisfying when he wins an event on a board you have personally been involved with. In a way, it helps keep my competitive side alive. To see him beat everyone on boards I have helped make, definitely helps fuel my own fire to keep pushing. I competed, I am competitive, so I want the stuff that we make to be the best. We are all part of the same team and we want to make amazing gear and also win on it. That side is really cool!

A DAY IN THE LIFE

Well, I’m really lucky to be honest, I suppose my role is as Keith’s right-hand man, helping with shaping, design and development. I feel like Goya/Quatro, despite being such well known and successful brands, are still small, core companies at heart. To be able to take on big shareholder driven brands, on a comparative shoestring, everyone has to wear many hats so to speak. It’s one of the really cool things about the job in a way. It’s really varied, and it’s really driven by people doing what they are passionate about and wanting to make the best stuff available to other passionate people. Typically, I do a lot of the hands-on shaping, organising the flow in the custom factory here. I get to work with Keith, Fransisco, Braw or Levi etc on board design files. Some CNC’ing is in the mix too. I do a bit of organising parts of the production of all our stock boards in Thailand, design files, lay ups, fin box positions etc. I can’t sit still for too long, so it’s a really good mix between hands on sand paper and computer work. We practice what we preach big time here too, so there’s always plenty of water time. We’ve been really busy in the shop recently and the first thing Lalo asks when he comes in to the office is if we’ve been getting enough water time!

HOME

Right now, Maui is my home and those twists of fate have led me to a new life and I am so happy that it has worked out this way. Who knows where the future will take us, but definitely for the next period I am here and I am embracing this time with both hands.

 

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