KEVIN OLSEN, THE FRENCH CONNECTION

KEVIN OLSEN, THE FRENCH CONNECTION – a friendship forged in salt water.

Story by Nick Pike

12/02/2016

“In Hawaii we greet friends, loved ones and strangers with ‘Aloha’ which means with love. Aloha is the key word to the universal spirit of real hospitality, which makes Hawaii renowned as the world’s centre of understanding and fellowship. Try meeting or leaving people with Aloha. You’ll be surprised by their reaction. I believe it and it is my creed. Aloha to you” DUKE PAOA KAHANAMOKU

The Duke was an Olympic swimmer representing Hawaii all over the world as a respected athlete and a fabulous statesman. Well-loved wherever he went, he made a point of teaching people to surf, often, on his travels. International SURFER MAGAZINE October 1999 special edition regards The Duke as the surfer of the century and the single greatest influence surfing has ever seen.

I am pleased to have been dialled in on the special nature of The Duke and Hawaii early on in my surfing career. The content of this special man’s character has coloured my way of thinking. Perhaps the aloha spirit played a part when I first met Kevin Olsen as a young East London grom at a Port Elizabeth surfing contest. This was more than two decades ago and I was living in PE at the time. Kevin had come down to hang out with mutual friend Arno Lane. While there was quite an age difference between us, surfing and salt water bridged the gap and I found Kevin to be a likeable and entertaining youngster.

When I got married and moved to East London Kevin and I continued in friendship and we both competed for Border. As an older guy I always did my best to mentor a bit into Kevin’s life and he responded well. We once did a really cool Mpekweni surf trip and the memory lingers on. Kevin was surfing a board which we dubbed “the fantastic black and white” and his surfing was breaking new boundries.

Kevin moved on to Durban and I called a friend up there, Greg Swart, and asked him to open a few doors and keep an eye out for Kevin. In two shakes of a seagulls tail Kevin was on the Mr Price team and on the World Qualifying Surfing Tour. What an opportunity! Kevin grabbed his blessings with both hands and did me proud all the way, topping his achievements as coach to the South African Surfing team when Durbanite’s Warick Wright and Travis Logie won the ISA World title’s in Durban 2002 and South Africa became world champions.

Fast forward a couple of years and at least one good thing came out of the South African arms deal. French naval engineer Yacha came to South Africa to train our navy to sail the French corvettes. Kevin taught Yacha how to surf, married her and the moved to Hawaii.

Kevin is something like a cat. He always land on his feet. He shares smiles and makes friends wherever he goes. You meet Kevin, you like Kevin. That’s just how he is. Hawaii was a great success but home for the last 11 years has been Hossegor, France. Amongst other things, Kevin has learned French, coached surfing, run a surf school in Hossegor, run a surf camp and now operates Seignosse Surf Villa in Hossegor. Kevin is also a surfboard shaper and manufacturer and has some plans to open a new ‘super factory’ and coffee shop in 2016. Yacha is still in naval , but 100 % committed to making things happen. Like surfing partners.

I was pleasantly surprised to bump into Kevin at Eastern Beach the other day and he said he wanted to give fishing a try. We traipsed off on a merry jaunt to Chefani and then walked my canoe on a trailer up to Twenura – there are no roads there so soft sand and sweat is the key if you want to use the lagoon. Once again Kevin proved himself a natural and caught Spotted Grunter as if he has been at it for years. While no fish was particularly large, the action was plenty. Kevin’s confidence, timing, flair and skill is just uncanny. He is a consummate waterman.

As we got to Chefani, Kevin engaged two arbitrary kids as we prepared our gear “Hi boys, what you doing today?” he asked with a friendly smile and a positive attitude. He just chipped in at an amiable level and encouraged the boys that sunbloc was a really good idea. It was lekker to see Kevin encouraging kids. Be it hockey, squash, soccer, rugby, cycling, surfing or fishing I think it is great for elder sportsmen to sow into the next generation. Share knowledge, leave a good mark. That is one of the beauties of sport and friendship isn’t it?

Aloha Kevin Olsen it was good hanging out with you again. France’s gain is our loss.

The Duke would be proud of you. You represent the surfing spirit well.

Aloha bro.

#text #KevinOLsen #TourismSouthAfrica #Surfing #NahoonReef