If you wanted to become fluent in a new language, you wouldn’t be happy being taught by someone with basic knowledge, right? The same rules should apply when taking on new challenges, such as learning to surf. Why settle for less when you can learn from the best? (I didn’t mean to make a cheesy rhyme there but hey, it’s true).
That’s where Luis Eyre comes in – here’s all you need to know about the Pro Surfer and Surfiberia owner. . .
Luis started surfing when he was 10 years old, the year that he moved from the UK to Portugal. He joined a surf school on one of the Lisbon beaches and became instantly hooked, so much so that he started competing in his first year of learning. It quickly became clear that Luis had talent so he left the surf school and started training with Tinguinha Lima, the first Brazilian surfer to qualify for the World Championship Tour.
At the age of 12 Luis began competing for England and won his first British title a year later in the U14’s category. At the same time he was also making finals in the U16’s as well as getting to the quarters and semis in U18s.
After his success of winning the British Title, Luis was sponsored by surf brand O’Neill (the company who invented the wetsuit). It was this sponsorship that allowed Luis to compete in the WQS (World Qualifying Series) Pro Juniors in Europe and gave him the title of ‘Pro Surfer”, a very well earned title too.
A year later (2007) our 14 year old curly haired star got sponsorship deals with Nike and Oakley….hello cool trainers and a never ending selection of sunglasses.
Luis was in Hawaii in 2008 and got asked if he wanted to join the Nike Spain team on their trip to New York. Which he of course said ‘Yes!’ to. The trip was to create content to promote Nike’s products in the form of a book and DVD that was given away at tradeshows. This was also the year that the US Airways flight 1549 crash landed on the Hudson River. Luis was in a launderette in Brooklyn at the time, watching the news reports live from the scene. It was also bitterly cold, at -25° making the Winter of 2010 one of the coldest in recent years, a great time to get in the water!
After his trip to new York Luis continued to compete in the European tour as well as doing the National contests and went on to win the U16 and U18 British Titles.
In 2011 he was the UK Pro Junior champion and won the Wavelength Most Promising Junior award in the same year.
Throughout his career Luis had some outstanding moments, with the most memorable being his win on the UK Pro Surf Tour in 2013 at Thurso, Scotland. This leg of the tour saw the best waves that the UK ever had in a contest, with 2 meters and crazy barrels. Luis made the most of the conditions and caught one wave in his heat that scored a perfect 10, the highest score a surfer can achieve.
Watch the video to see why Luis came out on top.
Watch from 04:50 for Luis’ footage
Another big contest on the UK Pro Surf Tour is Boardmasters. A festival that people from all over the UK flock to in their masses to watch some great artists on stage and some amazing surfers in the water. Each year they have a spin off addition to the contest, the Air Show.
At the 2014 contest Luis took part in the air show (how could he not with the surname Eyre?!). Everyone who knows Luis knows he is particularly partial to tricks of the flying kind, so this event was made for him. A fact that was confirmed after he put on an incredible display of aerial acrobatics and proceeded to win the contest.
Off the back of Luis’ performance at Boardmasters he was given ‘Best Aerialist of 2014’ by the prestigious Carve Magazine at the UK Pro Surf Tour awards ceremony.
At 21 Luis left the competitive world of surfing due to the sheer expense of travelling to all of the contest locations. Luis wasn’t getting enough sponsorship money to afford to take part in all the contests, unfortunately a common tale in this industry. This meant he couldn’t gain enough points to participate in the highest ranking events in the WQS, the 6 star primes.
After a couple of years of only being able to do the same events, Luis could feel his heart coming out of the sport, which is something he never wanted to happen. So he made the decision to stop competing and go back to free surfing to fall in love with the sport once again.
But, everything happens for a reason as they say, and a year later Luis moved into the Lodge and started the business that we have today. Now he is happier than ever sharing his expertise in coaching the guests at Surfiberia.
Of course there has been LOTS of epic surfing in-between and Luis has released a fair few surf edits, some as collaborations with sponsor Sanuk but mostly on his own. Check out his latest edit:
To see more of Luis’ clips go to his YouTube page and watch your potential future surf coach in action.
If you want to learn to surf with Luis or want to build on your existing skills, don’t hesitate to book a surf stay at our Lodge By the Sea, Surfiberia.
