I Taught Catherine Deneuve to Surf Joël de Rosnay
It was a beautiful day in September 1962 – a blue sky; glassy waves; perfect surfing conditions. I was with my fellow surfers by the swimming pool on the terrace above the Chambre d’amour (the Room of Love), the name of a stretch of France’s Atlantic coast in Biarritz.
We had just founded the Surf Club de France, which, two years later, was officially opened by the actress Deborah Kerr, the wife of Peter Viertel, the man who brought the first surfboard to Biarritz in 1957. There was a sporting, joyous atmosphere at play on the terrace. I was 25 and a young father – Tatiana, my elder daughter, had just been born. Stella, my young wife, had grown used to me spending hours surfing the waves.
That day, two TV cameramen had just been chatting to us. They asked me if I was president of the Surf Club. Could I lend them a surfboard? They had just arrived in Biarritz to do a report on a new actress.
A young, blonde woman, with a perfect figure, smiling and ravishing, advanced towards us. My friends and I were astonished. Catherine Deneuve!
Very intimidated, I chose a board in her size. I rubbed some surf wax into it so she wouldn’t slide off, as my fellow surfers looked on, astounded. Among the spectators, there were also some quite jealous ‘surf widows’ – as we call the surfers’ companions who sit on the beach, while their partners or husbands devote themselves to their sport.
Catherine Deneuve wore a turquoise-green, nearly transparent, minuscule bikini, strapped to her hips with two tiny strings. I’ve never forgotten the precise colour of her swimsuit.
What an extraordinary moment – to be giving a surfing lesson to a goddess on a beach called La Chambre d’amour! I helped her to place herself, face down, on the board, and I pushed her towards the open sea. Once we’d got to the ‘line-up’ – the spot where the waves begin to form – I turned the surfboard around, nose towards the beach, and prepared to push her as soon as a suitable wave got going.
In front of me, on this surfboard, there was an unforgettable vision, the source of an emotion I can still feel fifty years later. This young beauty, who was about to catch her first wave, turned towards me with a broad, confident grin, as she awaited the moment she would slide over the water.
The wave arrived. I pushed the surfboard strongly, in line with the wave. I’d explained to her on the beach how to stand up without holding on to the sides of the board, reminding her how to bring her feet forward under her body. Within seconds, my ravishing pupil lifted herself onto the board at her first go, triumphantly keeping her balance for fifty metres. Then, there she was, coming back towards me, paddling vigorously. With this technique, she managed to catch five or six waves. I returned to the club and my friends, dazzled, moved and extremely proud. Everyone applauded me as I got back to the beach.
I’ve often given surfing lessons to celebs, like Marisa Berenson, the American actress, or Annette Stroyberg, the Danish actress. But I’ve rarely met someone so gifted! It’s rumoured, too, that Catherine Deneuve held on to her photograph of her and me, to remind her of the feeling of her first ever wave.
Joël de Rosnay, who turns eighty in June, is a French science writer and molecular biologist. In 1960, he won the first French Surfing Championships. He is the author of Surfing Life (2012).