“You can high five and hug, and that’s so often
missing from heterosexual male spaces.”
Since he could remember, Steven Redant, co-founder of
Rainbow Surf Retreats, “gay surf retreats all over the world”, was
always told to talk quietly in his native Belgium. So he
did what any proper soprano would do, he moved to Spain, a place
where even the librarians bellow. And Stephen is an international
DJ, so he also needed an airport with a global hub.
But the Yellow Brick intercontinental DJ roads outta Barcelona
are paved with a perfect mixture of fairy dust, Peruvian Marching
powder and Scooby Snax.
And Steven dipped in the vices. His DJ career was extremely
successful. But his personal life suffered.
“I was going through a divorce. I had some problems with
substances and I wasn’t behaving well.”
Steven’s agent suggest he spend some time with him in
Florianopolis Brazil. There, surfing took him immediately.
“I’m pretty sure if I didn’t have surfing, I would have
overdosed by now.”
Steven wanted to open a surf house. A place where other people
needed healing through surfing, but he felt it was a lil
impersonal, so he waited.
Rich Overgaard is the second half of Rainbow Surf Retreats. Rich
came home from a surf trip to Mexico and was laid up in bed due an
illness. He was bored and asked himself,
“Where are all the queer
surfers?”‘
So he created the @surfergays Instagram account. He started
searching for people and sending them little messages. Like, “Hey,
can I feature you?”
That’s how he and Steven first connected.
“So many of us come from challenges and struggles in youth and
then learn to emerge into a place of joy. In the surf space too,
that joy just comes through when it’s a bunch of queer folks.
There’s more solidarity, there’s more fun, there’s more laughter
while doing this [objectively] challenging thing. You don’t feel
like you have to code switch. You can high five and hug, and that’s
so often missing from heterosexual male spaces.”
Rainbow Surf Retreats’ main objective is to create a place where
queer folk can feel free to be themselves and to build a
camaraderie with each other through surfing and travel.
Steven posts messages on the Rainbow Surf Retreats Insta
page.
His look, approach and voice are soothing, authentic and
inviting. Made me wanna speak to him and get a lil more of the
story on a personal level.
Turns out his phone voice is just as candy-apple as his Insta
posts. We spoke over the phone while he was at his home base in the
lunar landscapes of the Canary Islands while I was in an an open
concept outside dungeon in Jersey City.
I ask for a lil bio.
“It’s amazing how successful you can be in your professional
life, and I was extremely successful as a DJ, but how miserable you
can be in your personal life at the same time. My agent knew
something bad was going to happen to me. He took me to Brazil to
get away. I wont say ‘surfing saved my life’ thats a little cliche.
but i can tell you this: without surfing i would have overdosed by
now.…”
Tell me a lil about Rainbow Retreats.
“I quickly realized the healing power of surf. I wanted to help
other people get through similar dark times that I experienced with
surfing as a tool. We booked our first retreat to Panama. It took
less than a week to fill all 15 spots. For some, it was their first
time surfing. And this was something I HAD to do. Because I lived
it. And I was close to death. And I needed, not wanted, to help
people.”
Tell me about the palling around?
“We keep it small, about 15 people. It’s about a feeling of
belonging, not fitting in. We had a guy come with us that said ‘I
cant wait to hook up with all these surfer guys.’ Ya know, when
you’re on Tinder or Grinder, you’re looking for differences to pick
out. On the retreat, you’re looking for the same thing. By the end
of the trip, this guy could care less about hook-ups.
“He was just happy to be there with us. Line-ups in the straight
world, they are so competative, people fighting for inside position
and a lot of aggression. All we do is cheer each other on.”/
