End of an Era for North Shore Surf School in Trouville

Stive Lener sighs, “It’s the end of a chapter, but not the end of the story,” without bitterness. After 20 years of operation, this passionate man announced the closure of his surf school, North Shore, on Trouville-sur-Mer beach (Calvados), keeping only the one open in Rozel, Cotentin, in 2022. A departure that marks the closing of the only surf school in the department.

“Some decisions are easier to make than others, but I don’t want to have any regrets,” he says. “It’s been a beautiful adventure. I receive messages from clients every day thanking me for all these years. When I read them, I think I can be proud of what I have achieved here,” he humbly confides.

In his small shop on the Queen of beaches, a few steps from the surf zone, some boards patiently wait to move to the west coast of the Channel. Boards where you can read a proud “Trouville Beach since 2006.” “From now on, we’ll have to write: Normandy since 2006,” he says.

In 2006, Surfing Arrived in Trouville

“It’s been a great adventure because there was nothing in Trouville. We started from a blank canvas,” smiles Stive. At the time, at 24 years old, having just completed his master’s in sports management and gliding sports engineering in the South West. “The creators of a surfwear brand brought me here. We started with a shop on Victor-Hugo street.”

A place for spreading the spirit of surfing, which did not go unnoticed. “I was a bit observed because I was a young man bringing a new activity.” A curious and sometimes skeptical look, with a recurring question: “Are the waves beautiful enough in Trouville for surfing?” “Even 20 years later, people still imagine big rollers. But to learn, the conditions in Trouville allow for safe initiation,” Stive assures, highlighting the specific characteristics of this beach, making it a surf spot: its northwest orientation, sandbars intensified after the construction of the Marina in Deauville, and its beach formed between the mouths of two rivers.

For His Students, Surfing Became a True Passion

Initially, the surf school occupied the “a little bit rustic” cellar of the first shop, but it quickly moved to the beach. “When I had the opportunity to have this space, I seized it: we are right in front of the surf zone.” Stive continued to divide his time between lessons and the boutique established after 2010 on Tivoli square, before keeping only the surf and stand-up paddle school in 2017.

Over these 20 years of imparting the love of surfing, he will remember the people he worked with in the school and on the beach. “All the loyal customers, the children’s smiles, their proud parents, the happy grandparents,” he says. “I have taught so many kids! If I calculate, it can represent 20,000 boardings, between 800 and 1,000 people each year,” he recounts, having initiated the youngest, from 6 years old, with no age limit. “When I taught Michel, 91 years old, whose dream it was, it was a great memory,” he marvels, proud to show that surfing and paddleboarding can be accessible.

“One of my prides is to have introduced children who later became my seasonal workers,” he recounts. By passing on his passion and knowledge to the youngest, Stive has created vocations. “For many, surfing has remained a true passion, sometimes occupying a place in their professional life as well. For them, surfing wasn’t just a passing moment; it remains ingrained. It means that what I did, I didn’t do too badly,” he reflects.

In addition to the lessons, Stive mentions all the activities offered on the side. Including the guided paddleboard tours with seafood tastings at the fish market with Stéphane from “Côté Mer,” which were very successful, as well as the paddleboard clean-ups of the Touques, participation in the Telethon at the pool, not to mention his role as race director for the Transpaddle event.

Over two decades, Stive has also witnessed changes in the beach. “Through our activities, we bear witness to climate change. Today, we have never had so many technical means to predict the weather, and it has never been so unstable. For several years, we have seen the water temperature sometimes exceed 20 degrees,” he testifies.

The Heart of Normandy and the End of a Beautiful Story

Although Stive was widely adopted in the hearts of Trouvillais and vacationers, he did not hesitate when, in 2022, a surf school spot opened up on the west coast of the Manche, his homeland. “It was one of my dreams to return to the roots, where I learned to surf,” he says. In the heart of this “surf stronghold in Normandy,” in Rozel, the little sister of his Trouville school was born, still under the name North Shore. “We had good years where everything worked well, the team grew to eight people across the two sites,” he recounts.

Despite the positive dynamics of these years, Stive decided not to renew his public service delegation (DSP) contract on Trouville beach, which was coming to an end. “Behind the business, I am alone. At a certain point, I felt physically and mentally exhausted,” he confesses, mentioning the difficulty of recruiting instructors. “Last summer, the one I hired left after 15 days. I found myself managing both sites alone, traveling each week. It weighed on me, causing physical exhaustion and mental strain.”

In addition, there is the “heaviness” of the DSP principle and rent, and the feeling of being “at the end” of something. “At some point, you have to make a decision that is not easy, but I didn’t want to push myself too far. I had been pulling on the rope for a while,” he says.

Without regrets, Stive catches the wave to his homeland. “I would have liked to train, to pass on, for the school to be taken over, but between what we want and reality… Anyway, there were waves before me, there will be waves after me, so surfing will continue,” he smiles, recalling the existence of the “Surf in Trouville” club created by former students of the school almost 20 years ago, which continues despite the lack of volunteers. “Starting this weekend, the Rozel school reopens, and the season looks promising. The story continues elsewhere, differently,” he concludes, “Goodbye seagulls, hello dolphins.”

Customize your news by adding your favorite cities and media with My News.