10 years of the Spanish Adapted Surfing Championships

🏄‍♂️ 10 years giving a voice to adaptive surfing in Spain

This year, 2025, marks ten years since we embarked on a journey filled with enthusiasm, hard work, and many shared waves with national federation competitions in Spain. We had been doing FreeSurf since 2010, and from then on, we dedicated a decade to demonstrating that surfing is for everyone , together with all the stakeholders involved: FESURFING, sponsors, volunteers, and more.

At the Alvin Bayona Foundation, adaptive surfing is not just a sport. It's a way to break down barriers, a school, a way to experience the sea with freedom, to build community, and to create new opportunities.

🌊 A story that began with a brave decision

Alvin Bayona, a young Catalan man passionate about sports, decided one day to go to Doniños (Galicia) , where conventional surfing championships were being held. There, he showed up with his own equipment and his adapted surfboard to highlight something that didn't yet exist: the need to recognize adaptive surfing as a sport .

With humility, but with determination, he opened conversations with event directors, federations and industry leaders , driving a change that seemed impossible.
He wanted there to be a Paralympic surfing federation . And with that desire, he set in motion much of what is now a reality .

In 2014 , he participated in a meeting in Noja , where it all began : the first tests of paddle surfing and adapted surfing in a competitive environment.
The following year, in 2015 , Alvin began his career in Adaptive Surfing in Spain, becoming a unique figure in the Spanish scene at that time. However, the message was already beginning to resonate: together with Aitor Francesena “Gallo,” a blind surfer, they participated in the first official international competition in San Diego, California , paving the way for international recognition of Adaptive Surfing and achieving a significant milestone: Alvin Bayona's first medal at an ISA World Championship (a bronze medal).

It was an experience that brought together paddle surfing, surfing, and the world of accessibility in one place. A moment that changed many things. And that continues to be an inspiration for everything that has come after .

📈 During this time, the Alvin Bayona Foundation has achieved….

Since then:

• We have been present at more than 30 meetings and championships .
• We have created a community with more than 200 participants .
• We have shared the stage with world-renowned figures in adaptive surfing.
• We have developed our own adapted aquatic chairs and surfboards .
• And we have continued to learn and improve, wave after wave.

We continue working to ensure that adaptive surfing has an increasing presence, more support, and a greater positive impact on people's lives.
And we do it with the same passion with which we started: with the sea as our driving force and inclusion as our goal.

🌟 Thank you for rowing with us

To everyone who has been part of this adventure:
Thank you for trusting, for sharing, for building.