May 02, 2019 · By Maria Nilsson

FRIDAY TUNES VERENA

One of the sweetest things about surfing, especially amongst our community of female ocean lovers, is the bond you make with fellow ladies. We have always prided ourselves on being inclusive and supportive, and from this some of the most inspiring friendships have been made.

Verena sailed to our shores a few years ago, from a relatively opposite existence on the other side of the world. Living in Munich and working in marketing for a renowned high end fashion publication, of course it made sense for her to give it all in to move to Lennox Head, get a Boarder collie pup, Billie & become obsessed with surfing.

What we love about Verena, asides from her bang-on style, is her genuine interest in what is going on in our community. Without a doubt, every time there is an art show or similar event in the Northern Rivers, Verena is there with a solid background knowledge of the concept and artist. It is always refreshing to have a conversation and learn of her perspective of a particular piece of work or a topic, as it is often influenced by a totally different background, and helps keep our minds wide open.

This playlist is oozing with cool, and gives us butterflies in our tummy thinking about the fun to be had over the weekend, in and out of the water. We hope you enjoy it as mush as we have!

Describe to us your perfect day:

Sloppy Billie morning kisses.
Slow morning, beach walking the little devil.
Mates, waves, The Pass with next to no one out.
Creative downtime with all-time highs of inspiration.
Never ending time for my home decor projects.
Mates, waves, drinks.
Boogie to fantastic tunes.
Billie snuggles. End.

Pretty simple I guess but for a euro blow-in this is still pretty much heaven!

What is a social/environmental topic that hits close to home for you?

Close to my heart is the fight for the bight or anything that evolves around caring for our green-not-so-green-anymore planet and especially our pristine oceans. I’m surely not doing everything one could humanly possible do, but if we all take it step by step and do the little things on a daily basis, it can turn into one big thing. Take three, less to no plastic, alternative sunscreen, wax, …

Favourite surfing memory?

Mhh just thinking of surfing is one fuzzy warm tummy feeling that is pure happiness… But I’ll settle on three.

Crescent point, the sun was beginning to rise and one of the grey suits torpedoed out of the water in one elegant pirouette – with the utmost cheesiest pinky squishy cloud backdrop. Humbled and grateful for coexistence.
Summer sunset peelers from Speckies that seem like they go on forever with cheers from all my loves. Heart bursting love for the place we call home and the people making it what it is.
Boulders on a day way over my surfing abilities... Putting my big girl pants on, taking off on probably theee most powerful wave I’ve ever surfed, speeding along the wall, adrenaline rush, fear, joy, ALIVE. Lesson learned: you don’t have to get out of ya comfort zone every day but daaang you should because you won’t be able to wipe that smile off your face for days.

What board are you currently riding?

Current and all-time favourite is my 7.4 Gato Heroi Acid, if it’s bigger my 5.10 Twinny by local legend Taz (@mung_beann) who’ll also be in charge for the newest one in the making - a nice 9.2 log that calls for summer wavelets.

Read any good books lately?

Guess the instruction booklet of my sewing machine doesn’t count... Would love to stick my nose in some real pages again soon though, so HMU!

How do you measure success?

Being happy with who you are and the life you’re living. Or, one day, nailing a hang ten. You choose.

Do you have any irrational/weird phobias?

Anything involving a lighter. An aquaphile Leo that’s terrified of fire makes sense yeah?

If you could only wear one colour for the rest of your life, what colour would it be?

Southern hemisphere white, northern hemisphere black.

Life motto?

Hang in there.

atmosea atmosea atmosea atmosea