Tato

Die steinige Küste von Bajamar fordert ihren Tribut, und ahnungslose Surftouristen sind leichte Opfer. So haben wir es geschafft, innerhalb von zwei Stunden zwei Surfboards so dermaßen zu zerditschen, dass auch unser bewährtes Duct Tape überhaupt nichts mehr richten konnte.
Ganz schön geknickt und eine Empfehlung aus dem super local Surfshop später standen wir vor Tato’s Tür.
Tato ist der lokale Surfboard Shaper, und ein unglaublich lustiger, sympathischer und passionierter Surfer, der uns spontan versprochen hat, er versucht sein bestes, die Boards trotz vieler wartender Aufträge im Regal bis zum nächsten Tag zu richten. Er sprach nur spanisch, wir fast nur englisch, das machte aber nichts, wir haben uns wunderbar verstanden.
Damit hat Tato unseren letzten Surftag gerettet. Wir durften uns für kleines Geld ersatzweise Boards ausleihen (was im Norden Teneriffas ansonsten überhaupt nicht möglich ist), und am nächsten Tag konnten wir unsere sehr professionell reparierten Boards abholen, sah fast aus, als wäre nie etwas gewesen.
Also: mit kaputten Boards auf Teneriffa, oder mit einem Custom Shape Wunsch: geht alle zu Tato! Besser gehts nicht!

Tato is just great. We went surfing to North Teneriffa for a week and the Coast is Wild. And even more there is loads of localism. One of the outcomes of this localism is that you can’t rent boards in the north at least not around Bajamar. The combination of the fact described and a Coast full of rocks and me being super clumsy almost ruined the last days of our Vacation.
I tried to enter the Surf Spot near Bajamar walking over the Rocks. Before even entering the water my Board was already smashed. My girlfriend was the best and let me take hers and me being a thankful person of course had to ruin that board when i left the water again! Not much to say more.
So we went to the Surfstore «Soul Grind» to ask if they could repair our Board if there is a ding repair somehwere. They said we should walk 100 meter down the main road direction Punta de Hidalgo and Ring at a Door with waves and surf on it. So the place is not really visible as a store or anything.
So and there we found Tato. He is a really great guy. Unfortunately he doesn’t speak much English or German but we were lucky meeting some German Students fluently in Spanish to help us translate. I didn’t mention this all happened on Friday morning and our plane left on Sunday. So our big ask was to get it repaired ASAP so we could still go surfing on Saturday, knowing the Fact you can’t rent Boards. BUT there is actually a Loop whole as when you smash your own Board Tato will rent out one of his in the meantime.
I actually also think he actually sells Boards and is shaping them, but i am not sure about that.
Tato agreed fixing the Board and ask us to come back 24 hours later to pick it up, but wanted a bit more money for our expedited repair. The price was 30 Euros per Board which i thought was totally fair. Comparing with the Price i’d pay in Hamburg i probably had to pay more for it and he really knows his business. 24 hours later we got to fixed Boards, they looked like new. On mine i had a huge whole but you can’t see anything at all anymore. I’ll upload a picture of the fixed spot when i get my Board in hand next time.
Tato saved our holidays! And did i mention he doesn’t speak much English? I doesn’t actually matter. With my only few words of spanish and his few words english we had a big laugh. He is super funny and nice. All the time in his store we were laughing out loud together. I really enjoyed doing business with him and if you ever go there cuddle his cute dog for us i could write another 5 Star review about the dog…