THE STORY BEHIND
Wind, Water and Fire
Adam Finer learned about competitiveness while growing up showing horses in Alberta. He joined the army at 17 as it was his dream to serve with Canadian Forces Search and Rescue division. He was trained as a specialist infantryman, a paramedic and he became a high-endurance athlete. He then started practicing extreme water and wind sports such as water skiing, snowboarding, windsurf and his favorite: kite surf.
During a summer at the Hood River in Oregon, he met his wife, a girl from Veracruz, Mexico, a fire performer. He immediately felt attracted to her.
She invited him to one of her Fire presentations, and while she was dancing he zoomed in way too close with his camera, and the fire ropes slammed into his camera and his face. Looking at his burnt face in the mirror, his first thought was: I think I love this girl!
The Search…
Once together, Adam & Veronica travelled for 2 months on a ferry to Baja California, searching for the perfect spot to open up a school dedicated to water and wind sports and safety.
They were headed down to Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, but when they pit-stopped in Bucerias, they were astounded by the wind’s force and the geographical possibilities that the placed offered, and they decided to stay.
They had to wait for 2 years to rent the place they chose, but they waited since it was wonderful location so close to the ocean, and then they started Pacific Paddle, where they offered kite surf, windsurf, bodyboarding and other surf-related lessons.
On one of their summers at Hood River, a friend from Starboard told Adam about this new modality called SUP, and offered him to take down some boards and try them on Mexican waves. So he brought down the first 10 SUP boards, which he sold immediately, and suddenly, apart from creating the first SUP school in Mexico and being certified as an Instructor Trainer by the ASI (Academy of Surfing Instructors) in Australia, he became an Authorized Retailer for Starboard, selling around 800 boards all over the country in a short period of time.
Pacific Paddle evolved into SURF MEXICO, which not only sells Starboard paddles and blades, but also trains clients interested in offering water safety, protecting the environment whilst doing business.
Following the philosophy of safety, water rescue and care for our surroundings, Adam currently trains the local bay watchers from Jalisco and Nayarit and travels to other Mexican states to also train and teach new rescue techniques involving boards.
During this period, Adam and Veronica turned into the happy parents of 3 beautiful girls.
Nereidas
The Nereids, from Greek mythology, are the daughters of Nereus and Doris, who, according to the story, live at the bottom of the ocean and carry Poseidon’s trident, rising to the surface to look after people at sea. They symbolize all that is beautiful and peaceful in the ocean. To Adam and Veronica, their daughters are their Nereidas.
SURF MEXICO’s success draws travellers from all over the world with a particular interest in water sports as well as those who want to be trained and certified as instructors.
The need to offer a place to stay specially designed to welcome them arises.
A Surrealist Story
For 9 years, Adam and Veronica negotiated buying the property from its former owner: a short man from Chihuahua, with a big moustache, hat and boots, driving a Jaguar.
At last, the man agrees to sell and just a couple of days from signing the contract he passes away…
A couple of weeks later, the recently deceased’s sister shows up wanting to show the property to a possible buyer. Overwhelmed by the situation, Adam tells her about all the time he and her brother spent negotiating a price, and to everyone’s fortune, the family agrees to sell Adam the property. Thus begins the building of the next dream: Nereidas.