The project seemed almost doomed. In the crosshairs of environmental protection associations, the promoters of the surf park, in Canéjan, in Gironde, had remained silent for months. There were tags written on the walls of the future building. Insults, threats sent on Instagram. Two ecological associations, Sepanso Gironde and Surfrider Foundation, took legal action to cancel the building permit granted in February. A petition launched by a group of citizens has collected more than 60,000 signatures.
Opponents denounced the quantity of water required: 20,000 cubic meters, the equivalent of eight Olympic swimming pools, spread over two open pools of 13,000 square meters. Self-sufficiency in water, through rainwater collectors, would also be an impossible challenge, with the quantity recovered being overestimated. Finally, the associations fear the potential discharge of drains and wastewater into the Eau Bourde river, located less than 250 meters below the surfpark.
While awaiting a legal outcome, the project, which must be finalized in 2025, is at a standstill. After being attacked from all sides – the Minister of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion, Christophe Béchu, even recognizing, on France Inter, in August, the “legitimate questions” associations – the promoters of the project decided to launch themselves, in turn, into the war of arguments and images.
Only 50 kilometers from the ocean
After the associations refused to meet them, they chose to work with a specialized communications agency. Then use social networks – Instagram in the lead – to broadcast fun videos. The first, published on October 24, is eye-catching: polished surfing images and dynamic voice-over which seeks to deconstruct all the elements incriminated, such as the thorny question of water. “ When you love surfing, you also love the sun “, indicates the voice-over, in order to promote the installation of 11,000 square meters of solar panels. “ Surfers don’t live in the mountains. »the video further ironizes to justify the installation of this infrastructure one hour from Bordeaux.
“ With this communication, we rather want to calm things down, explain why we are doing this project. We need to open the debate. Those who want to hear it will hear it, those who don’t want to will not.” explain Nicolas Padois, one of the project leaders. At 43, this Arcachon native, a professional surfer for twenty years, runs a club and a surf school in the Arcachon basin. He was also coach of the French teams.
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