Daida Ruano Moreno

The early years - Interview and Info

"All sports need new blood, especially nice new blood.

The twins are great fun, talented, and great for our sport. Personality is key… not just sailing ability or a big mouth."

Robby Naish

BASICS:

Place of birth: LAS PALMAS, Gran Canaria
Nationality: spanish
Height: 175 cm
Weight: 59 kg
Hair colour: dark Brown
Eye colour: brown
Languages: Spanish, English and Italian
Hobbies: Surfing, bodyboarding, mountain biking, cross country running, basketball, skateboarding, football, volleyball, tennis, badminton and reading

Food: I like Potaje from my mamma.
Windsurfing: Date started windsurfing: May 1995, First competition: January 1997 (Spanish Windsurfing Tour)

Aims: To sail much better and be world champion

DAIDA ABOUT HERSELF:

My real name is Daida Ruano Moreno. People are getting used to calling us the Moreno twins, but the truth is Ruano Moreno twins.

We were born First of December in 1977 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. I used to do a lot of other sports like surfing, skating, basketball, biking – apart from windsurfing of course. I am studying business administration at Las Palmas university, and next year I want to have a look at the possibility of changing to a distance-university because of all my travelling during the year.

My favourites books are economics books, and I like to listen to a lot of music (Lenny Kravitz and pop/rock music and soundground also). The last interesting film that I saw was "Matrix". I'm starting to travel now. I've been in Germany, Italy, France, Spain, and Hawaii. Of course I know most of the seven Canary Islands… For now I like it much better at home (Pozo Izquierdo) and Hawaii…

I've got two brothers (Jose Antonio and Echedey) and two sisters (Iballa and Sabina). My parents (Jose and Elvira) helped us a lot to introduce us on the tour (two years ago they payed for our first set of wave sails), and a lot of friends (Juan, Jonas, Daniel Basco,…). I want to give a special thanks to our friend and manager Xavier Bigorda (without you we wouldn't be here). Thanks to all our sponsors that support us right now (Mistral, North Sails, Quiksilver-Roxy, Volkswagen, Oakley) and supported us before.

Right now I'm concentrating with my sister on the PWA World Tour, but we are going to do some other competitions (I hope King of the Lake, spanish contests in August and Production Boards Championship in Galicia/Spain). We will be doing a lot of promotional trips (most of them for Roxy and Mistral-North Saills) around the world.

We have been on Maui for nearly two months now and we are leaving to Gran Canaria next week. We couldn't do the Da Kine contest because we were ten days doing a photoshooting for Mistral and North (in between the contest) and we will go now for a couple of days to Oahu with Robby Naish, Scott Carvill and Ryan Rawson looking for waves and wind for more pictures.

We will go to Holland for the contest now and afterwards back home to Gran Canaria.

(written in early May '99)

Interview: (may 1999)

Don't be afraid of anything!

Daida Ruano Moreno about new aims and old models, boyfriends and her studies. An exclusive windgirls-interview. By Andy Aichinger.

? You have learned windsurfing in Pozo. Quite an unusual place for beginners?

! I wasn't so afraid of learning how to windsurf in Pozo. I just got used to strong winds doing boogie boarding and surfing at Pozo for nine years before I started to windsurf. By the time I started windsurfing four years ago, I was used to the high winds. So it didn't seem so radical.

– OK! Sometimes I'm a bit afraid when I jump high, really high trying a manouver…

 

? Which windsurfing-spots do you prefer – besides Pozo?

! For now it is Maui. I like it, because – like Pozo – you can sail every day with all kinds of conditions: flat water, strong wind, big waves, light wind…

 

? What are the biggest difficulties a tour-rookie has to deal with?

! For me it was learning all the rules and meeting/getting to know the people on the tour. Different people, different lifestyles, different cultures.

 

? Is it sometimes hard for you to be in the men's shade? Do you have the impression that the girls performance is not given proper attention?

! I don't try to emulate the guys. I really like to be myself and learn from everybody (men or women) and therefore, I don't see myself in the men's shade. And yes!, I don't think we are getting the proper attention, and I think that that's a big mistake, because women are very important in all sports.

For sure there is not another sport so machista as this. I think we should have more support from the industry brands to pave a road in this sport with a more feminine image that will help open the doors to the women's market. After all, women are the majority of the population in this planet.

 

? Some people don't believe that the girl's windsurfing provides radical action. What do you answer such people?

! I invite them to come to Pozo, sit on the beach and watch us sail. Then they can talk about how unradical the women are. A NEW GENERATION IS COMING!!!

 

? And if you were the best woman windsurfer once, which new aims would you follow then?

! I really haven't thought about that yet! But I can imagine that my new aim is not going to be anything directly with windsurfing.

 

? You are a student and a professional windsurfer. How do you manage to cope with these two different ways of life?

! I study at night or when there is no wind. The most difficult exams are those that require practical experience which is very difficult for me to obtain since I am travelling so much.

I think we should have more support from the industry brands

to pave a road in this sport with a more feminine image.

It will help open the doors to the women's market.

? Daida, which move is – at the moment – the biggest challenge for you?

! I love to do pushloops, but landing backloops is ten times more difficult and technical and therefore a bigger challenge.

 

? What does Windsurfing/love/live mean to you?

! Windsurfing to me means freedom and fun!!

Love means… freedom and fun!!

And life… freedom and fun!!

 

? One of your biggest competitors is your twin sister. Can you describe this special form of rivalry?

! We just like to go sailing together and push each other to learn more and more. I always like to go sailing with somebody and of course the most with my sister.

 

? What are really the differences to Iballa?

! The biggest difference between us is our character. Physically, people think we are the same but that is not true.

 

? Do you have any models – in Windsurfing, in life in general?

! I don't really have any models in windsurfing but I really like the sailing styles of Robby Naish and Jason Polakow.

In life in general, my parents have been tremendous role models.

 

? A new windsurfing-generation is coming up. What is the main difference to the generations before?

! The main difference is that right now the level of windsurfing is picking up, new manouvers and styles, new equipment, new everything. Girls have to get used to those kind of changes but we are doing it.

We are trying to always innovate more and more, and I think that the girls need an oportunity in windsurfing to demonstrate to the brands that we are sailing well and that we are just as important, if not more, to the image of windsurfing as the men.

 

? Freestyle seems to be the most dynamic discipline at the moment. Is freestyle the future of windsurfing?

! I think freestyle is a new aspect to the sport. It's a part of windsurfing which adds greatly to the sport. It opens up the sport in a new way to those that live away from the ocean and waves. It is a lot of fun, radical, and technical like wavesailing and it attracts more people to the sport.

? Since your victory at the first trial-event in Fuerteventura you had no chance to "freestyle" on the tour. This year there may be the second chance at Sotaveno. Do you train all the new moves like air tacks, volcanos, heli jibes and so on? ! Yes!!!! I like to try all the manouvers like volcanos, spocks, heli jibes, air tacks… I like to have fun on the water and as soon as I see a new maneuver I like to try and conquer it. We did freestyle in Barbados (there wasn't so much wind and waves) and we showed to the judges and the public that we could also rip in freestyle.

? Which move do you consider to be more difficult? A pushloop in Pozo or a "Spock" on flat water?

! I think the most difficult one is a Spock in flat water. It is a very technical manouver and it takes time to learn it (at least for me)!

 

? More beautiful than Jenna, better than Jessica, more professional than Jutta (SURF-headline May 98). What is the headline of your dreams?

! I don't like it when people try to compare with others.

But I think the headline of my dreams is: "VERY RADICAL"

? Do you think your look helps you to get along with all kinds of machos?   ;-)

! Funny question, man!!! I don't know what to say! What do you think?

 

? Well, I'm sure your look attracts many groupies. Is it something you are happy, perhaps proud of or is it rather a pest to you?

! It is really a thing that I don't stop to think about. For sure everybody likes sometimes the feeling of being liked by other people. In that respect it's very nice.

? There's something, many peole would like to know: Daida, are you single or already taken?

! I don't have a boyfriend. AND I DON'T WANT TO HAVE ONE…

 

? Which are your best friends/comrades at the tour?

! Iballa, Cecily Kitts, Nina Heiberg, Annie Marie…

 

? What can you do to bring more women into our sport?

! I can just tell my story: I didn't really know that I was coming so fast to these kinds of competitions. I was just sailing and learning. Asking everything to everybody about things that I could't do, looking at films, mags…

Our friends helped us a lot and without them we couldn't make being on the tour a reality enjoying the different conditions, countries, friends, wind and waves… That's why I want to be friends with all the girls who want to learn and teach them things that other people taught me as well. Another really important thing is NOT TO BE AFRAID OF ANYTHING and ask, ask, and ask…

GO FOR IT AND THINK THAT YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH TO LEARN AND TO BECOME A PROFESSIONAL WINDSURFER!!!