“It was hard at first being gay in the water. There was a good amount of homophobic comments but with time I’ve been in the water everyday, not backing down, and improving my surf and no one can really say anything now. There is still the occasional visitor, or group of visitors, that makes comments or has a really outdated macho bro view of surf, but I can honestly say I have the support here of the Saladita community, wonderful friends, and I know also the support of the LGBTQ community”