The car in front indicates left before sharply turning down an unmarked sandy road that heads towards the sea. It’s nearing sunset and Ramzi Boukhiam is leading us to one of his favourite beach spots along the Casablanca coast. He rolls down the window and banters in Arabic for a few minutes with a group of locals hanging out at the end of the road. The guys move the fences aside just enough for our four-by-four to drive through, right onto the sand. As you would expect from the Morocco’s first professional surfer, he knows the beaches, the waves, and the people, around here pretty well.
“During the summer the main beaches are packed. So I like to drive to this spot, just off of the main beach strip, it’s quieter here and I get the waves to myself,” says Boukhiam. “It’s great, as long as your car doesn’t get stuck in the sand.”
Although you wouldn’t notice it as Esquire’s cameras snap away, Boukhiam admits that he’s suffering with jetlag. The day before he landed back in Morocco from Brazil where he was competing in the VIVO Rio Pro event, part of the World Surf League Championship Tour (WSL) – surfing’s highest tier. The event in Rio de Janeiro was the last stop before the season takes a break for the Olympics. Boukhiam finished ninth in Rio, but has ambition to go even further for the Summer Games later this month. Unlike the rest of the Olympics which will be held in Paris, the surfing competition will take place in the former French colony of Tahiti, a factor that suits Boukhiam just fine.
“Teahupo’o it’s my favourite wave in the world,” he says in reference to the Olympic-anointed location. “I get excited by big, dangerous waves, and I feel like I have a way better chance of winning here than last time out in Japan.”
Three years ago at the Olympics in Tokyo, Boukhiam made history by being the first Arab surfer to qualify for an Olympic Games. Admittedly, it was also surfing’s Olympic debut, however, now 30-years-old, he has since cemented his presence among surfing’s global elite having qualified as one of the 28 surfers to compete on the WSL for 2024. Since then, he’s been on a roll. He showcased his class winning silver at the ISA World Surfing Games in Puerto Rico earlier this year, and then followed it up at the Tahiti Pro, riding a rare 9.8 wave to beat US icon Kelly Slater – who is regarded as the greatest surfer of all time. His performance secured him third place in the overall competition.
“The wave we’re going to surf at the Olympics, it’s big,” he says showing me a video of it during a break from shooting. “You get it wrong and you could die… but you could also win the best battle of your life.” The video shows him on his board streaking through colossal waves, cutting a path through a wall of water and being engulfed in a collapsing torrent of life-crushing white furious foam.
I realise that some sports demand more than strength and technique; at the highest level, they require courage – death-defying courage.
Boukhiam, who was born to a Dutch mother and Moroccan father, began surfing on a bodyboard while his dad went fishing in his home town of Agadir, a southern coastal city in Morocco, where surfing is more pastime than profession.
It was his older brother, Sam, who got him on his first surf board. A mere six months later, the younger Boukhiam was entering his first contest. A decade of hard work later, he is now one of the best surfers in the world.
But Boukhiam’s journey has definitely had its ups and downs.
When he was just 12 years old tragedy struck with his father dying. As his family relocated to the south of France, Boukhiam held steadfast to his surfboard, it becoming a way for him to channel his grief and maintain his ties with his father through their shared love of the ocean. He persisted with the sport, practicing after school in France and dedicating his summers to returning back to Morocco to surf. In 2012, he entered, and won the European Junior Championships.
After toiling away for a decade in surfing’s lower leagues, in 2022, against fierce competition, he finally qualified for the WSL, also known as “dream tour,” – only to break his ankle just eight days after competing in the first event of the year. Once again summon all of his resolve to overcome the setback. “I had to go back and fight again,” he explains.
“What I had done for ten years, I had to do again.”
The injury threatened to side-line everything. Waves that once felt like home now seemed daunting. Yet his determination surged. With each wave conquered in training, he found himself recovering – and soon enough he was ready to reclaim his place among the world’s best.
While winning gold is his ultimate goal, he is thrilled that his achievements are causing a ripple effect back home throughout Morocco. “I’m a very proud Moroccan. Starting from here and making it all the way, that’s something I’m very proud of,” he says. “It’s a pretty expensive sport, but we’re starting to see more people from different economic backgrounds surfing now. The Royal Moroccan Surfing Federation is also helping to make it more accessible.” He mentions his dream of one day seeing the formidable waves of Morocco becoming a surfing spot on the Championship Tour.
“In this sport we play with Nature, so you never know just what will happen. It’s so unpredictable, but I love that. I swear I’m still a kid in that way.”
– Ramzi Boukhiam
From the bustling streets of Casablanca to the tranquil shores of Taghazout, Boukhiam hopes to inspire the younger generation to believe in the power of perseverance and ambition. “I try my best to motivate kids along the way, to share my knowledge,” he continues, “I’m obviously naturally a very competitive person or I would have given up by now!” Boukhiam’s journey from local beaches to global podiums is a testament to the potential that lies in small towns everywhere. “If there’s one thing I tell kids, it’s never give up. I’ve been through a lot – losing [my] dad, getting injured, many things – but I knew I wasn’t allowed to give up, because I knew I could do it and fight with the best.”
Acetate sunglasses by ORLEBAR BROWN
Having the IOC recognise surfing as an official Olympic event in 2020 marked a watershed moment for the sport. “Since Japan, surfing has definitely gotten way bigger,” he says. The stratospheric standards of the Games have incentivised surfers to push themselves to even greater heights. As Boukhiam points out: “we’re now full-on athletes. The complexity of surfing has developed so much, it’s crazy. These new kids coming up, it trips me out to see what they’re doing. The level just keeps getting better.”
But while the sport of surfing continues to ‘professionalise,’ the virtue of patience and the impact that nature has on the sport are still paramount to its core. “You need to really want it. Sometimes, you find yourself driving for hours, chasing the promise of good waves, only to get there and discover bad conditions,” Boukhiam says. “So you have to get up and do it again the next day.”
In this sport, patience is key and waiting for the perfect wave boils down to balancing the rush of adrenaline with the calmness needed to navigate ever-changing conditions. “It’s so unpredictable, but I love that. I swear I’m a kid still in that way. Some days, I wake up, I go down, I pack my board I just drive north or south, I sleep along the way because I’m looking for waves.”
In the middle of our conversation, Boukhiam briefly excuses himself to take a call from an Olympic official informing him that he will need to make himself available later that day for an un-announced routine doping test. The call is a reminder, not only of the sheer scale of organisation that goes into putting on the Games, but also the rigorous standards and high stakes that face a sport like surfing.
Being the best at something comes with the weight of expectation. But if Ramzi Boukhiam has revealed anything about his calibre and determination over his career, it’s that he definitely has what it takes to face the extreme challenge that lies ahead. “We don’t have a field or a tennis court where it’s always there and it’s always the same. The ocean changes all the time so you always have to adapt.”
Despite all the agility and athleticism that is needed to be excell at surfing, it only takes you so far. Often it is nature that has the final say. “You can be as prepared as ever, but you might still lose to a guy that’s worse than you because he got the best waves in that 20 minute Heat,” he continues, “Sure, you can create your own luck, but it’s not just about lacing up your shoes and hitting a thousand tennis balls—we play with the ocean, so you never know what will happen.”
As he says this, the image of him emerging untouched from the barrel of a monstrous wave, arm raised in celebration, replays in my mind. Yeah, this is certainly not tennis.
all by ORLEBAR BROWN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY OSCAR MUNAR / STYLING BY IMOGENE LEGRAND / MAKE-UP BY SHADI FATHI / HAIR BY MOSTAPHA RAMADAN / PRODUCER: RANIA MALEK / SENOIR PRODUCER: STEFF HAWKER / PRODCUTION ASSISTANT: AYMANE BAHADDOU