jagozes abroad 24/10/2013

José Salvador

Text: Hugo Rocha Pereira | Photo: Archive/José Salvador | Translator: João Diogo Rocha Pereira

José Salvador aka “Zé Inglês”

I was born in Ericeira, right next door to the house in ruins in front of the stairway that leads to the Navegantes Square, on the west side where is the entrance for the Santa Marta neighbourhood. The nickname “Zé Inglês” emerged 48 years ago. I left Ericeira at the age of 6 to go live in Jersey, where my parents worked, and I came back to Ericeira in the summer holidays with 8 years old. As I was two years abroad from Portugal, living and studying, I spoke Portuguese very poorly as I mixed it with English and so they started calling me “Zé Inglês”. I came back to Jersey by the end of that summer and the nickname stuck.

I left Ericeira several times, the first when I was six, coming back at the age of 11. After that, I only returned much later: when I was 38 I went to London and at 39 to Kazakhstan and Russia. I have lived for 7 years in Siberia, in a town called Tyumen.

I own a catering company, with which I supply several oil and drilling companies. I also have another company in Kazakhstan, a country where I regularly go to. And I also go a lot to China, as I work with a factory that produces mobile accommodations that are used in oil rigs, a business for which I have yet another company, named Globe Camp Solutions. All of this involves a lot of work and permanent contact with the office staff, even when I’m in Ericeira.

The only problem I have here in Siberia might be the climate. Otherwise, I have friends here and Tyumen is a very dynamic town, with lots and good places to hang out. I like the constant activity that this country has, and its people. I don’t enjoy much the food, which is nothing like ours.

I’m never here for longer than five or six weeks. I always come home and spend three or four weeks there, as long as work allows it. For instance, as there’s a lot of work to be done in the last three months of the year, I will only go there a week in October and another in November. Then, I’ll spend Christmas and the New Years eve in Ericeira. I don’t have a definitive return date to Ericeira as my whole life is around these countries. As I’m not a traditional emigrant, I’m always between here and there, and as such there are no plans to definitely stay in Ericeira or in Russia.
When I return to Ericeira I enjoy gazing at the sea and knowing that I’m next to my family and people who I like and like me as well. Fortunately, I have many great friends. When I’m abroad, I mainly miss my family, but the sea, the air and the silence of our land as well.

My wife is of Russian origins but she was born in Kazakhstan, where I met her. Our first son was born in Kazakhstan but the second one was already born in Portugal. We live in Ericeira, a place that my wife loves. Every other year they all come to Russia and Kazakhstan, as my wife has a lot of family in these two countries. My older children (Tânia and Tozé) have already lived with us both here in Russia as in Kazakhstan, but currently live in Portugal.

In 1974 or 75, a lot of foreigners (mainly Americans) showed up in Ericeira to surf. A few years before I had already practiced the sport in Jersey and always thought it would be a sport for the future, mainly in Ericeira. Years later, I helped organising the first World Championship that took place in Ericeira, an event promoted by people who had nothing to do with Ericeira. In the second year these same people found some obstacles put by Mafra’s City Hall for the championship to take place, as the former Mafra mayor always said that it made no sense organising a surf competition in Ericeira if there was no dedicated entity to the sport in the county. And so I decided to establish the Ericeira Surf Club – I named it, made its logo and its regulation, based in those of other clubs. And so it all began with a lot of will and good collaborators who understood what would Ericeira become in the future. Today, Ericeira is known all over the world for the quality of its surfing potential, which is something that we must be proud of. And our club needs the collaboration of all Ericeira, as the surf is proving to be one of the most important sources of income of the village, the county, and the country. I think I was right when over 40 years ago I thought: “surf will be the future of Ericeira and this region”.

I can even share two small stories that verify the importance of surfing in Ericeira, one when I was in Vancouver (Canada) and another in a town of a Kazakhstan desert.
In Vancouver: I was visiting the city where the Winter Games took place, I went to a bar and surf was on TV, on Eurosport I believe. The bar was crowded with young people that were snowboarders and in the table next to mine one of them said “I’ve already been there in Ericeira, Portugal. It’s a fantastic place, they have conditions for surfing almost on a daily basis and all types of waves, I like it a lot and I want to return there”. Of course I could not let this slip by and I mentioned “look, that’s my hometown”. They were very surprised by my statement and we engaged in a long conversation about Ericeira, surfing and Portugal. By the end of it, every one of them wanted to visit Portugal and to surf in Ericeira.
In Kazakhstan: I was passing by and went to a diner. Euronews TV channel was on and on its sports segment they were talking about a world championship in Ericeira. In the table next to mine some young people were having dinner and one of them told to the others: “my cousins were surfing in Ericeira this summer and they really enjoyed it. I also want to go there and watch football matches and surf”. Again, I couldn’t let the opportunity pass and I told them to warn me if they visited Ericeira, that I would accompany them in getting to know my homeland. They were so astonished that we stood chatting until five in the morning.

Everyone who knows me know well that we’re all cousins. Cheers to everyone and I wish you all health and joy. I only wish that the new municipal representatives are able to perceive Ericeira as something to be cherished and supported in everything concerning sea sports and in general. We are “jagozes” and, as such, strong people and always determined to protect our land, our county and, mainly, our sea.