Surf’s up at A-Bay

A-Bay is the surfing fraternity’s acronym for Arugam Bay on Sri Lanka’s east coast, a long hidden secret surfers’ paradise. Now with the east coast opening up, post terrorism and post tsunami, the surf’s up at A-Bay, once again, with new visitors joining the loyal handful who doggedly kept on riding the waves through the troubled years.

In August/September this year, the Australian Surf Professionals are set to organise ‘Sri Lankan Pro Surf 2011’ for the second consecutive year. The event is sponsored by SriLankan Airlines, which has been a long-term supporter of surfing at A-Bay and co- sponsored by the Sri Lanka Tourist Promotion Bureau.

There are two principal events which are scheduled, the Men’s World Long Board Tour and the Women’s 6-Star World Tour. Over 100 top level competitors are expected to arrive from all the major surfing sites in the world.

A-Bay has indeed come along way, since, as anecdote has it, according to old east coast veterans, the American engineers working for the contractor developing the Gal Oya Valley, building the dam at Inginiyagala for the Gal Oya Development Board, in the 1950s, first discovered the humongous waves at A-Bay and introduced the first surfboards made from cannibalised packing timber planks, in which equipment was packed, shipped and fabricated in their engineering work shops.

History of surfing

Surfing the waves has a long history, the story, it is said can be traced way back to the pre Inca people who inhabited Peru thousands of years ago. Europeans first observed the sport in 1767, when the ship Dolphin sailed into Tahiti in Polynesia.

Surfing was also practiced by the Samoans and Tongans of that time. When Captain Cook’ fleet, on its voyage of discovery, reached Hawaii in 1779, James King, a young lieutenant, on seeing young Hawaiians using old canoes to surf the waves, wrote: “On seeing this very dangerous diversion, I did not conceive it possible but that some of them must be dashed to mummy against the sharp rocks.”

In 1907 a surfer named George Freeth came to America’s West Coast, to California, from Hawaii and demonstrated riding the waves on a surf board for the first time. On the US East Coast, James Mathias Jordan, Jnr. surfed the waves at Virginia Beach, Virginia in 1912. In 1915 a Hawaiian, Duke Kahanamoku, introduced Australia to surfing at Sydney, New South Wales. Kahanamoku was an Olympic medallist in water sports and played a major role in developing surfing in Hawaii and spreading it worldwide.

Popularity

Surfing has come a long way since then, what with the Beach Boys music and the California culture it has created. For a long time, the centres of surfing were Hawaii, California and Australia. Surfing was a virtual underground cult, until a film, ‘Gidget,’ was released in the 1960s, which boosted the sport’s popularity by leaps and bounds.

The story revolved around a platinum blond, played by Sandra Dee, who went to the beach with her friends and took to surfing. The Beach Boys 1962 Album – ‘Surfin’ Safari’ – described the sport of surfing thus: “A water sport in which the participant stands on a floating slab of wood, resembling an ironing board in both size and shape, and attempts to remain perpendicular while being hurtled toward the shore at a rather frightening rate of speed on a crest of a huge wave.” Surfing admirers appreciate the risk taking, adventurous culture, the physical fitness and hard muscle which the sport requires.

In reality surfing can end up a drudge activity, with short spurts of action. Waves are not suitable for riding all the time, surfing therefore involves lots of sitting around waiting for the swells, lots of time spent listening to music, on discussions on equipment, locations and personalities. Surfing requires a combination of low pressure far out to sea, right local winds and tides, which is not found all the time; early morning is the best time.

The ‘short board’

In time, the culture moved from Hawaii to California to Australia, where the world famous ‘short board’ was designed, making surfers mobile. The short board was more logistically convenient than the pre-existing long board, it could fit on the hood rack or boot or back of a truck or car or even in the hold of a commercial aircraft.

Surfing culture hit the world. Surfers from Australia and California were largely responsible for turning Kuta, on Bali, in Indonesia, into a virtual high living surfing slum, which so antagonised the local Islamic fundamentalists that they bombed the night clubs of Kuta, with horrific casualties among young expatriate surfers and local people too.

Surfing has spread far and wide, to places like Morocco and even to parts of Europe, where wet suits to combat the cold is an essential prerequisite. Europeans even surf on rivers like the Eisbach in Munich and the Severn in England. In Cuba, predictably, surf boards, it is claimed, are rationed! Even Sri Lanka has been bitten by the bug.

Arugam Bay

At A-Bay Antarctic storm swells flowing into the south east side of Sri Lanka, with no land mass to interfere with their smooth flow from the South Pole until the waves hit Arugam Bay, provide waves of high quality. This is similar to the waves which hit Kuta on Bali in Indonesia, mentioned earlier.

The best time of the year is between May and November, before the north east monsoon starts blowing. The dry Kachchan winds, the south west monsoon, deprived of its condensation by rain on the western slopes of the central hills, blows powerfully, and this makes the first half of the day, when the predominant wind is offshore, the best for surfing enthusiasts.

Predominant point breaks

There are three predominant point breaks for surfers on Arugam Bay. The Point is the main one. This is a long right hand point reef break that breaks at the headland in front of Arugam Bay. The swell of the waves is best here; it is always nearly a couple of feet bigger than the alternative breaks on the rest of the Bay. It attracts crowds of surfers and on a good day will provide a high quality ride able wall that could easily provide a 400 meter high ride.

Pottuvil Point is another point, a dream location, on a long deserted sandy beach with some large rocks at the edge of the water. Veterans love this spot. It can provide up to 800 meter rides from the outside of the wave to the beach, on the inside. The ride could get difficult as it hits the shallow sand bottom and you risk hitting the rocks or ending up standing knee deep in water with a mouth full of sea water and sand.

Crocodile Point is to the south, probably named after the salt water estuarine crocodiles which inhabit the lagoon nearby. It is the smallest of the three points and provides perfect waves for beginners. Or long board enthusiasts.

Humongous potential

Even at the time the area was ravaged by conflict, surfers still found their way to Arugam Bay. Now since the area is tranquil, the great deal can be done to maximise the utility of the location for the surfing fraternity, worldwide.

Logistics and accommodation are still at a very basic level. The potential is humongous, wave buoys placed out on the bay can feed information to shore bound surfers on wave conditions. A website could be developed, connected 24/7 to a web camera showing the wave conditions at The Point, Pottuvil Point and Crocodile Rock. This would enable surfers to monitor conditions at Arugam Bay on their personal computers, even from as far away as California, Australia or Europe.

Advertising space on the website could be sold to travel agents, to hotel owners to providers of goods and services to surfers to finance the whole operation. The famous Sri Lankan adventurer, W.T. Keble, writing in 1940 in ‘Ceylon Beaten Track,’ says: “There is nothing in Arugam Bay but sea and sand. Nothing to see, nothing to do. It is the most perfect place for city folk to come and do nothing…”

Today they can surf and Arugam bay is among the top 10 surf points in the world. But a great deal can be done to make the location more attractive and surfer friendly on the logistics and facilities aspects.

Awakening

Arugam Bay and Pottuvil are finally awakening out of its enforced slumber due to conflict and the tsunami. After the usual bureaucratic and regulatory hassles over land allocation, cancellation of grants and leases, approvals and permits, which dog the entrepreneur in this country, finally brick and mortar are coming together to provide affordable quality accommodation to surfers.

Local organisations are springing up to protect the rights of fishermen and other locals whose rights are sometimes ridden over rough shod by developers from outside. The only danger is that a Hikkaduwa type tourist concrete jungle will finally evolve as against a more planned and environmentally friendly Bentota type of development, which would give local interests also a say in developing the facility. Kuta, Indonesia is definitely not the model.

At the same time the dynamism and creativity of surfing enthusiasts should also be provided for. This is the perennial challenge of development.

Those of us old enough to remember nostalgic holidays spent at the rather primitive but comfortable Customs House, a mere shed in reality, equipped with exotic ‘jungle toilets,’ next to the Pier at Kalkudah, would long for that pristine beauty and isolation.

The splendour of an east coast sunrise over Kalkudah Bay is an unforgettable experience. But the world has to develop and move forward, especially when a natural facility such as the surfing points at Arugam Bay and Pottuvil are available.

Such development must be friendly to the local people’s aspirations, be sustainable and provide world class affordable surfing facilities to enthusiasts. That is the challenge. Those pioneers, the American engineers, who built the Gal Oya Dam, would have never ever, even in their wildest dreams, dreamt that surfing at A-Bay would one day be on the international surfing calendar.

(The writer is a lawyer, who has over 30 years experience as a CEO in both government and private sectors. He retired from the office of Secretary, Ministry of Finance and currently is the Managing Director of the Sri Lanka Business Development Centre.)