Arugam Bay Beachwear supports Arugam Bay Surf Club to become surf instructors

Wednesday, 2 November 2011 02:27 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Paddle4relief joins hands to make it a ‘first’ in Sri Lanka

Arugam Bay Beachwear along with Paddle4relief a UK based organisation, arranged instructor training for members of the Arugam Bay Surf Club. The training was conducted by the International Surfing Association (ISA).

This training was ground breaking as for the first time in Sri Lanka it gave ‘Instructor’ qualification to ten surfers from the Arugam Bay Surf Club. This gives Arugam Bay Surf Club a unique distinction of being the first surf club in Sri Lanka, which has trained instructors for surfing lessons.

Arugam Bay Beachwear, which has a strategic partnership with Arugam Bay Surf Club, started Arugam Bay Foundation, which support programs that focus on community development, livelihood opportunities through surfing and awareness about clean beaches and marine protection.

Surfing has tremendous potential in Sri Lanka yet is does not have a ‘formal’ sport status.

It carries with it a potential from tourism point-of-view and to develop livelihood opportunities for the youth. Tim Tanton of Paddle-for-relief has been working silently behind the scenes to give it some structure.

“I have been working in Arugam Bay and Sri Lanka for a while to promote surfing as it has an untapped potential. I have seen sports like this add a lot to the tourism and related benefits. I am happy to say through our relationship with ISA, ASP Australiasia we were able to achieve training for Arugam Bay Surf Club. Arugam Bay Beachwear has been fantastic at top level to provide support, direction and encourage, basically driving us to do more. I thank them for that.” Says Tim Tanton, Paddle4relief

The trained instructors from Arugam bay Surf Club are Lafeer Fawas, Krishantha Aryiasena, Siril Praneeth, Rosantha, Milan, Jenith Jayson, Aravinth, Pranith Santharuwan, Premaratne Pranjis and Lasitha.

This is the first batch of instructors in Sri Lanka who can give surfing lessons and start the popularity for this sport.

“We believe in Arugam Bay Surf Club, we always thought it could be the cornerstone of surfing in Arugam Bay in everyway, hence our partnership with them. It could teach, train and provide livelihood opportunities for youngsters through this amazing sport. We want to drive initiatives to realise the potential in Arugam Bay. We are very excited and encouraged, coupled with dedicated individuals in Arugam Bay who are working with us,” says Arugam Bay Beachwear CEO/Director Ajai V Singh.

Arugam Bay has seen a lot of interesting surfing events in the recent past.

The first one was the only domestic surf competition called Arugam Bay Surf Classic that was sponsored by Arugam Bay Beachwear, followed by the renowned Sri Lankan Pro-Surf.