How surfing became a favourite sport for fisherfolks in Kovalam

Welcome back to The Chennai Emailer — a local journalism project that brings out original human-interest features & news compilation from Chennai. It’s run by me —Mohammed Rayaan😊

This newsletter is my passion project to highlight the best local journalism in Chennai after participating in this year's Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism (City University of New York).

Last week, I wrote an article for The Hindu BusinessLine about the Covelong Classic — a surfing, food and music festival that has been taking place since 2013 at Surf Turf in Kovalam. I first remember reading about this a few years before the pandemic.

Then Covid happened and the event was called off in 2020 and 2021 and I forgot all about it. This year it's back (so did my recollection of the fest!) and it is being held from August 5 (Friday) till today (Sunday, August 7).

I had a chance to visit the fest yesterday and the vibe was exciting. Hundreds of people — families and youngsters alike were in attendance. The beach was spruced up with bright lights, colourfull flags, large tents with banners and balloons of sponsoring companies.

Local businesses had set up food stalls that were buzzing with delight and the air smelt of various delicacies. Most of the crowd were faced towards the beach to look at the surfing competition.

Sharp rocks on the shoreline create a natural zone for faster tides to crash up, making it a great surfing spot. Surfers with their large surfboards were fighting the tides, doing quick maneuvers and turns over the crest as the crowd cheered.

Judges were calling out the scores from the Surf Turf cafe, a white villa with wooden roofs, overlooking this beach. A section of the event crew was stationed here looking at the competition from the balconies. Back on the ocean, beyond the surfers, two boats were on standby for safety purposes.

🌤️How it all began

In my conversation with the people involved with this festival, nearly everyone spoke of the interest in surfing among the fisherfolks at Kovalam.

Arun Vasu, the Managing Director of TT Group which organises the event along with Covelong Point Social Surf School and the Surfing Federation of India, told me that several younger fishermen have gone on to participate in various national and international surfing competitions.

Back in 2018, Yourstory.com wrote an article about Arun’s efforts to push surfing across these shores. It’s a short feature that covers how the idea for launching a surf school at Surf Turf came about.

Although I did speak to Arun for my article for The Hindu BusinessLine, I now wanted to connect with local surfers from the village and hear their story and what surfing means to them.

👨🏽‍🏫Appu and his school

One of the event crew introduced me to Manikandan aka ‘Appu’. We were at the top of the Surf Turf cafe, looking at the crowd of visitors below as the wind swept across the shoreline.

Appu tells me that his love for surfing started quite similar to many from his community. “We all used to see tourists surfing here,” he says. “Soon, I started observing it more keenly. I then got properly trained by experts thanks to support from Arun and his team.”

Hope for a better opportunity pushed Appu to get better as a surfer. “I have to thank Arun and many other well-wishers who helped me travel internationally to participate in various games,” Appu tells.

🏁Teaching ‘board’ exams

Around 2015, in a bid to give something back to his community, Appu along with his best friend Vicky opened up Ocean Delight Surf School. Due to the high cost of surfboards, it was hard to run the school at first.

Later, the duo received a pair of surfboards from a donor and with that, they started training young children from the village in exchange for making the kids clean up the beaches.

“Now we have slowly grown our business and we conduct special classes for various tourists from Japan and South Korea,” Appu says who is an ISA (International Surfing Association)-certified coach.

When asked how his life has changed after getting into surfing, he tells, “As an instructor, I come across different people from across the world and get exposed to different cultures. The locals here have also started conversing in English as we interact with them which is a good thing as it boosts confidence. And I am positive that Kovalam will become an international surfing hub soon.”

🏄🏽❤️Youngsters’ delight

I then got in touch with Ajeesh Ali, a local surfer who has won many games. Arun, too, gave a glowing comment about his skill when I spoke to him last week. As Ajeesh and I sat to chat, one of the organisers greeted him and appreciated his performance.

I wanted to know how does a surfer selects which wave to pump in for action. “I think that comes with experience and patience. When I first started, I was very nervous,” he recalls smiling. “A couple of times I nearly drowned but that’s part of learning. Now, I just love playing it without much fear.”

Ajeesh also notes that several fisherfolks in his village now take surfing classes for tourists or have gone on to participate in various games held across India or the world. “It promotes tourism as many people come here and we are happy with that,” he signs off as our conversation ends.

From the vantage point of the cafe, I could now see three surfers paddling into the ocean. The first surfer checked out a wave and quickly flipped his board with sheer precision as the crowd cheered and whistled.

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