India and Sri Lanka

The east coast of India is pretty poor for surf. I checked beaches at Gopalpur and Mamallapuram without seeing much potential. I spoke to an Aussie in M-puram who said he'd seen it break once in six months. Monsoons do push swell up into the Bay of Bengal, but there doesn't seem to be any regular surf on the east coast. The SW coast, Kerala, is rumored to have waves (and cleaner water than the east coast), however, I can't confirm season or quality.

For good surf Sri Lanka and the Maldives are the go. There are cheap flights from Madras (now called Chennai) to Colombo, Sri Lanka for about $200 US RT and you can fly from Trivandrum to Male in the Maldives for about $70US, one way.

The Andamans are rumored to have good swell, although Nicobar and the southern islands in the chain are off-limits to most foreigners. Surfing Magazine ran a pictoral on the island group that showed some nice, i.e., small, waves in the spring of 2000. The Surfing crew also had a charter yacht to get around in. There's a cheap 4-day boat ride from Madras to Port Blair in the Andamans, but reservations are a big hassle. Flights to Port Blair cost $400US, RT from Madras.

It's difficult, if not impossible, to find a surfboard in India. The best bet is to bring your own. Do not attempt to ship a board (or anything else) to India as you will end up paying its weight in bribes to get customs to release it. However, given the paucity of decent waves on the Subcontinent and the difficulty of getting around, you may as well leave the board at home unless you intend to surf the Maldives or Sri Lanka.

Visitors to India can learn more from ExpressIndia, a guide to the newly wired culture, The India Travel Guide, a good general resource for tourists, and TempleNet, an overview of India's wealth of religous architecture.

-- Ed.

Subject: Re: Any waves in Andaman sea? How about Gulf of Thailand?
Date: 1998/11/26

Author: IndoPaul Just look at the map. It's obviously hit by a lot of swell. Check out Surfer magzine's recent article on the Andaman Islands. That will give you some basic idea of how rich the area is in wave potential. I've also heard that on the west coast of Thailand, there is surf, though how good I don't know. At least that is what some Aussie guys told me last month while I was in Indo. IndoPaul

Subject: Re: surfing in India?
Date: 1999/03/26
Author: Tom Keener
"Catherine & Kristof wrote: >A country with such a stretched coastline surely does have some good >surfspot, I hope... anyone of you know where? > I can't remember the spot names, but there is surf on the Malabar Coast in Kerala. A big problem is hygiene. Most beaches in India are used as toilets. I also found some small waves in Gujarat. Diu is a nice place and you might find waves there. Tom Keener keensurf_at_cts_dot_com

Subject: Re: India?
Date: 1998/10/11
Author: janeair
Denise- I've been traveling to India since 1979. lived in New Delhi for a couple of years also. Unfortunately, I was not a surfer back then. But this is what I can tell you: 1. They will definitely have surf on the east coast during hurricane season (July - October). I'm speaking of Madras side/Bay of Bengal. Not sure about the Arabian Sea/West coast of India. 2. I have no idea where the breaks are and in all my reading, I would say that few have surfed there. 3. Based on my extensive experience shopping in India (as well as Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh), I would say it is EXTREMELY unlikely that you will find a surfboard to buy there. Indians don't surf. 4. As for where the swells might be found, go to my website under sections for surf reports; buoy reports and tides and weather for plenty of links that will show what the waves are in that part of the world. the URL is http://surfing.miningco.com OBTW, there is definitely surfing in the Maldives just south of India. I've read that its pretty good. aloha kimo surfing.guide@miningco.com p.s. don't write me back at this janeair@gte.net address. I'm borrowing somebody else's newreader. Denise Freeston wrote in message <01bdf45e$14fa67e0$ec5fac3e@default>... >Going there for a year as of January. I have heard there are some waves >south-west. Where are the waves? When do they work best? Can I get a board >there? > Any info really appreciated. > >Ben. >

Subject: Re: south india
Date: 1998/05/29
Author: John Ferguson
In an interview I read with Robert August a few months back, he was giving a little extra insight to his adventures on the first "Endless Summer" trip. He said that they stopped in India, but customs suspected that they were smugglers and would not let them take their surfboards out of the airport. Bruce Brown had to beg authorities not to rip the glass off their surfboards to see if there were drugs inside. Meanwhile, they stayed at a hotel that had a nice break right outside their window. That part of the story never made it to the movie, but surfing is a more common sport now. John. PS, watch out for their nukes:-)

Subject: Re: south india
Surf is south of Cochin in Kerala. Check the beaches in Trivandrum. Offshore, and lots of beaches. A couple of point breaks, but mostly sandbars. I'll meet you there for the Monsoon season. Aloha from Crazy Joe. zbenur@ccsg.tau.ac.il wrote: > do enyone know, is there surfing in south india ??? > I mean like really nice surf ??? > is it all year ronud surf?? > any info is more than welcome... > thanx... -- Views, music, art, information and entertainment http://www.surflounge.com

Subject: Re: Surfing in Goa, India Date: 1997/11/13 Author: Peking Duck Surfboards Posting History Suggest you take your surfboard and ride some of the swell that missed the Maldives. Please tell all after your visit. -- John Patkin Peking Duck Surfboards home.netvigator.com/~wokman Ph +852 94830894 Fax +852 23030186 Lars D. Terkelsen wrote in message <3469e6db.597539b0@image.dk>... >Hi surfers > >I am going to spend x-mas and new year in Goa, India. I am considering >bringing my bodyboard/surfboard. Does anybody know if there will be any >surf >there? I am not spoiled with big waves. >Tips about where to rent a motorbike and what to see/do in general is >also appreciated. >Please email answers to me also. > >========================================================== >Lars D. Terkelsen >LDT Musik >Denmark > >The music of Skarbye & Terkelsen can be found at >http://www.image.dk/~ldtmusik

Date: 1997/05/06
Author: Peking Duck
There is potential in Thai isles in the Andaman Sea. I will be down that way later this month with my wife and we'll get the local scoop on this and get back to everyone. I think the Andaman Sea heading towards Burma might be interesting, but it is hard to support the junta right now. There is surf in Bangladesh, but I read there are some major shark problems. In one case, a pack of sharks attacked a fishing boat. The story was reported by AP, Afp or Reuters, so there must be some truth in it. India is totally untapped. There are hopes of holding an ASP event in India, pending sponsorship.

Subject: Re: south india
Date: 1998/05/29
Author: LKMDSFG5
Surf is south of Cochin in Kerala. Check the beaches in Trivandrum. Offshore, and lots of beaches. A couple of point breaks, but mostly sandbars. I'll meet you there for the Monsoon season. Aloha from Crazy Joe.

Subject: Re: Surfing in Goa, India
Date: 1997/11/13
Author: Peking Duck Surfboards
Suggest you take your surfboard and ride some of the swell that missed the Maldives. Please tell all after your visit. -- John Patkin Peking Duck Surfboards

From: zpjames@unl.ac.uk Newsgroups: alt.surfing Subject: Re: What's up with India? Date: 7 Nov 1995 13:01:36 GMT Organization: University of North London.

>> I was thinking. Why hasn't there ever been a story or article >>about surfing in India. Its neighbors Java, Sumatra and Bali have >some >>of the most outragious surf in the world due to the Indian Oceans >never >>ending swell. What about Oman? Hell I bet Sri Lanka has a break >>comparible to J-bay or Pipe.

> >I was thinking the same thing. India has many miles of coastline. I >have heard from friends that waves near Trivandrum in the south west >break very nicely. I think the big problem is that most of the coast >is inaccesable. Unless more roads are built, all those waves will go >to waste.

>

I've spent about four months bumming about in India: the major problem is transport as it is a real hassle to get anywhere anyhow!

I bumped into an Ozzie whilst I was staying on LightHouse Beach (South of Trivendrum, almost as far South as you can go) who was working over there and travelling about a bit with a beat up old board. So we got talking and I had a surf, was a bit stange as I'd had the shits for two months by then and had been stoned for about 3, but a surf it was (this was in 1989 before the surfing bug had really bitten me). The fishermen say that the seas get big in October/November. I suppose the people to get in touch with might be the Institute Of Oceanography, based in Panji, Goa.

However, just down the road you come to the Maldives and Sri Lanka. Not been to the Maldives yet but investigation sugeests that the season is March to November, it's expensive as its a proper (rich) tourist destination, and some sort of boat charter would be in order.

Sri Lanka has two seasons: October-April (approx) surf the west coast, main spot being the reefs in Hikkaduwa. I spent a month there, further info and details via the London Surf Club web pages at http://www.unl.ac.uk/surfing/lsc.html

If you go from May to September then you'd surf on the other side of the island, based around Arugam Bay, which is said to be the better wave. Transport is (relatively) no hassle.

Which in turn brings us back to India as just after I left a few of the surfers popped over to India to form the "South Indian Surf Team", if I quiz my friend Chris I migth be able to get a few more details but it's all a bit hazy...

James London Surf Club http://www.unl.ac.uk/surfing/lsc.html

From: kmg@ix.netcom.com (Ketan Gadkari ) Newsgroups: alt.surfing Subject: Re: What's up with India? Date: 6 Nov 1995 08:15:57 GMT Organization: Netcom

In dj88250@goodnet.com (B L G) writes:

> > I was thinking. Why hasent there ever been a story or article >about surfing in India. Its neighbors Java, Sumatra and Bali have some >of the most outragious surf in the world due to the Indian Oceans never >ending swell. What about Oman? Hell I bet Sri Lanka has a break >comparible to J-bay or Pipe.

I was thinking the same thing. India has many miles of coastline. I have heard from friends that waves near Trivandrum in the south west break very nicely. I think the big problem is that most of the coast is inaccesable. Unless more roads are built, all those waves will go to waste.

Also, someone has to introduce Indians to surfing. I live in the San Francisco Bay area and I am probably the only indian that surfs.

Ketan

From: HUDN59A@prodigy.com (Roberta Conroy) Newsgroups: alt.surfing Subject: Re: What's up with India? Date: 6 Nov 1995 06:43:52 GMT Organization: Prodigy Services Company 1-800-PRODIGY

If you've been around awhile you'd know there is most definitely surf in Sri Lanka. Of course like Indo mostly Ozzies go there. For sure it get good, but from what I've seen and heard Indo is a better bet.

From: Bill Brown Newsgroups: alt.surfing Subject: Re: Taiwan?

I lived and surfed in Taiwan in the late 70's. Mostly at McCaully Beach which was pretty fun beach break when it broke good. But for THE epic surf trip you have to take the train all the way down to the southern tip of the island to Olampi (sp?). If you look at a map of the island that tip at Olampi sticks right out into the South China Sea (one of the most active storm seas in the world) and the surf there is EPIC! Some incredible beach break and point surf, but it's a long train ride and you will defintely be in the sticks. When I was there locals came out on the beach because it was such an event to see surfing and they almost never saw white men down there. Give it a try if you've got the time, it could be an epic trip!