Inspired by my stays at the Ashram Surf Retreat and the good vibes spread by the Surfing Swamis my girlfriend and I are are going to spend 6 months in Kerala running a low-key guesthouse (www.soulandsurf.com) and discovering more waves like the one I found that way in January - http://ed-templeton.blogspot.com/2010/01/eds-wave.html
I agree it isn't Indonesia, but the chance to discover and surf waves alone is a very rare thing these days and one that I'm giving up a cosy life back home to pursue!
Ed came to the Ashram Surf Retreat a couple times. One of our favorite guests and a real pleasure to be around. If his kind personality and generosity reflects at all on the surf retreat (soul & surf) he's starting this year then I know it will be a success. Go Ed!
Hey Dannyboy,
If you ever make it back to India I will hook you up with a guide for free. You will blow your mind.
Jigaboon…your post made me chuckle. Yea there are hits of hokum baba’s in India. I put the pipe down at 23. I am 58 now and that’s me in the pic on the top of this page at 57. Everyone has been wrong once or twice. The truth is I rode the longest wave of my life in India and have seen some pretty good waves that are comparable to places I surfed in Hawaii. We have really only touched the tip of the iceberg here.
Surferseyes you summed it up perfectly. Thanks…
I would love to know who that surf guide is...i am heading to india in a few weeks and want to get linked up with someone who knows where to go...let me know if you can link me up with him. thanks.
dont be daft
Not including andaman and nicobar....how many good pics have you seen out of india?? a handfull...
How long have travellers been going to india...since the 60s..if there were world class waves we would see more photos..
I was there for 18 months and never saw anything of note
ther have been loads of surf trips to india but still no noise and chatter....
Hey Danny... WoW, 18 months in India and no world class waves! Bummer... must have been a little bad karma wearing off! Oh well keep smiling and try again and for US$120 per day we can take you to where the waves are "World Class"in India... otherwise you'll never find it on your own! Let me know is you are interested. I've been going there for 35 years. Its a stoke of a lifetime!
Hey Danny...check out my profile pic that was taken about two months ago. It was my last waves in India before coming to Mexico. Do you really expect us to show all the best waves? If you know where to go and have the right guide you can get all-time waves in India. I lived and surfed in Hawaii for over 20 years. There are many waves in India comparable to Hawaii and the outer Islands are arguably even better. Next time you go to India try to hook up with some one who can show you the way. Namaste and peace brother.
Hey surfingswami I have followed your website and surf trip activities for many years!! I have lots of love for India and it's people and culture. And i respect what is going on in auroville. I heard about surfers at auroville when i was in the country 1994-1996. Mind I have not see any photos (apart from the rasta wave, and waves on laksahdweep andaman and nicobar that the term "world class" would apply. I muat admit the primary reason for my trip was not surfing..however I did scout from gujerat down into maharastra goa and karnataka... just beacuase somewhere is uncrowded does not mean an average wave becomes world class. I surf alone the majority of the time and so this does not appeal to me. Anyhoo namaste baba and wish you good swell...
I lived in India 1974/75 and spent a couple of months a few klicks south of Cochin. We stayed in a grass hut in a secluded cove and met the fishermen every morning to place our orders for lobster and fish curry. The wind rarely blew and the surf averaged 3-4 ft with occasional overhead sets - rides were as long as 200 yards at a few off the path spots. Perhaps the coolest excursion was riding elephants to a beautiful right hand point/beach break. I have a few thousand slides of the trip and will upload a few after I get them digitized. By the way, the best months shown are correct but keep in mind that this is the monsoon season and the temp/humidity can be overwhelming. I never saw another surfboard anywhere that I traveled. Cheers
hey Danny, i gotta give you 50/50 on being right. Outer islands have it full tilt for five plus month of the year. the mainland gets a good swell with all the right conditions here and there from time to time. you gotta know where and be there when it happens. but its a fact... when close to no one is out it the water but you and your friends it tends to start looking like "world classy paradise'. being a 'crowd hater' and an India lover, i sometimes stretch it a bit! cheers!
hey Danny,
I am a surf/travel writer and my husband a photographer, we were in India for a month in the off season last year shooting a 30-page story for a Japanese surf magazine. we didn't expect much more than waist high soft waves to muck around on a longboard..we got that for sure, plus waist high sucky beachies, head high pointbreaks, and on the last 3 days double over head tubes...one lucky aussie tourist enjoyed his final day in india renting a shitty stick and getting completely slotted. it was awesome.
check out our website, there's a few shots on the India gallery-from knee high to those last few days of tubes-and we are publishing the full story in English next year in a new digital magazine.
Rasta is a good friend of mine and we headed over a few months before those guys did.
We also like to explore on our own, and we did go off the beaten track looking for waves, but I tell ya what, we found next to nothing on our own, but the 2 weeks we spent with Swami and his gang, and then the last week with Jelle Rigole from SISP down south...their guidance was essential to getting good waves.
world class is an overused term in my book...but getting tubed in boardies with 2 other guys out whilst 3 months pregnant, damn memorable if you ask me. India Fan.
All of the above- thank you and i really hope that India gets on the map for surf travel...it certinaly would blow the minds in the right way..and it would be great to see an indian surfer on the ASP....I prepare to EAT MY WORDS (india has a habit of making me do that) on the claim of world class but i dont see many world class pics in the blog. A couple of high quality photos, nice sandbars...one pitchign reef..but photos can be deceiving. Where is the double overhead tubes with aussie getting slotted?? Or are you saving the best for the peace?
Namashkar
Danny, "Where is the double overhead tubes with aussie getting slotted??" OK, stay tuned until after next season and i'll try get you those 'convincing' pics you're looking for!!!!!! But probably won't be aussies :)
I don't understand how anyone thought it would work in the first place!!! You can't PRODUCE waves from placing a big brick on the sea floor. You can only make them better formed. NO SWELL = NO WAVES.
Actually Bournemouth gets more swell than many people believe, and though rarely do solid groundswells reach the area, the relatively consistent windswell was thought to be enough to introduce a larger surfing community and bring more tourism to the area. So far there have been a considerable number of days in which the reef has seen rideable waves and in some cases good quality swells but the geometries of the reef are its biggest downfall. If the Bournemouth reef was more like the reef in this video, the reef would produce better quality, longer waves.
Mike what utter garbage. I think you are forgetting that people that actually can surf in the Bournemouth area know the real truth. But " you can't handle the truth " It does not produce a ridable stand up wave, ok if you want to flop about on your belly on a slab of foam for a couple of seconds, and thats a sad but true FACT! I find it amazing that people actually thought it would work, so silly!
As a long term surfer from Bournemouth, I can count the number of times I've surfed the reef on one hand, anyone that surfs there knows as you so rightly stated, we only get windeswell meaning we often need to shelter at the piers. The reef worked from the councils perspective of bringing in tourism pounds and crowding the beach with lessons. However to persue an image of a 'surfing town' I think is slightly far fetched!
Ironic that when ASR tried to build a surfing reef it failed (Boscombe) but when they tried just to build a sea defence it turned out to accidently work as a surf break (India). Shows you that these guys don't really have a clue what they are doing and will have you believe that the Indian wave was planned all along.
I have never quite understood why the Bournemouth reef was created, I mean like some of the dudes said, no swell simply = no waves, no matter how many bricks and webbing are down there. I guess B'mouth must get surfable swell maybe 3 or 4 time a year? Also listned to a radio report about it - most of the surfers didnt really know where the reef was, which shows how pants it must be. Shame, as its a nice idea, but just cant work where the only waves are 3ft at 5 or 6 seconds about 4 times a year
The real truth?! When there is swell the reef puts up a solid wave that works for bodyboarders and standup surfers. If you're a surfer that actually knows how to surf (the pier - yawn). Then it's not gonna work for ya. I sure wouldn't want to go back to the time before the reef!!
ASR have also built or half built a reef in Taranaki and it doesnt work because they positioned it behind a break wall. The one in Mt Manganui is average at best. They need to improve their technology for sure, i wouldnt trust what their trying to sell everyone.
Exactly Snoob, WHEN there is swell it probably produces a good little ride! but for even ten times (im being generous here) a year, it's not worth the millions spent. As you can see by the negative ratings to some of the comments above, some people are quite sensitive about it :)
If even Jeff Hackman is dissing the Bournemouth reef then I would say ASR are in trouble. And he's right - as other commentators have said, no swell = no wave and that sums up Bournemouth for mnost days of the year.
It was only ever a tourist gimmick and you gotta hand it to Bournemouth Tourism, they really pulled the wool over a lot of eyes when it came to obtaining cash to pay for this waste of space.
Even more ironic is the fact that the average 'tourist' wouldn't be capable of surfing the wave and the average surfer wouldn't want to, so its effectively become a million pound playground for a coterie of lid riders. Nice if you choose to surf on your belly!
I think people are beeing a bit tough on ASR. From what I have heard, the reef in Mt Manganui wasn't build according to plans because of local council trying to reduce costs. Commenting on the reef in tara&naki before it's finished doesn't seem to be very wise. They are still improving this technology, and anyway, the main goal is to fight against coastal erosion; it also creates a lot of marine life around the artificial reefs. The surf aspect of this thing is just a bonus, and i think it's still better to have an artificial reef than a pier that is going to ruine your beach and make coastal erosion even worst.
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