Learn to enjoy the thrills of the sea

Water sports is Thushal Gunawardene’s forte :

Text and Pix by Rosanne Koelmeyer Anderson

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‘Aqua phobia’ is universal and Sri Lankans are no exception; in fact they probably may be worse affected: for some, the very thought of sea bathing or engaging in water sports may make them quiver but it has never been for this young man; a persona and national champion of windsurfing yet unassuming who brought much fame to Sri Lanka over the years internationally too.

For Thushal Gunawardene the international water sport instructor the sea has been his passion from childhood: For the native is euphoric and composed as he speaks of exploring the thrills of water sport, unleashing the potential of oneself and embarking on days of enjoyment on Lassana Sri Lanka’s coastal grandeur.

Bravo! Learn to have fun with the family, explore the exhilaration of jet skiing, banana boating, wind surfing, water skiing: there’s no necessity to fear water.

A traditional trait handed down by his older brother Upali Gunawardene who too was a national windsurfing champion way back in the 80’s, Thushal too quintessentially achieved his feat as a national champion from 1988-2000 having finished eighth in the World Championships in Singapore and sixth in the Asian Games in 1996 to bring honour to Sri Lanka for Thushal believes’ self trust is the essence of heroism’ as he led me to the a small room by the river stacked with all his trophies .

Reminiscing the peak of his career from 1984-94, Thushal is poignant about not having the opportunity and support to participate internationally at that time when he was ‘simply hungry for trophies’: for he would have brought fame in this sphere to his motherland much earlier.

But, looking on the brighter side of life Thushal is very glad that he ended up being a windsurfing instructor as this was what led to the encounter with the beautiful Swiss damsel with whom he now spends a blissful married life in his very own home town, Bentota.

‘Bentota is home sweet home for me and I will never leave and fortunately I have a very understanding wife’, Thushal said unpretentiously as the muscular, well-built, long haired champion stepped out into the scorching sun to pose for a photograph bare bodied in a pair of shorts; attire emblematic of that of a windsurfer.

Today, under his guided handed of training much expectation to carry on the family tradition of windsurfing championships is Thusahl’s 14 year old nephew Chamira Gunawardene who showed much promise at the Supercross Windsurfing Regatta in Tissamaharama organized by Namal Rajapksa’s Youth Foundation Tharunyata Hetak in February this year.

Thushal, a contended father of three is bent on making young Chamira ,( his nephew) a champion too. Two of Thushal’s children are good swimmers but they are yet very small however Thushal is confident that when they grow up they too shall bring fame to Sri Lanka .

Curious to know what happened on the fateful day of the tsunami which wrecked the coastal belt and Bentota area too I inquired about Thushal’s little boating centre: His dream was partly shattered but because of his close association with the sea while diving with another diver he realized that something was wrong that day when he checked the diver’s computer which showed a depth of 25m whereas the standard depth is 28m’.

‘Checking with his diver colleague and finding that the two readings tallied they swam ashore immediately knowing for sure that there was a change in the sea bed. Thushal quickly pulled his boats ashore and brought them right up to his boating centre office and the tidal wave hit Bentota’.

‘The water level was around 5ft and some of the boats ended up on the main road and they were damaged but not damaged beyond repair fortunately and I lost about 15 lakhs worth of equipment. At a time like this it is very important to know to swim. Lots of people died as a result of not knowing to swim’.

‘When the tsunami hit I received quite a lot of assistance from my wife’s family in Switzerland and I built 18 houses for the residents of Kuda Paiyagala, one of the worst hit areas on the coastal belt.

Kumar Sangakkara and Julian Bowling were the chief guests at the opening ceremony. I am very pleased that I was able to build 18 houses for these residents.

Tourism was a major foreign exchange earner for Sri Lanka always and we are improving slowly. There should be a concerted effort to bring about a revival of the industry by the Tourist Board, the Ministry of Tourism and society at large’.