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Surf's up in Arugam Bay
by Nilma DOLE
 By
the time this magazine goes to print, some great surf chamption would
have been named as the Surf Chamption at the 'SriLankan Airlines Pro
Surf 2010'. Set over the course of the week, it was a delightful action
all the way with many wave-breaking surfers flocking from all parts of
the surf destinations encompassing United States, Australia, Spain,
Portugal, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Germany.
Added to this, several Australians part of the Association of Surfing
Professionals (ASP) have also thronged to the inaugural ASP six star
rated SriLankan Airlines Pro which also saw many Sri Lankan surfers
joining in the action.
Speaking to the Sunday Observer magazine was Dane Jordan of the ASP
who said, "There are many die-hard Australian surfers who have actually
lived in Arugam Bay for months at a time just to get in on the surf
action." He said that as many as about 1,000 surfers come every year and
this number has steadily increased as the East is now safe after the
dawn of peace. Apparently, Dane did plenty of research for five days
over the course of three years preparing for the event. "I have seen it
break with excellent shape and consistency by surfing the break and it's
a super high performance wave" he said. Definitely, this event has never
been experienced before in Sri Lanka!
The June monsoonal winds and a very active winter Indian Ocean
combine to make Arugam Bay the surf location that is awesome and the
champions have won upto a prize pool of $US145 000!
The likes of renowned surfers such as Drew Courtney, Dan Ross and
Blake Thornton with the more newly crowned six star champion Aritz
Aranburu (Spain), former ASP world champion Sunny Garcia (Hawaii), South
Africa's David Weare, Masotoshi Ohno from Japan, Richard Christie (NZ)
and Alan Stokes (UK) also made this a power-packed event. The judges
came from a wealth of surf talent and they turned the otherwise private
Arugambay locality into a one that's dynamic and just about right.
The surf tournament is not the only thing that will empower the
Arugam bay residents. A sustainable community development project will
ensure that the best interests of the Arugam Bay area have a likelihood
even after the championships which will be annually held."
Asanka, known as the top surfer in Sri Lanka said that it is
important to empower the local surfers with a chance to shine with
international surfing greats. "It is important for Sri Lanka to see how
good our boys surf and how much surfing good for country." |
