For my twenty ninth birthday, I decided to give myself the gift of surfing.
At the end of December, A and I were on a brief holiday to Pondicherry and Auroville, and as soon as I discovered that there was a surfing school in the vicinity, trying to learn to surf became the chief priority of the brief two-night stay in Auroville.
The venue for surfing is Serenity Beach, which is not as placid as the name suggests. It is, however, relatively un-crowded, and not overrun by commercial establishments. It's located about 8km from Pondicherry town, and is a little farther away from Auroville, where we were staying.
The surfing school in question is Kallialay Surf School (or KaSS), run by two brothers from Spain - Juan and Samai Reboul. During the time of our visit, they had a couple of other friends lending them a hand with surfing lessons, since it was a busy time with more than just a handful of people hopeful of learning to ride the waves in their holidays.
I managed to squeeze in two afternoon classes on consecutive days. These two days were planned around the surfing class, and saw a lot of related hectic activity, ranging from walking several kilometres to rent a cycle, trying to rent cycles to get to the beach, getting lost on said cycles, ending up on the wrong beach the first time and - the absolute worst - struggling with a slipping cycle chain that progressed to a fully snapped cycle chain, forcing us to walk with our cycles in the Auroville dusk. In the process, we saw precious little of Auroville, including the famous Matrimandir, which allegedly has a multi-day procedure to ascertain whether you are fit to gain access (best avoided, in our assessment).
The classes last an hour and a half, cost Rs. 1000 per head in a group, and Rs. 1500 per headwith a private instructor. Typically you turn up a little early to register, sign a waiver, change into rash vests and shorts that KaSS provides (my rash vest was hot pink and proclaimed that I was "Princess Sparkles"), and lather yourself with Zinc (or a toxic white goo that you apply on your face to start to resemble Allan Donald). The members of the group then proceed to take the surfboards out to the beach in pairs. While sleek and light surfboards exist for the employment of experienced surfers, the ones used for the lessons at KaSS I found to be surprisingly unwieldy, presumably because this somewhat foamy variety is better suited for beginners.
The first lesson has a three-part structure, and with subsequent lessons you can jump straight to the third segment. The first step is "body surfing", designed to get you comfortable with the water and the waves. This essentially involves going into the matter and jumping into waves at the appropriate time. It must be ensured that you fully dive into the wave, because if your hair is found to be dry, Juan will scold you. At this point I should also mention that for this particular class, the ability to swim is not a pre-requisite for this class, mainly because the students are not allowed to venture beyond waist-deep water. The ability to be comfortable in water is, on the other hand, indispensable. The waves, current and wind at the innocuously named Serenity Beach do their best to pull you, push you and throw you around. Add to the mix a surfboard that is bodily attached to you and that you must constantly drag in and out of water, wave after wave, and the importance of being at oceanic ease cannot be understated.
The second part of the lesson involves "belly surfing", or riding the waves lying flat on the surfboard. This is different from the first stage only insofar as it involves a surfboard. Both the stages highlight about the importance of timing; jumping into the wave at the "just right" moment is a critical.
The third and final part of the lesson is learning something known as the "Pop-Up", the posture of crucial importance to the sport of surfing. Starting out in a position that mimics the Yoga posture of bhujangasana, the surfer must proceed to put the stronger leg out first, and then swiftly bring out the weaker leg to end up in a semi-squatting position where both feet are parallel to each other. Pop ups are first practiced on the sand a bunch of times, and then the eager surfer students are despatched to the sea to try this skill in water.
Popping up on a surfboard is easier said than done. To me, the most overwhelming part was priming myself to get into the pop-up position. More often than not, I would face failure at the very beginning, by being unable to place the surfboard perpendicular to the beach, owing to the strong winds and seemingly uncooperative waves. If the surfboard is not perpendicular to the shore while starting out, riding a wave will prove to be impossible.
And then there was the issue of timing! First, the timing of getting on to the surfboard when the wave is neither too far, nor too close. After that, the precise timing of each movement comprising the pop up plays a vital role. Too fast, and the wave will consume you; too slow and you may find yourself taken ashore with your belly still firmly glued to the surfboard.
As with most outdoor activities of note, a strong core will take you a long way in surfing. But apart from that, surfing also has a lot to do with agility and quick reflexes. Without being able to perform the pop up in a series of neat seamless movements, any surfer will feel at sea (pun intended - ha ha!).
Another inescapable truth appears to be that the younger you are, the faster you'll pick up this sport. The best surfers I saw in my two classes were indubitably the youngest people in the group; I believe some of those kids were as young as six years! My aforementioned (old) age ensured that my learning curve was much flatter than that of those who, quite literally, made surfing appear to be child's play.
My time at KaSS was definitely a lot of fun, and the main highlight of the trip to Pondicherry/Auroville. The busy season and relatively big class size translated into not enough individual attention per person in the group classes, but I was grateful to Nico to take the time out to help me understand where I was going wrong and how I could improve. Juan offered more generic advice (mainly to not use my brain too much while attempting to pop-up on the surfboard).
I know I was not able to do justice to surfing over a span of two days, and I do wish I could have had a few extra days to get better at it. But it was certainly a special way to spend a birthday. And I look forward to trying it out again.
I must also make a mention of the brilliant (and solitary) restaurant on Serenity Beach, which is located right next to KaSS, and undoubtedly makes a killing from this profitable proximity. This is Theevu Plage, which serves the most delicious mozzarella tomato salad, and the most refreshing minty lemonade (among other delights such as a perfectly blended cold coffee and pomegranate sorbet).
On Day One of surfing class, I wolfed down a Mozzarella Tomato salad shortly before the surf class (ill-advised no doubt, but I was starving; also, I saw some of the instructors eat giant quantities of biryani before the lesson, so I guess it's all good!). On Day Two, the Mozzarella Tomato salad formed my post-surfing meal. The refreshing lemonade was also common to both days.
On our way to surfing class on the second day, we stopped at the famous Tanto restaurant, about five kilometres from Serenity Beach. A trip to Auroville will certainly be incomplete without trying out Tanto's pizza, which was made with the freshest ingredients I have ever tasted on a pizza. These pizzas are wood-fired and their crust is deliciously thin and crispy. As much as Domino's has put me off pizzas, Tanto managed to redeem pizzas for me.
At the end of December, A and I were on a brief holiday to Pondicherry and Auroville, and as soon as I discovered that there was a surfing school in the vicinity, trying to learn to surf became the chief priority of the brief two-night stay in Auroville.
The venue for surfing is Serenity Beach, which is not as placid as the name suggests. It is, however, relatively un-crowded, and not overrun by commercial establishments. It's located about 8km from Pondicherry town, and is a little farther away from Auroville, where we were staying.
The surfing school in question is Kallialay Surf School (or KaSS), run by two brothers from Spain - Juan and Samai Reboul. During the time of our visit, they had a couple of other friends lending them a hand with surfing lessons, since it was a busy time with more than just a handful of people hopeful of learning to ride the waves in their holidays.
From Left to Right: Nico and Juan, the instructors at Kallialay Surf School
I managed to squeeze in two afternoon classes on consecutive days. These two days were planned around the surfing class, and saw a lot of related hectic activity, ranging from walking several kilometres to rent a cycle, trying to rent cycles to get to the beach, getting lost on said cycles, ending up on the wrong beach the first time and - the absolute worst - struggling with a slipping cycle chain that progressed to a fully snapped cycle chain, forcing us to walk with our cycles in the Auroville dusk. In the process, we saw precious little of Auroville, including the famous Matrimandir, which allegedly has a multi-day procedure to ascertain whether you are fit to gain access (best avoided, in our assessment).
Our not-so-trusty steeds
The classes last an hour and a half, cost Rs. 1000 per head in a group, and Rs. 1500 per headwith a private instructor. Typically you turn up a little early to register, sign a waiver, change into rash vests and shorts that KaSS provides (my rash vest was hot pink and proclaimed that I was "Princess Sparkles"), and lather yourself with Zinc (or a toxic white goo that you apply on your face to start to resemble Allan Donald). The members of the group then proceed to take the surfboards out to the beach in pairs. While sleek and light surfboards exist for the employment of experienced surfers, the ones used for the lessons at KaSS I found to be surprisingly unwieldy, presumably because this somewhat foamy variety is better suited for beginners.
Princess Sparkles heading out to the sea
Nico going over the surfing basics
The second part of the lesson involves "belly surfing", or riding the waves lying flat on the surfboard. This is different from the first stage only insofar as it involves a surfboard. Both the stages highlight about the importance of timing; jumping into the wave at the "just right" moment is a critical.
The third and final part of the lesson is learning something known as the "Pop-Up", the posture of crucial importance to the sport of surfing. Starting out in a position that mimics the Yoga posture of bhujangasana, the surfer must proceed to put the stronger leg out first, and then swiftly bring out the weaker leg to end up in a semi-squatting position where both feet are parallel to each other. Pop ups are first practiced on the sand a bunch of times, and then the eager surfer students are despatched to the sea to try this skill in water.
Popping up on a surfboard is easier said than done. To me, the most overwhelming part was priming myself to get into the pop-up position. More often than not, I would face failure at the very beginning, by being unable to place the surfboard perpendicular to the beach, owing to the strong winds and seemingly uncooperative waves. If the surfboard is not perpendicular to the shore while starting out, riding a wave will prove to be impossible.
And then there was the issue of timing! First, the timing of getting on to the surfboard when the wave is neither too far, nor too close. After that, the precise timing of each movement comprising the pop up plays a vital role. Too fast, and the wave will consume you; too slow and you may find yourself taken ashore with your belly still firmly glued to the surfboard.
As with most outdoor activities of note, a strong core will take you a long way in surfing. But apart from that, surfing also has a lot to do with agility and quick reflexes. Without being able to perform the pop up in a series of neat seamless movements, any surfer will feel at sea (pun intended - ha ha!).
Another inescapable truth appears to be that the younger you are, the faster you'll pick up this sport. The best surfers I saw in my two classes were indubitably the youngest people in the group; I believe some of those kids were as young as six years! My aforementioned (old) age ensured that my learning curve was much flatter than that of those who, quite literally, made surfing appear to be child's play.
My time at KaSS was definitely a lot of fun, and the main highlight of the trip to Pondicherry/Auroville. The busy season and relatively big class size translated into not enough individual attention per person in the group classes, but I was grateful to Nico to take the time out to help me understand where I was going wrong and how I could improve. Juan offered more generic advice (mainly to not use my brain too much while attempting to pop-up on the surfboard).
I know I was not able to do justice to surfing over a span of two days, and I do wish I could have had a few extra days to get better at it. But it was certainly a special way to spend a birthday. And I look forward to trying it out again.
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Nutrition and hydration
Mozzarella Tomato Salad at Theevu Plage. Auroville is known for its freshly made mozzarella, which is quite a contrast from mozzarella in its plaid packaged form, as we know it. SO much tastier!
Pomegranate Sorbet at Theevu Plage
On Day One of surfing class, I wolfed down a Mozzarella Tomato salad shortly before the surf class (ill-advised no doubt, but I was starving; also, I saw some of the instructors eat giant quantities of biryani before the lesson, so I guess it's all good!). On Day Two, the Mozzarella Tomato salad formed my post-surfing meal. The refreshing lemonade was also common to both days.
On our way to surfing class on the second day, we stopped at the famous Tanto restaurant, about five kilometres from Serenity Beach. A trip to Auroville will certainly be incomplete without trying out Tanto's pizza, which was made with the freshest ingredients I have ever tasted on a pizza. These pizzas are wood-fired and their crust is deliciously thin and crispy. As much as Domino's has put me off pizzas, Tanto managed to redeem pizzas for me.
Wood fired thin crust pizza at Tanto. Definitely one of the best pizzas I have ever eaten.
Calamari in a lime/tomato sauce, also at Tanto.
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