Young Surfers ‘Trippin’ & Surfin’ at the ‘Mantra Grom Search’ Surfing Contest-Panambur Beach

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Alfie Dsouza, Team Mangalorean.
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Young Surfers ‘Trippin’ & Surfin’ at the ‘Mantra Grom Search’ Surfing Contest-Panambur Beach

 

Mangaluru : Quoting Rig Veda VII, 49.3- “In the midst of the waters is moving the Lord, surveying men’s truth and men’s lies. How sweet are the waters, crystal clear and cleansing? Now, may these great divine waters quicken me!” , nearly 25 Young Surfers from Mangaluru, Mulky, and Panambur took part in the Second Annual “Mantra Grom Search” at Panambur Beach, Mangaluru on Sunday 19th of May, 2019. This year, Surfing Swami Foundation with the support of Mantra Surf Club, Adventure Worx, Thunder Monkey, Firewire Surfboards, etc hosted this event”.

Speaking to Team Mangalorean Yatish Biakampady, the CEO of Panambur Beach Tourism Development Project, and Gaurav Hegde-the Director of Surfing Swami Foundation said “The aim of the event was to identify and nurture talented young surfers under the aegis of Surfing Swami Foundation, which wanted to promote Surfing & Beach cleanliness among the youth. Participating in these event also gave the kids an idea of competitive surfing and helped them learn new things. Further more, it also opened up many opportunities for them to participate in national events and represent India in international events”.

“Alright. And the thing we want you to yell -Three words ”let’s go trippin”. We want you to yell out on the count of three OK? One, Two, Two-and-a-half, Three, Let’s Go Trippin’-Yeah, baby!” – these lyrics from the song “Let’s Go Trippin ” by the Beach Boys which is still cool, smooth and enthusiastic while surfing during the greatest moments of chasing waves, which will inspire you to dream about what is yet to come- and for that matter, all these young surfers had a good time surfing in the nice weather, even though a few times the waves were rough.

Compared to last year’s event which was a great success, this year the organizers said that they had more participants and the kids’ skills have improved significantly. Few kids like Selva, Praveen, Subbu, etc who won the event last year went on to participate in national level event at the Covelong Point Surf Festival in Tamilnadu and performed very well. Surfing Swami Foundation strives hard to introduce surfing and other water sports to more and more kids and improve the surf scene in India. So this year over 25 kids from ages 7 through 15 coming in from different Surf Clubs from Mulki, Panambur, Bengre, and Tannirbhavi participated in the event

Star attraction of this year Surfing Tournament was the participation of 15 “Kadle Boys” (Peanut Boys) who are selling peanuts/groundnuts at the Panambur Beach and surrounding areas, who had taken up the gauntlet in surfing activity, which could turn around their lives for better opportunities. These “Kadle Boys”, to name a few, M Selvam, his brother Subrahmani, Praveen, Manjunath, Dayanand, Vinayak, Akash, among others-who hail either from Tamil Nadu or North Karnataka, currently reside at Meenakaliya and Kurikatta areas, near Panambur. Since two years they have been trained by Dhruva Das of The Indica Surf School; and trainers Pramod Panambur and Jayaraj Karkera. “Until 2 years ago theses kids were selling groundnuts on the Panambur Beach, but convinced to learn surfing they are aspiring to become pro-surfers and take part in International Surfing events. They are full of energy, and they feel that there is much more to life than selling groundnuts on the beach” said the trainers.

The event was embraced and cheered by many local people around Mangaluru. The Special guests that graced, inaugurated the event and flagged off the rounds were Sasikant Senthil (Deputy Commissioner -Mangaluru), DCP Laxmi Ganesh, ACP Srinivas Gowda, Rammohan Pai (former President of KCCI , Mangaluru), Yatish Baikampady (CEO of Panambur Beach Tourism Development Project), Gaurav Hegde (Director of Surfing Swami Foundation) and Industrialist and Windsurfer Henry Britto. Sasikant Senthil who distributed the prizes for the winners said “I am quite impressed by the kids performance and I wish these children grow in this sport and represent Nationally and Internationally in the future.”

The aim of the event was to identify and nurture talented young surfers under the guidance of Surfing Swami Foundation. This surfing competition had one of the best conditions for Kids who had to contest in 3 – 4 ft waves, high tides, and currents. Many kids showed drastic improvement in techniques and performance from last year. For many, it was their first time participating in a surf contest. Surfing Swami Foundation plans to continue hosting such annual events in order to promote Surfing & Water sports among young kids and also protect it’s pristine beaches along the coastline of Karnataka.

The results are : 1st Place – Selvam, 2nd Place – Praveen and 3rd Place – Subbu ( Under 16 Boys Category); 1st Place – Naman, 2nd Place – Akash, and 3rd Place – Prakash ( Under 13 Boys Category); and 1st Place – Chirali, 2nd Place – Akhila, and 3rd Place – Sanvi ( Girls Open Category). The Surfing competition was judged by Surfing Foundation of India Official Shamanth Kumar and also by Beattie Michael, a Surfing Enthusiast from South Africa. Speaking to Team Mangalorean, Beattie said, “The warm water of of India gives an edge for surfing. However, the surfing community here, is smaller and scattered in comparison to that in South Africa. When there is warm water, you can stay in the water for long and surf, which otherwise becomes difficult in cold water. It is ideal for long hour surfing, but the waves are relatively smaller at this Panambur Beach”.

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