Surf
Let’s be honest, this ain’t Indonesia, but how India has kept off the surf radar for so long we don’t know. With warm water waves rolling into idyllic, tropical beaches all year long the secret is out but the crowds are still nothing like your local break.
This section has all you need to know about surfing with us in Kerala, whether you’re a gnarled old seadog or a nubile newbie have browse through to find what you need to know.
Surf Conditions
Well we’re not exactly the most seasoned of pros in the India surf scene but in our 5th winter here we can still count the number of flat days on one hand (that’s less than 5 for those of you without a math degrees). The wind is either non-existent or a light offshore every morning until around 10 or 11 o’clock when it switches to blow onshore for the rest of the day. To be honest it’s rare for the wind to drop again during daylight hours, it’s only really if it’s overcast that there’s no wind later in the day giving clean surf conditions.
The surf here and our set-up is suitable for absolute beginners all season long, but particularly from December to March, and learners & improvers through to experts, particularly in our bigger wave months October, November and March to May, looking to score waves in a new surfing frontier.
As we say, we’re not competing with Indo for size, quality and consistency here but there’s pretty much always a wave, the water is warm and the crowd is still pretty small, though word is definitely getting out. And if your stay coincides with one of our regular good swells you’ll be grinning like a cheshire cat, but it will attract the increasing number of travelling and local surfers too. There are beach breaks aplenty giving fun, fast, sandy rides and when we get a good long range swell the points, rivermouths and jetties open up (depending on sand build up and swell directions) giving rides from 30m up to about 100m long if we’re lucky.
Smaller Swell Season
The peak tourist season, and driest, sunniest months, of December, January & February coincide with the small swell season here which is fine for beginners learning to surf, yet even then it’s still knee to waist high most days with one or two bigger swells a month that will give us some head-high waves. Fingers crossed.
Bigger Swell Season
The waves are generally bigger and there’s more of them in Oct/Nov and Mar/Apr/May but there’s more chance of storms and rain in these months. It won’t be flat at these times of year but there may be a swells coming from different directions confusing the breaks a little. That said we have our best surfs in these months and some of our local breaks can become classic. Double-overhead is the best we’ve seen it, and that’s good enough for us!
The wind is either off-shore or non existent almost every morning in our season but most days the on-shores pick up at around 10 or 11am and blows the rest of the day.
Before You Arrive
Of course you can just dash our of work, hop on a plane and be with us the next day. But if you can start some preparations before you jump on the plane you will really feel the benefit. Here’s a few things to get you going before you get to us, particularly if you are not a regular surfer:
| Preparation |
| Watch as much surfing footage as possible, get familiar with how it looks to ride waves |
| Look for different types of waves and how different surf spots attract different styles of surfing |
| Do 10-20 press ups a day for a month before you come |
| Go Swimming and set yourself targets which are reachable in terms of endurance in the water |
| If you have never surfed before try bodysurfing in the sea if you can |
| Try skateboarding if you can, longboards and/or carve boards |
| Try to build core strength muscles, work ALL muscle groups in the core |
| Hold your breath in the bath or at the pool, time yourself and try to extend |
| Unfortunately though, the best preparation for surfing, is surfing. |
Please note, none of the above is medical advice, consult your doctor to be sure.
A fantastic resource for all things surf related in India can be found here from the Surfing Swamis. They have been exploring India’s surf potential for years, they are the inspiration for us opening our doors and we highly recommend paying them a visit whilst in India. Why not tag a week on before or after your stay with us?
