Close on the heels of sailing, two other water sports — surfing and windsurfing have caught the imagination of the youth in Tamil Nadu, especially Chennai. It is a fast developing sport, thanks to the extensive coastline that the state enjoys along the Bay of Bengal.
The culture of surfing is transforming into a competitive sport around Chennai because of very good locations like Covelong or Kovalam with consistent waves, and the historic Mahabalipuram, around 50 kilometres from Chennai city. Rameswaram is also developing into an important venue for this. A favourite surfing spot in Chennai is the Elliot’s Beach. This growing popularity has spawned ‘surf schools’ rather like coaching academies in other competitive sports.
The hosting of the Asian Surfing Championships for men, women, and under-18 boys and girls from August 3 to 12, at Mahabalipuram, served as a boost. Surfers from 20 Asian countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, UAE and Uzbekistan, participated. More interesting is the fact that the 12-member Indian team had as many as eight surfers from Tamil Nadu – D Srikkanth, Kishore Kumar, Karmali Moorthy, Shrishti Selvam, Tayin Arun, P Harish, Prahlad Sriram and Damayanti Sriram, all training in surf schools in Kovalam, Mahabalipuram and Chennai. According to the event managers Kamal, Sunita and Salman, the Asian championship also served as a selection event for the 20th Asian Games next year.
Surfing as a sport has been progressing rapidly, because of the focus on strong grassroots programmes and elite athlete development, with good support from the State Government through the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu. The Tamil Nadu Sailing Association has also been a big player in the development of this sport. It is a matter of pride that surfers from the state have been dominating India’s representation in international competitions. Three state surfers were picked for the Indian team at the World Surfing Games 2023. Winning silver medals at the Asian championships last year has helped India secure extra places in the 2026 Asian Games to be held in Japan. Shu Mirabeau, Secretary, Asian Surfing Federation and Arun Vasu, Vice President, Surfing Federation of India, have hailed the “unparalleled vision and efforts” undertaken in Tamil Nadu.
Sachin Ganesh.
Windsurfing, closely related to sailing, has also been attracting youth since 2018. “Until then windsurfing was seen as a recreational activity,” says Ishwarya, a young talent from Chennai, in this new sport. Her achievements in competitive windsurfing include the gold medal at Haitong International championship 2024 in Hong Kong, fourth place at Asian Games 2023 in China, and bronze medals at Pattaya International Cup 2022 in Thailand and at the Asian Olympics qualifiers 2021 in Oman. Talking to Madras Musings, she explains that “from 2018, a platform was created for windsurfing to develop as a competitive sport, with young sailors taking to it and better coaching support.” Drawing inspiration from Ishwarya, her younger brother Sachin, already progressing well in sailing, has also taken to this new sport. “Windsurfing is more exciting, physically demanding and offers new challenges,” he tells Madras Musings. He has bagged bronze medals in the Under 23 age group at the Haitong International Windsurfing Championship in 2024, at the Asian Windsurfing Championship 2021 in Oman, and at the India International Regatta 2015 in Chennai.
The siblings are enthusiastic about the growth of a small but strong windsurfing community in Chennai. which includes a few talented female sailors too, enabled by better access to equipment, coaching and competitions. They feel that the coaching regimen tailored to suit different levels and comprising various well-structured programmes like water training, fitness routines, theory sessions, key techniques, racing strategies and reading of wind and weather, are responsible.
Ajith Vas, a seasoned sailor and windsurfer from Chennai, who has been mentoring since 2018 tells us, “Windsurfing has been popular since the 1970s on India’s west coast, especially Goa. After the success of sailing as a sport in Chennai since early 2000, we decided to promote windsurfing as a competitive sport on the east coast, and in Chennai too. Besides the siblings Ishwarya and Sachin, who are already competing for India internationally, we have Sumanth Arunachalam, K Pragati and Vidya who are also training hard and competing in national championships.” Veteran windsurfer Derek Menezes, national and international champion, has also been training the young talents here.