Surfing Fest begins in February

BHUBANESWAR: Surfers from across the world are all set to converge in Odisha early February as the State’s coastline creates waves to stamp its presence on the global surfing map.The first ‘India Surf Festival’, a three-day affair organised by Surfing Yogis, who introduced the sports to this part of the world only a year back, will get underway on Ramachandi beach along the Puri-Konark Marine Drive on February 7. It is expected to draw over 70 surfers from India and abroad.The festival, aimed at identifying surfers in India and unifying them under a single umbrella, would feature both soft and pro-surfing events. It has already attracted international attention with over 24 surfers from Singapore, France, Italy, Spain, Morocco and Brazil confirming their participation.Along with the members of Surfing Yogis, two surfers of the State who have received training and gained expertise __ a local community boy Pratap Singh and a pilot turned avid surfer Spandan Banerjee would be joining the fray.“The event would expose the water sports potential of the vast shoreline of Odisha to the world. It has ignited immense interest in the global surfing community with Guillermo Pena of Italy of World Surfing Federation, surfing Guru Didier Latife of France, co-founder of  International Organization Stand Up Paddle (IOSUP) Fernando Ekahi Labad of Spain coming down to take part in the festival,” Surfing Yogis chief and head of Rangers Adventure Foundation (RAF) Sanjay Samantray said.The festival would be covered internationally with surf movie companies from Bali and Spain filming the entire event along with internationally-renowned surf photographers taking the beaches and waves of Odisha to new shores.Besides surfers, tourists and buffs have already begun to put in participation requests. The organisers have already received more than 600 requests and expect to have more than 1,000 by the time the festival kicks off.Arrangements are being made in association with hotels apart from the tents of RAF to accommodate the tourists.  “We have also envisioned setting up of organic cottages with the help of the local community of the seaside villages providing complete natural settings,’’ spokesperson Dr Debabrata Das said. The festival would be of immense tourism value and the Surfing Yogis has also pinned hopes on the State Government to pitch in with its support to ensure its success.  “The international expert surfers would be keen to explore other sites along the coastline. With Government support, we can organise their visits to four locations along Paradip, Kendrapara and Gopalpur coasts which have already been scouted by our expert team and found to be having wave patterns suitable for extreme pro-surfing. These places can be developed as international surfing destinations,” Sanjay said.Surfing is a surface water sport in which the surfer rides a surfboard on the crest and the face of a wave which  carries him/her towards the shore.