If you’re not quite sure, Sri Lanka is the little teardrop shaped island dangling vulnerably underneath India into the Indian Ocean. Westerly, Southerly and Easterly facing coastline, it’s smoothly contoured shore grabs all the swell the Indian Ocean offers and waves break into a selection of reefs and beaches offering waves for all levels of surfer.
Just last month we headed to the Sion Surf Camp in Ahangama, a small very local town surrounded by surf, with a group of frothing newbie surfers from across the globe. After the direct on a 10 hour flight with Sri Lankan air who gave us a very generous 40kg baggage allowance, great food and a consistent stream of cold beers, we arrived into Colombo, straight in the midday heat where our friendly driver Sampath greeted us and took us on the cruisy 3 hour drive down the coast to our the camp for the next two weeks.
The following fortnight went a bit like this; wake up early, breakfast of stringhoppers, daal curry, coconut sambal (or eggs on toast) fruit juice and coffee, surf, lunch of rotis, maybe another surf or power nap in the hammocks, sunset yoga, a few cold lions, dinner, sleep repeat. I’ll spare the day to day details as every day was a bit like groundhog day, but what I will say is on day one when we explained the selfish nature of surf and yoga trips and how everyone has their own personal aims to think about and need not worry about the progress of their peers, that absolutely everyone progressed and smashed those aims, lots of green waves were caught and the yoga definitely loosened everyone who partook up and it was clear to see that it helped settle the minds, which is probably more important that the flexibility stuff.
So istuti Sri Lanka and thank you all for spending a self-indulgent fortnight with us!
Sri Lanka has been on the map of traveling surfers since the 70’s but it’s still relatively quiet. Due to the deep water over the reefs and majority of un-powerful waves, it is a great place for beginner – intermediate surfers. We mainly surfed the vast beach break of Weligama as it is a great place to nail to most important surfing manouvre – the popup, and it is so big you can always find a quiet area to hone your skills. We did stop off at a few other waves though and here’s a run down of what their like for anyone thinking of heading to this beautiful little island:
Stop 1. Ahangama – This is the spot for the advanced surfers. There is a fast, shallow, Indo style left hand reef just behind the big petrol station, a large beach with sucky shoredumps and A-frame peak that picks up all the swell in the area.
Stop 2. Lazy Rights – It didn’t really work when we were there, but a very slopey and mellow right hander, a great introduction to reef-break surfing. Think Elena and Pat got a couple, but it needed a bit more swell.
Stop 3. Lazy Lefts – As the name suggests it’s a slow left hander, not so good on a shortboard but great fun on an alternative shape or foamie. Breaks for ages and very easy to catch, you just have to be very close to the breaking part of the wave (don’t you Guys!). The crew didn’t really like this wave as the take off zone is closer to the rockas than you think and the paddle out and back is probably 1km return, so you need to make sure you’ve had your milo before.
Stop 4. Rams Right – A very shallow, slab-like right-hander that offers a heavy take off barrel section and a wall for one turn. I loved this wave and was often spotted after the surf lesson trying my hardest to get as many barrels as I could before the wind came up.
Stop 5. Plantations – Less of an adrenalin rush than found at Rams, but more so than at Lazy’s. Great intro to reef-break surfing. Miguel loved this one.
Stop 6. Coconuts – Next to Plantations and slightly more gnarly as it breaks from deep water into a relatively shallow reef. Lefts are best which is why Marcus loved it.
Stop 7. Weligama – Busiest beach in the area but luckily it is massive and can hold the crowd. The wave is also very long, breaking really far out to sea, often peeling and reforming all the way to the inside. Perfect for beginners.
Stop 8. Mirissa – Kind of like a point break, great fun at 2ft and peels all the way to the urchin covered ankle depth reef on the inside. Miguel got wave of the trip down here AND on his backhand. Good ripping Mig.
Stop 8. South Beach – Possibly the best wave for beginners / intermediates in the area and close to the camps. I can’t believe it took us 1and a half weeks to find it! Very long slopey waves, mainly rights and a huge deep channel to paddle out in.
In summary Sri Lanka is refreshingly consistent and rarely flat, kind of like Cornwall except your surfing in boardshorts or a bikini and it’s only onshore from midday – 5pm every day, but is often light enough to surf right through it and us UK-based surfers welcome these warm onshores!
The next TTRide Sri Lanka Trip is a 3 Week Coast to Coast Adventure, from Ahangama to Arugum Bay: 27th March – Sun 24th April 2016 and costs £1119pp.