The schedule

The surf has been picking up steadily all week. We tend to make the paddle across the lagoon at about 7.30am to either Baba’s left or Water Tower and get back for a very late, well-earned and heartily appreciated breakfast at about 11am or even 12pm. At about this time the land heats up and the pressure difference draws the air from cooler sea to land creating on onshore breeze which messes the surf up a bit.

This morning we paddled down the lagoon to the river mouth to the south and crossed over to a spot called Swami’s (the Ashram have named all these breaks a couple of years ago as no-one else had previously surfed them ) where we had a good session in shoulder high, but pretty powerful waves which without even a breath of wind were as clean as they come. The paddle back, against the river current , took thirty muscle-burning, energy sapping minutes after a two hour session, but the lure of lopping the top off a fresh coconut to drink the cooling brew within kept us focused. It’s amazing to be the only people on this 60 mile stretch of picture postcard tropical beach aside from the odd heavy goods vehicle wandering by with a load on top of her head. It’s also great fun surfing with the kids from the Ashram: Satya, Shyama & Diksheet as they whoop, scream, sing Hare Krishna and bizarrely make meow noises as they take off and wipe out, consciously aware that they are probably amongst a handful of Indian boys – most of whom they know – surfing this whole sub-continent.


I finally succumbed to the lure of the longi (?). I cast aside my prejudices, quelled my cynicism, conquered my English reserve and bought the 2m strip of cloth and learned the wrap-round technique to keep it from falling…. And boy does it feel good. So much cooler than shorts clinging about your thighs, to have a bit of erm... freedom in that area encouraging a breeze about your bits is a joy to behold.