Exactly around 6 months ago, Surfing India or as we are now officially called “Surfing Federation of India” started the first surf tours to some of the world’s best-hidden surf spots which are nicely tucked along the coast of India and it’s islands.

Some of the world’s best professional and modern freestyle surfers came along to experience India and surf this well-hidden spot, which was originally shown in Taylor Steele’s “Castles in the Sky” movie. My buddy Kishore Kumar, the man behind the discovery, promotion, planning, and anything related to surf scene in India had worked tirelessly to organize this surf tour which consisted of many top-notch surfers, photographers, and journalists. I myself was part of the tour as a photographer documenting everything for “Surfing Federation of India”. I had also assisted Kishore right from the beginning with the promotion and planning of this epic surf tour.

The tour had a limit of only 12 people and the list included Craig Anderson (Australia), Thomas Louis (Australia), Jay Grant (Australia), Trevor Gordon (U.S), Chadd Konig (U.S), Daniel Jones (U.S), Micheal Kew (U.S), Alan van Gysen (South Africa), Brendon Gibbens (South Africa), Taaka (Japan) and finally myself and Kishore.

A bit of introduction about these surfers starting from Craig, Anyone who’s been following surfing should know about this young lad from New South Wales, Australia. He’s taken surfing world by storm with his freestyling, aerial maneuvers and his true surfer’s spirit and attitude. He was the “Break Through Performer ” of the year 2010, was part of Taylor Steele’s ambitious movie “Castles in the Sky” and almost won “Intersection”. He’s one of Quicksilver’s proud sponsored athlete. Along with him was his personal and talented videographer Jay Grant, a nice bloke and fun to hang out with. And then came the eye-popping and bursting into the scene 19-year-old kid, Brendon Gibbens from Western Cape, S.A. This kid’s aerial maneuvers and the speed he generated was a visual treat. Daniel Jones from Hawaii was in the pro-circuit for a long time and is considered to be the barrel master and has featured in almost all surf magazines. Childhood friends Trevor and Chadd too were very powerful surfers and tube masters, together they caught the maximum and best barrels on the whole trip. We also had a couple of normal surfers in Louis and Taaka, who was extremely down to earth guys and had a great time surfing in India. And then last but not least, South Africa’s number one surf photographer Alan van Gysen was the man to be with personally, as he was again such a down to earth and caring person who passed on many valuable tips on surf photography and shared his experiences about his travels across the world. It was truly productive to work along with him and learn a thing or two.

Overall, it was an amazing journey for all of our surfer friends to be able to come from around the world for the first time and be able to adjust, acclimatize and appreciate what India had for them in-store. Most of them showed the spirit of surfing and memorable bondage in a short time. There’s a number of articles that have already come out about this particular surf tour in magazines such as “Surfers Journal” and “Zigzag”. Over the next few months, it’s going to be published in about more than 10 magazines from around the world.

Make sure you grab a copy somewhere, Thanks!

“Take pride in how far you have come and Keep faith in how far you can go”

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