For 16-year-old Rayithi Kalyan, summer is the most exciting time of the year. Not because of the vacations, but this is the time when he gets to surf with his cricketer friends from other nations. A champion surfer, who has won many national competitions, Kalyan is the favourite of Jonty Rhodes.
Like every year, the little surfers from the Waveriders Surf School in Rushikonda were waiting for the IPL season to begin when cricketers from different countries come down to the coast to surf with them. With no IPL in the city this year, these fishermen’s kids are a sad lot.
Surfer’s delight
For the IPL season is the only time when they get the exposure of learning and sharing surfing lessons with the international sports personalities.
Cricketers such as Jonty Rhodes, Paddy Upton, Sam Billings and other young Indian cricket stars have, time and again, termed the waters of Visakhapatnam coast as a surfer’s delight. The IPL season would give a big boost to the surfing culture of the region and the surf school that has been running since 2006. The news of no matches in the city has come as a big jolt for the 15 children of the fishing community who are a part of the surf school.
“It is a big disappointment for the kids who were making preparations for the past one month to greet the cricketers. At a time when surfing as a sport was just beginning to pick up in the city, this news will be a setback to the young surfers, who are trying to make a name for themselves despite financial hardships. It’s a tremendous high for the kids to surf with the international cricketers every year. Passionate surfers like Jonty Rhodes never miss out to surf the waters here and know the kids of the school by their names now,” said Melville Smythe, man behind the Waveriders’ Surf School.During last year’s IPL season, Upton and England’s Sam Billings had brought their team mates to surf during the Vizag matches. Upton had referred to Vizag as the top spot for surfing in India because of its great waves.
