The monsoon season in Pakistan brings not only rain relief from the scorching sun, it also brings wild waves for extreme surfing. From May to October, the shallow sandy beaches and rolling waves of Pakistan’s coastline — from Sandspit, Hawke’s Bay, French Beach and Abdul Rahman Goth, all the way up to the Balochistan coast past Mubarak Village and Bhit Khorri, including Gadani, Kund Malir, Ormara, Pasni and right up to Gwadar — offer many good surfing spots, beckoning the surfer to ride the waves.

Surfing is a difficult skill to learn but, once one is hooked on to it, there is no turning back. With around 35 million active surfers all over the world, surfing can no longer be called a small sport. It is also an Olympic sport. In this part of the world, especially in coastal countries such as Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Maldives, Iran and Oman, it has only recently started becoming popular.

Sadly in Pakistan, despite the enormous potential, the sport is practically non-existent except for the local beach villagers, who are pretty much born to surf the waves, and a single surfing school.   

Like it is for all sports here, surfing also needs government patronage, but our dilemma is that tourism is a provincial subject and, unfortunately, the governments of Sindh and Balochistan, which have the coastline for it, lack the capacity to facilitate water sports and maritime tourism. The general lack of adventurism in our people is another major reason for our lagging behind in the sport in our region.  

Now the central government is trying to develop maritime tourism. One step is to set up water sports centres, including facilities for surfing. Another is to form a surfing federation, opening more surfing schools, training the local fishing community to surf and teach surfing (thereby increasing employment opportunities as well), sponsoring and popularising surfers and media coverage and promotion of the sport. All these small steps can raise a community of at least 500 die-hard surfers within three to four years.

The coastlines of Sindh and Balochistan could be the new surfing frontier in the world because of their superb waves from May to October. But for that to happen, surfing must be popularised domestically and developed as a sport

 This trajectory adopted by regional countries has given them a head-start over Pakistan. Iran has a surfing school run by a woman and, in the Maldives, nearly 100 per cent of the girls know how to swim. Why not in Pakistan?

Shaykh Hashim Ahmad grew up in the hometown of surfing in California in the 1960s, and it was natural that he should be riding the waves in his neighbourhood of Santa Monica. When he moved to Karachi in the 1980s, he brought along his surfboards with him.

Last year, when he saw some young boys surfing at French Beach, he was inspired to come out of a long hiatus, when he realised there was not a single surfing school or coaching facility here. He set up his Darul Khair Surf School at Hawke’s Bay to open up healthy recreational avenues for the youth and to create awareness about the eco-environment of our polluted sea and shores.

“If you are a new surfer just starting out, you will have to find someone who can teach you the ropes,” says Ahmad.

“Also, to be a good surfer, you first have to be a good swimmer. But the problem is that most Pakistanis don’t know how to swim. Safety is essential. Never go into the water unless you know what you are doing, and unless you know that you can get back out on your own speed,” he cautions.

“Pakistan could be considered a new surfing frontier, because of the superb waves here that roll in from May until October, and sometimes even up to November,” he points out.  

Some collaboration from the private sector can help with this initiative. Along the end of Mauirpur Road at Machli Chorangi, there is a low-lying area, which could be ideal for developing a surf park and salt-water swimming zone.

Published in Dawn, EOS, August 23rd, 2020