Sanya Supplement: Surfing Catches on in Shanghai

By Brendan Sheridan

Just five years ago, the common refrain amongst expat surfers in China was: “I had no idea there was good surf in China.” Now the secret is out, and it’s not just the foreigners who have figured it out. In 2006, a handful of Chinese surfers caught waves in Hainan; now there are more than 50 locals who are in the water a few times a week.

When the first Surfing Hainan Open was held in 2008, only one Chinese competitor participated in a crowd of 30 entrants. The following year, three locals joined the competition. Last year, the number doubled to six, and the trend looks like it will only continue. The fourth annual Surfing Hainan Open is scheduled for 3-4 December, and already a dozen Chinese nationals have signed up to compete.

Darci Liu, who will compete for her third time this year, won last year’s Best Wipeout award. In addition, she has been awarded a local wildcard for the Swatch Girls Pro women’s longboard competition held at the end of October. She learned how to surf after moving to Sanya in 2007, and is quickly becoming the face of surfing’s emerging presence in China.

Qiu Zhou, a seven year old boy originally from Chengdu, has been surfing for a year and picked up the basics and then some very quickly. He is the first Chinese national to take to surfing at such a young age, and the promise he is already showing on a surfboard has the local scene watching him closely. He will be the youngest person to enter the Surfing Hainan Open in its four year history.

The growth of the surf scene has helped bring attention to other parts of Hainan, which has been only known for the capital city of Haikou in the north and the tourism capital Sanya in the south. Riyuewan, the site of the competition, has been largely ignored in the past, but a combination of great surf and easy access (the beach is a short drive off the island’s Eastern Expressway) is quickly changing that.

But lest anyone become concerned that spots are becoming crowded, Hainan’s east coast has a plethora of headlands, which provide ideal conditions for peeling point-break waves, which every surfer looks for in a good surf spot. As the number of surfers grows at well-known spots, surfers will be pushed to look for new breaks, and Hainan surfers will keep discovering gems on the island.

Brendan Sheridan is the founder of Surfing Hainan, China’s surf shop. Launched in 2007, Surfing Hainan specializes in surf lessons (for individuals and groups), guided surf trips, day excursions and stand up paddleboard trips and lessons. For more information, check out www.surfinghainan.com.