Weekend surf report (and a bit of info on Sri Lanka)
Apologies for the lack of postings on this site over the past month, but yours truly has been in Sri Lanka.
I had hoped to get some surf over there, but on the west coast there was an onshore monsoon blowing, and on the other side, which has the well-known break of Arugam Bay, there was a civil war going on.
Tensions between the Government and the Tamil Tigers, who are fighting for a separate homeland in the north, kept escalating while I was there, and there was no way I was going into a war zone.
There were even bombings in the capital, Colombo. One attack was on the Pakistani High Commissioner (Pakistan sells arms to the Sri Lankan Government for the war against the Tamil Tigers). The High Commissioner didn’t get killed, but a three-year-old girl who was walking nearby with her mother was killed. That’s the kind of tragedy that is hurting Sri Lankans.
Sri Lanka has two monsoon seasons, so both sides of the island get waves, depending on the time of year. My Sri Lankan friends told me that December through to January was peak surf season on the west coast. Mid-year is better on the east coast.
As for the country itself, it’s beautiful. The people generally are warm and friendly, especially when they learn you’re from Australia — ‘Ahh, number-one cricket team … Shane Warne’. But around the tourist spots there’s plenty of touts who are only too keen to separate you and your money.
Keep checking this site for some reports and pictures from Sri Lanka (when I get over the jetlag!).
I did see plenty of nice beaches and headlands from Hikkaduwa south to Galle and east to Yala National Park, so there’s no doubting there would be good surf there when the conditions are right. What does strike you in the southern areas is the still-evident wreckage from the 2004 tsunami.
And almost everyone has a tsunami story of tragedy to tell. I meet one fellow in Galle who lost his daughter. He spent eight days searching for her but her body was never found. She was one month old.
As for our local surf conditions … well, it’s nice and warm but the sea has been flattened by a northerly. The weather gurus were predicting a southerly change tonight, so there might be some beach breaks once that hits.
