Archive for August, 2010
Indola Sports Sponsors
The very first WQS Sri Lanka Trials Surfing Event held in Arugam Bay, on the 16th and 17th June 2010 received sponsorship from Sri Lanka business, Indola Sports, based in Colombo. Indola Sports Sales Manager, Rebecca Palmer, linked with Sri Lanka Surfing Federation Overseas Fundraising Manager, Tim Tanton, in providing the surfers and officials with 100 limited edition t-shirts.
Sri Lanka’s Surfers with Indola Sports Sales Manager, Rebecca Palmer
(Photo courtesy of Peter Rob-o)
The competition was organised by the Arugam Bay Surf Club in association with the Surfing Federation of Sri Lanka, and Rebecca travelled to the East Coast of Sri Lanka to experience the closely fought event. The trials saw more than thirty Sri Lankan surfers from all over the island compete for the coveted two Wild Card places in the main Sri Lankan Airlines Pro sponsored ASP WQS 6 Star contest that took place directly after the Sri Lankan competition. In the end it was Arugam Bay’s Asanka and Milan who won the coveted Wild Card entries, and with it $500 each. Arugam Bay club officials Fawas, Krish and Sril headed an enthusiastic team of surfers who worked hard throughout both the trials and main event.
ASP Australasia Tour Manager, Dane Jordan, was extremely impressed with Arugam Bay’s surfers, and identified their motivation and enthusiasm for the sport as being crucial to the success of the high-profile ASP WQS contest. Dane also offered his full support to the proposed plans to develop a Surfing Federation in Sri Lanka.
Rebecca with SFSL’s Peter Rob-o (left) & Tim Tanton, with ASP Tour Manager, Dane Jordan (far right).
(Photo courtesy of AiyaSurfPhotography)
Indola Sports are the first Sri Lankan business to offer direct support to the proposed Sri Lanka Surfing Federation. The company realises the importance of the surfing to Sri Lanka, both for the economy and to the individuals who surf. The sport offers individuals a healthy balance in their lives when combined with their work, study and family commitments. The surplus t-shirts from the event, of which there are only a few, can be purchased from Arugam Bay Surf Club. Many thanks must go to Indola Sports for having the vision to recognise and support the goal of the majority of Sri Lankan Surfers.
August 17th, 2010
Another month, another year, and yet another injury! I guess i need to start listening to my body and look seriously at injury prevention! I have lost count of the amount of months i have spent side lined out of the water in the past four years. It seems that i am regularly sporting crutches rather than a surfboard. Perhaps i can use crutches better than a surfboard, and somehow its a sign! This time it was the day the UK Pro Surf Tour left. Much the same as last year. They leave, i surf in an uncrowded line-up, a tad gung-ho, and ouch!
My 9′ 1″ Southpoint Bonga Perkins did the damage. Slammed onto the rail, my lower leg went numb, no movement, extreme pain and the thought of it being broken.
Plastered - Crutches on a Tropical Island
Fortunately not broken, but swollen to twice the size it should be and more. It was described as looking like a big tuna, and the plan was to BBQ it! The muscle damaged, as too were the ligaments. The pain more than i had ever experienced. The swelling that refused to go down, the skin so tight it felt like it would explode.
A collision of treatments commenced! A conflict of ideas! Natural medicine versus Western medicine. I lost the battle, gave into the pressures of those around me, and went down the natural route.
Who’s to know if it was the right decision. The four weeks without sleep, the days of constant pain, the two weeks of swelling, the feeling of imprisonment within a cabana, missing the sun and the surf.
Now, i can walk. I dont have the strength in the leg but slowly it is healing. no more crutches, and no more plaster casts, and no more trips to the hospital.
Sri Lanka, not the lazy, sun and surf filled holiday that so many think it is!
August 15th, 2010
Three became two on a recent trip to the hospital. Not once but twice. Sunday mornings had followed the same routine for a few weeks - treatment for another leg injury!
A tuk tuk, a vehicle with three wheels, had been our mode of transport during this time.
Photo - Flash. A Tuk Tuk that didn’t fare so well!
Three of us had been experiencing the weekly trips - all of us sustaining leg injuries. Two through surfing and one through cricket, but all surfers. The three included Sri Lanka’s top two surfers, Asanka and Milan, along with the elderly statesman, me!
It was Poyet, a Buddhist holiday. A day when no animals, fish or living creature is killed intentionally. A day when one normally only eats vegetables - not even an egg is boiled! So, maybe the two meter long snake was aware of this, and felt more than confident that it was safe to cross the road!
The driver of the tuk tuk braked violently to avoid hitting the reptile. Unfortunately he swerved at the same time, which saw the tuk tuk first bank to the right on two wheels, and then to the left! So the three wheeler became a two wheeler! It was happening so fast, but also appeared to be in slow motion. I was sure we were going over, and that the incident would see us all in hospital with further injuries, or worse! I could see that one of us was going to be thrown from the three wheeler and seriously injured. I was in the middle so was sure i would come off with the least injuries. First i thought it would be Asanka thrown out, and then when the weight was thrown the other way, it would be Milan. I had visions of Milan being crushed under the tuk tuk, of thoughts of the headlines in the newspaper, of Sri Lanka losing one of it’s finest young surfing talents. It appeared that each time we banked over we were at 45 degrees. All of us holding on, and instinctively distributing our body weight. The saving grace appeared to be Milan, who stuck his left leg out and using his bare foot, somehow had the instinct to force his foot onto the carpet road and provide us with the leverage we needed to right the tuk tuk.
The snake appeared to be oblivious to our experience, and the excitement it had caused, and just slithered off into the jungle. It’s identitiy unknown, probably a python.
We, on the other hand, were all high on adrenaline, fired up and chat, chat, chat! It appeared that the driver was more concerned in not hitting the snake because of it being Poyet, than thinking of his passengers, that he could have inadvertently killed through his actions!! Pissu! Lol!
August 15th, 2010
