After all these years of travelling to Sri Lanka, and living for months in Arugam Bay, i have failed to hail the unsung hero’s and heroin’s of this tropical isle. So, i’m going to start with the one person that provides me with all the fuel i need to surf! Samanthi is affectionately known as ‘Number 1 sister’. I have known Samanthi and her family for the past 6 years. She and her sister, Erandathi, were the teachers at the Pre-School, near the Buddhist Temple, at the south end of the village. Samanthi and her family have fed and watered me over this time. They have even tolerated me living in their cabanas and at times the castle. I have to surf and go fishing to prevent the weight piling on! The problem is the food! Samanthi’s cooking is the best. It is not only the Rice n Curries that she serves up, but the cakes, pizzas, desserts and short eats. I never come home to Devon lighter than when i went out. Samanthi heads a team of sisters in the kitchen. She is up and starting the kitchen duties at six every morning, and regularly works through until midnight during the tourist season. Way back, when i first arrived, it was Amma doing the cooking, and forever supplying me and the brothers with Tea. Now it is Samanthi, with the assistance of younger sisters Gayani and Ruwanthi, and cousins Geeva and Sudu. There is a constant call for me to come and eat from the kitchen, and if i miss a meal, it is always waiting there for my return. Not only is Samanthi an awesome cook, but she is also beautiful. Be warned though! She has four protective brothers, a father, and a brother in law!
Fluid Juice Surfboards
(. . . . . and that man Adrian Phillips!)
Fluid Juice Surfboards & Arugam Bay Surf Club
Paddle4Relief Founder, Tim Tanton, headed across the border, to Cornwall, to find another true gent of a man, Adrian Phillips. Adrian has been monumental in helping Tim provide the top surfers in Arugam Bay with competition level surfboards. Tim picked up three surfboards only hours before his last trip to the tropical isle, earlier this summer, and whilst Tim was out there, Adrian sent a further three more out with some of the crew who were competing in the UK Pro Tour Event. The boards were a donation to the surfers of Arugam Bay who had been proving their surfing skills to Tim for some years. With the ASP WQS 6 Star and UK Pro Surf Tour Events in Arugam Bay this summer, there was a need for the local talent to have some quality boards to help them with their quest against some of the worlds finest surfing talent. Both the Sri Lankan Wild cards for the main WQS Event were Arugam bay surfers using Paddle4Relief donated surfboards. Adrian, whose step son, Toby Donachie, is one of the UK’s finest surfing talents, and for the second year running, was out in Abay competing in the UK Pro Surf Tour Champion of Champions contest, also provided the Arugam Bay surfers with a handful of leashes as well. Tim cannot thank Adrian enough for his speedy response to the young Arugam Bay surfers needs. And to cap it all, Adrian had to suffer his Paypal account being suspended. Tim’s payment from Sri Lanka had been flagged up as a possible security breach! Fortunately for Adrian, and for Tim, the internet access in Arugam Bay was on a good run and Tim was able to access his emails daily. He soon picked up the distress email from Adrian, and was on the phone to Paypal quick smart, even with being put on hold and running out of credit on two occasions! Thanks must also go to the surfboard mules, Toby Donachie, Tony Plant, Dave Renyard and Phil Williams.
Appledore School (In celebration of Mrs Freeman from Appledore School)
Paddle4Relief would like to say a huge thank to the staff and children at Appledore School for their very kind donation of £228, which funded the restoration of a polluted and disused well in the village of Komari, Sri Lanka.
What started as an email enquiry to P4R Founder, Tim Tanton, from Emma Dennis (Parent Governer) and Annemarie Bettiss (School Bursar) resulted in nine Hindu families benefiting from a well providing them with safe drinking water. The well also provides the families with water for cooking, washing and general chores.
Previously Disused Well.
The donation was a result of the children from the school raising the money and deciding that they wanted to build a well, as a thank you to Mrs Freeman, the schools Head Mistress, who was leaving the school after fourteen years of service. They wanted something in which to remember her by, and for her to remember them.The well, situated on the eastern side of the village, close to the beach, has seen thirty-five villagers including fifteen children and six elders, benefit from the completion of the project.
Komari is situated approximately 20km’s north of the popular surfing destination of Arugam Bay, on the south-east coast of Sri Lanka. It is an extremely poor area with the average wage less than $2 a day. The community are primarily involved in farming and fishing.
The village was totally destroyed in the 2004 Asian Tsunami with only the church left standing. It is also an area that was severely affected by the civil war, and an area that was not safe to be out in during the hours of darkness during that time.
Now it is a place where recovery has been slow. Paddle4relief had researched the area and found that there were two wells that could be renovated.
Komari Community Social Well
The donation enabled P4R to increase the height of the well by more than a metre, and build a wide apron around the well, with a run off to ensure that waste water does not run/drain directly back into the clean well water. The interior of the well was re-rendered and the well itself pumped out and cleaned.
The second well was funded by Paddle4Relief. It is located on the west side of the village and now provides fifteen Hindu families with safe drinking water. Of the fourty-seven individuals making up the families, twenty-three are children and nine are elders. They again are predominantly involved in fishing and farming.
Massive thanks must go to Mark Brindle and the team at Maniac Films for having the patience to endure trawling through six years of P4R video footage! Special thanks must go to Steph Palmer for being the main editor of this project and to Stu Gaunt for the final edit.
Hopefully you will all find some identity in what we do as a team at P4R. It is not just about those that volunteer or serve on the committee but of those that put themselves out and offer their professional skills and services, like the team at Maniac Films. So, if you need something doing in the film and website media market then look no further than the small but beautiful formed team in Croyde! Or, if you want to get involved in P4R and what we do in Sri Lanka, then please contact Tim. Mark and his team have been awesome supporters and providers for P4R since our conception. Many thanks guys n gals.
Arugam Bay Surf Club with the support of Paddle4relief have produced a Code of Conduct for all surfers visiting Arugam Bay. The members of the club, the local surfers, recognise the importance of highlighting the need for safety in the water. They realise the value of respecting everyone’s desire to enjoy the waves. This season has seen an increase in surfers visiting this top quality right point break. it has also seen a number of anti-social incidents every day in the water. Incidents materialising from a minority of surfers who feel it necessary to paddle for, and take every wave! Many of these surfers, can’t surf, and ruin it for those that can, and those that respect their fellow surfers around them, and that acknowledge etiquette in the water. Arugam Bay Surf Club members are promoting safety in the water and respect for ones fellow surfers. If a small group of surfers from a third world country that have suffered a civil war and a massive natural disaster can stand up and be counted for the safety of others then why cant the travelling surfer respect their peers also? Wake up everyone. Look at what a small group of youngsters have done and please share the waves with a smile! They are prepared to share their home break with all that come to enjoy the waves. Please be prepared to come and share the waves to. No-one is greater than the other. If you can surf, then you know the buzz, the fire, the feeling! Sit back, shout someone else into the next set wave, and enjoy their joy! Smile and hoot with them. Chill in the line-up, be mellow, and wait your turn for one of mother natures heavenly walls of blue/green glass throwing out it’s curtain of white water. Hats off to the local surfers of Arugam Bay for they truely walk the walk!
Sri Lanka’s Top Two Surfers, Milan and Asanka - Wild Cards into the 2010 Sri Lankan Airlines Pro ASP WQS Six Star Men’s Event at Arugam Bay.
Sri Lanka’s finest surfers were out in force to compete in the WQS Sri Lanka Surf Trials. The event held over two days, 16th and 17th June, saw a tight affair between a number of surfers. The top eight battled it out under ASP Australasia jurisdiction on the 18th June following the opening ceremony held out on Main Point, Arugam Bay. Asanka blasted his way through the first semi-final, truly showing why he has predominately held the No.1 spot in Sri Lanka for the past few years. The young pretenders, Milan, Sril and Pranith from Arugam Bay, were joined in the last eight by the long, blond haired, Natheen of Hikkaduwa, Asanka’s young cousin, Pranjis from Komari, Sril’s younger brother Chanu, Aatha from the Main Point and Arugam Bay’s colourful legend Susanthan. They were out to knock Asanka off his thrown. Alas, it was not to be! Milan continues to improve by the day, showing the potential recognised in last years 2009 UK Pro Surf Tour Event. Leading up to the competition it was Sril and Pranith who were showing awesome fire power on one of the world’s finest right hand point breaks. It was however, Milan’s day as well as Asanka’s. Both were blasting a series of manoeuvres on surfboards donated by the Devon Organisation, Paddle4Relief, back in April this year and showing the rest of the world how much natural talent can be found on the tear drop tropical isle known as Sri Lanka. The East coast of Sri Lanka may well not be a rich or developed area of the world but it sure has a richness that money cannot buy.
Sri Lankan Airlines Pro ASP WQS 6 Star Men's Sri Lanka's Wild Cards (Photo: AiyaSurfPhotography)
‘a massive thanks to Glenn Harris and SURFED OUT for their extreme generosity of a Bear Bonza 6′ 8″ (red) surfboard.’
The Red One!
so please everyone, dip in your pockets and purchase a few of those 50p raffle tickets and you could be winning a brand new shiny red surfboard!
all monies going to Projects in Sri Lanka and to The Haiti Earthquake appeal.
Some of you may never have been on Facebook! There are times when i wish i never had! There is a reason for being on it - networking!
Today, that networking brought me to a stand still! A stand still that had me blabbing like a baby! Yep, Sri Lanka breaks me! It brings me to my knees and tears my heart open time and time again! With all its warts I am still drawn to it - the beauty, the innocence and tranquility, the power and grace of mother nature in this far off land.
Be sure that i am in this for the long haul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .probably to my death!
To Pete Robinson - Thank you for reminding me why i do it!
Support your local….
Today at 09:03 on Tuesday March 16th 2010
On May 30th this year there’s a charity paddle from Saunton to Croyde and back to raise funds for the forgotten victims in Sri Lanka of the devastating 2004 tsunami.
It’s run by local North Devon lad Tim Tanton who is one of British surfing’s remarkable characters.
By day a psychiatric nurse (full-on, huh?), and in his ’spare’ time keeps on pushing to raise much needed funds to help people rebuild their lives around the world class right hand point break at Arugam Bay on Sri Lanka’s east coast.
Tim goes out there every year to help with projects such as building fresh water wells, and now teaching the local kids to swim & get into surfing (and form their own national federation).
Check out - http://www.paddle4relief.co.uk
Paddle your heart out for Sri Lanka - poster by Rob Tibbles
You may wonder why, six years on, help is still needed - especially after such a massive international aid effort.
The answer is an awkward truth. Sadly much of that aid never made it to the people who needed it. And worse - allegations of land-grabs and scare tactics to move locals away from the coast and their lives as fishermen, only for the coastal land to be sold off to foreign developers.
As for the international community, sadly there’s always another disaster - Haiti, Chile - and so after an initial push it can be the case that the ‘foreign help’ soon moves on, and the public forgets as the media shifts its attention elsewhere.
But not with Tim and his volunteers, who have built a special bond with the Sri Lankan locals - this little charity is not just helping them rebuild after the tsunami (yes, it’s still needed), they’re helping them improve their lives in subtle, natural ways.
Yours truly surfing Sri Lanka 2005 - 1 year after the tsunami (Photo by Bee)
A year after the tsunami my wife and I travelled to Sri Lanka and saw first hand how little had been done by 2005 to help those who survived the devastation. We were shocked to see people still living in tents by the side of the road in makeshift villages, and talking to locals it seemed the Government just didn’t care.
We were shown nothing but friendship and smiles by a people who had been to hell and back.
The Museum of British Surfing has donated some t-shirts to take out to the Sri Lankan ‘groms’ and we’re working on a few ideas to help further.
I would urge you to support Tim, his volunteers and the Paddle4Relief charity - make a donation or enter the paddle on May 30th if you can.
You can see where the money’s going, and it is making a real difference to people’s lives.
Thursday, January 28, 2010, 07:00
Comment on this story
A FORMER Torrington mayor is urging North Devonians to buy and name water wells in Sri-Lanka.
Journal columnist, Anne Tattersall, who writes Tatt’s Life was inspired by one of her subjects Braunton’s Tim Tanton who set up Paddle4Relief to help Sri-Lankan victims of the for Tsuanmi.
Tim told her it cost just £50 to build a well to get a whole village fresh water and Anne subsequently donated enough for a well.
Anne decided to call the well, which is now up and running, Mandela, after Nelson for his work in fighting poverty.
She said: “I was so impressed it only costs £50 to bring fresh water to a village and I think would be great if we could get a few more Devonians to donate £50 and have a well named.”
Paddle4Relief works in the Arugam Bay area of Sri Lanka and for more information and to make a donation visit www.paddle4relief.co.uk.
The first Paddle4Relief fund raiser of 2010 was organised by Jill Jewell and held in Bratton Fleming, at the Village Hall. A fantastic £321.00 was raised for the victims of the Haiti Earthquake disaster and the forgotten victims of the 2004 Asian Tsunami in Sri Lanka.
Paddle4Relief would like to say a huge thank you to Jill and Lynn Bawden (scoring), John Huxtable (compare), Brian Williams (Scoreboard), and the rest of the team involved in organising and running the fun filled evening. Special thanks to Chris Lilley, Jill and Shan who worked hard in the kitchen to provide the enjoyable light supper that was enjoyed during the interval.
Many thanks must go to all those who participated in the quiz, and who also willingly purchased raffle tickets, t-shirts and hoodies, as well as making considerable donations to the collection pot.
The Paddle4Relief Team of three that entered the quiz, showed courage in their performance of coming last! Congratulations to Team K for their win and to Team H for winning the Interval Quiz.
John Huxtable – compare for the night.
P4R Team members; Emms and Angie.
Ten of Sri Lanka’s top surfers and members of Arugam Bay Surf Club received formal ISA (International Surfing Association) Training following the Sri Lankan Airlines Pro 2011 Surf Event in Arugam Bay. The young talented surfers were trained by the ISA’s Coaching & Instructing Program Official Presenter for Sri Lanka, Adrian Sorati, from Austr […]
Asanka is yet again Sri Lanka’s Number 1 Surfer. He blitzed the field once again this year. Asanka, surfing a new board from Quiver, thanks to Guy @ The Board Barn and to Tim @ Paddle4relief. The 6-1 squash tail proved to be a suitable combination with the extremely talented 25 year old Arugam Bay [...]
We have a website! Thanks to one of our favourite guests, Freedom Beach Cabanas are happy to announce the arrival of a website! Jan Hanousek and his son, Nick, stayed late June into early july and scored waves every day! They also scored amazing hosts and amazing food. We organised transport to and from the airport [...]
