Naranjo sees future in Lankan surfing
Top international surfer and Red bull athlete Diego Naranjo predicted that Sri Lanka’s surfing landscape would see impressive growth in the coming years, after he visited two of the country’s central locations for the sport while judging the recently-concluded Red Bull Ride My Wave competition.
The Eastern Surfers will travel to Maldives after winning both legs of Red Bull Ride My Wave - Pix by Amila Gamage
“There is a lot of potential for surfing to develop in Sri Lanka. In Costa Rica, where I come from, surfing is very big now and 20 years ago things were just like they are here at the moment. So surfing here is definitely going to see a lot of growth and development in the years to come and will probably be very big in the future,” Naranjo said.
Naranjo picked the East Coast team, made up of that region’s top local surfers, as the winners of Ride My Wave, which pitted them against their counterparts from the South Coast over two legs of surfing in both sides’ home turf. Apart from taking home the title of being the island’s top surf crew, the East Coast also claimed a gold-plated surfboard at the grand finale in Arugam Bay last week.
Diego Naranjo
“Everyone was surfing real good. The level of the second leg was way higher than the first; the waves were of a greater quality so all the surfers were able to surf well. I was happy with that because we had some impressive scores and performances,” he explained.
However, Naranjo did emphasize that the local surfers needed to work on their speed, execution and competitive mindset if they were to progress to the next level. Additionally, he stressed that those with talent should also be sent abroad to fine-tune their skills in challenging and unfamiliar conditions.
“It’s all about what you are looking for as a surfer. Some people like big waves, others like small waves, other people like only left-points breaks, others like only right-point breaks. To become a good surfer you have to surf all kinds of waves.”
