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Thursday, April 28, 2005
Siargao surf clinic: The country's first
By Ben Serrano
Caraga correspondent
(First of two parts)
CLOUD 9, General Luna, Siargao Island -- Anyone--children, young adults and the young at heart--interested in joining a surfing clinic for only P550?
If one happens to visit Cloud 9 nowadays, the world famous surfing site in this island of Siargao--two or three hours motorboat ride (depending on the kind of motorboat you are riding) from Surigao del Norte capital, Surigao City--one finds a not-so-big sign board "Surfing Clinic" posted right outside the office.
Surfing gadgets aplenty can be found there for the surfing enthusiast, beginners and professionals too.
And one of their instructors, 22-year-old professional surfer Manet Alcala is rated by the World Surfing Qualifying (WSQ) body as one of the 99 best surfers in the world.
A native of General Luna town, Alcala or just simply "Manet" to her friends and the surfing world, started her career in surfing when she was 10 years old.
By the time she became a full-grown woman, she has been already in other parts of the globe competing with the best surfers from other countries.
Two weeks ago, Alcala participated in the Australian World Surfing Qualifying Finals in Australia.
In an exclusive interview, Alcala said she qualified in the qualifying semi final but because of local competition in the Philippines she had to come home early to join the locals and some international surfers for the contest.
Huge waves
She is mentioning the first ever, Siargao Girls International Surfing Cup which opened last Sunday noon and ends Wednesday. Alcala is one of the crowd's favorite in the women's professional category.
Alcala told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro the best age for learning surfing is 12 years old.
She said at that age the bones are still sturdy and reflexes quick since surfing requires fast and intelligent moves, necessary for anyone to drive along with the huge waves' current aboard surfboard.
Inside the surfing clinic, one will be met by the ever smiling clinic in charge, Tina Ayevas Aratake, the acting CEO of the Siargao Islands Surf Company, Inc.
At 33 she is in charge of all the activities of the company created by a group of surfer enthusiasts.
In an exclusive interview Aratake explained that the idea of establishing a surfing company is to provide to anyone poor or rich, young and old at heart with a venue for learning about the basic skills and rudiments of the sports now touted as one of the demonstration sport at the Olympics.
Aratake said, learning session on lecture inside the clinic is scheduled 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. daily and the actual learning session or demonstration surfing is slated 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily from Monday to Saturday.
"You may surprise that some who are interested in the sport surfing were not so young or young adults but the older ones (but young at heart and spirit), which means the sport are loved by anyone," Aratake continued.
At P20-T to P30-T per surfboard, can anyone afford it?
(To be continued)
(April 28, 2005 issue)
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