International Surfing Competition
on Really Out There Experience (Indonesia), 28/Sep/2009 04:33, 34 days ago
15– 20 September2009Nembrala (Dela) hosted the 2009 International Surfing Competition this week.Seventy-seven surfers came to the island along with supporters and event organisers. It was Justine’s last week on Rote and we had already decided to spend most of the week down in Dela. Teresa another VSO volunteer had also asked to visit the island as she had already been in Kupang for the meetings. Through friends of acquaintances we were offered a bungalow on the beach right next to the best hotel on the island as the homestays were already fully booked. I needed to work sodrove downeach day after work– about 65 minutes and then back at 06:30 in the morning. Thismeant I had the afternoon to enjoy the beach, watch the surfing etc and the evening to enjoy the entertainment.When the competitors arrived on the ferry there was a welcoming committee including music and dancing. As I had gone down to meet Teresa I was able to watch all this. Most evenings the Nembrala Beach Resort had laid on traditional music but most of the action was round a fire on the beach.The surf was good the first day but the swell got less as the week progressed. The Friday and Saturday were public holidays so a lot of locals went to Boa to enjoy the spectacle. Unfortunately we had the first rain of the season Friday afternoon which sent people hurrying away at the end of the contest rather than continuing to scialise. There were quite a lot of surfers fromBaliand a reasonable gender split.