International surfing events make Hainan a hot spot for Chinese surfers

Another has his board back-to-front, while a woman wants to wear her leg rope like a dog collar.

Surfing has a long way to go in China but there is no denying the sport has a future here.

A year after the Association of Surfing Professionals held its first event in China on the lush, palm-tree lined island, surfing’s popularity has blossomed.

Surf schools have sprouted up, an enormous clubhouse sits on the beach at the main break of Riyuewan Bay and grinning Chinese children ride the waves.

‘So different’

"It is just so different to Chinese people," the former ballerina added.

"We grow up thinking the ocean is something to be scared of, but people are seeing it can be enjoyed."

The ASP’s 2011 debut in China attracted worldwide headlines. Liu was profiled by CNN and the New York Times, perfectly scripted in her role of "dancing across the South China Sea".

Swatch Girls Pro China

Hawaii’s Kelia Moniz demonstrated all the elegance and beauty of traditional malibu riding to win the 2012 Swatch Girls Pro China last week, but surfing is the big winner.

"This is just the beginning. No one surfed a couple of years ago but now I think Chinese people are starting to see they don’t have to be terrified of the sea," Liu added.

"It is a place to respect and enjoy. We can play out there. People have started coming from the mainland, asking us: ‘Can you show us how to surf?’ I hope in my lifetime that I see a Chinese surfer as a world champion. I think I will."

A lavish opening ceremony with fireworks and dancers was attended by 10,000 people. Close to 1,000 spectators lined the sand for the first morning of competition at Riyuewan Bay – a year ago three men and a dog had looked on.

Teenagers waxed the underside of their boards instead of the top while tentative adults, raised in the belief the ocean was to be feared, felt salt water on their faces for the first time.

They caught waves on their bellies, knees, sitting down, sideways, wrong ways.

New sport
The mayor of Wanning, Wu Mingyang, watched it all with a wide grin.

"The first event was big news on Hainan Island and elsewhere in China but not many people knew about surfing," he said through a translator.

"Now they have seen it happening in Chinese waters and the fascination is here with us. With surfing still being a new sport, we have uncrowded and unspoilt coastline for miles.

"I have enjoyed watching the Hawaiians and the local Chinese wildcard, Darci. I should get some lessons from the girls, though, before I go in the water. I can use all the help with surfing I can get."

‘Blowing my mind’

An estimated $500,000 was poured into the contest by Swatch and the local government. There was a live, worldwide Internet broadcast and the surfers were treated like royalty.

The poster girl for the event was American Kassia Meador, a photogenic ‘goofy-footer’ from California. The road from Sanya Phoenix Airport to Riyuewan Bay was dominated by billboards featuring Meador cross-stepping on a tidy left-handed wave.

She helped Liu with training sessions for youngsters, learned the Mandarin for ‘Can you surf?’ and said surfing’s push into China was genuine.

"Being involved in a sport that is young to the Chinese people when to us, it has been around forever, that’s blowing my mind," she said.