Surf's Up! Bay of Bengal

Bay of Bengal Coastline
I really do have to go to sleep, but first I'll give you something to read...Here's the email I sent Joel about last weekend's Mamallapuram beach getaway trip. And also about the surf I found there, which was a great discovery. I was really excited about that then, and I'm really excited about that now. India will be on the surf map soon (Joel, watch for a Surfer magazine feature article on India in the near future), but for now, it's pretty undiscovered. But, before I digress:

Gmail: JtBennett@gmail.com, Oct 9:

...back to the beach. It was great. Big sandy beach, and a good surf spot, besides one lousy rock in the water that I always had to stay aware of because the wave kind of broke right over it...I had a few waves where I was racing along the wave to avoid hitting it, came pretty dang close on one and that had me a little unnerved, but really it wasn't a big deal, just the only downside to a really fun spot. If that rock hadn't been there, it woulda been outstanding. I guess the rock was just a tradeoff to the normal obstacle of 20 wide-eyed kooks in your way.
Indian Surf Taxi
The waves were fun pretty fast waves that held shape nicely. If they were lefts, I'd have been ripping em apart as they were fast and good size (chest to head high) and stayed open, like a Pleasure point wave but 3x faster. But they were good quality waves...if that place was in CA it would be crowded -- lots better than the jetty for example on a good day. In fact somewhat comparable to that, the jetty on an actualy good day (have you ever been at the Jetty on a good day? It can get good, I think you have) in terms of size and shape and speed. Nice wave. The japanese couple were beginners, they didn't catch much and stayed inside most of the time. It was really nice having them there and they were nice, and they thought I was an outstanding surfer which was cool. The Indian natives on the beach were also quite impressed and pumped up about it. The aussie was better and I watched him when I 1st got there which was good as gave me better indication of where to be and where to sit, I was bummed he was gone by the time I got back w/ my board. The Brewer was a great board for it, I could sit a little bit out on the shoulder and still catch em, making it easier than catching em right in the curl which is where a real ripper woulda been at.
me, very excited
More about the natives, they were pumped and these kids were playing in the water and I caught a good one in, went back to the beach to walk back up instead of paddling over (there was a pretty strong current pushing you north I guess it was, away from where I wanted to be, was a lot of paddling to stay in position) and the kids swarmed me and were shaking my hand and one gave me a fist pound, and they wanted to come out with me, one of them wrapped himself up in my leash and was trying to hold on, that didn't work very well...I woulda let em play w/ the board but as it's the only one I have I was pretty scared about that, easily pictured it being abused by a swarm of kids, at the least some bad fin damage...so had to lose em in the whitewater and go back out...people are really friendly here and that was a fun experience. Also there is an ancient temple right by the break that tons of indian tourists were walking past, they'd all stop and watch from the rocks behind, checkin us out...I was a surf celebrity...I tried to talk to some about surfers and what the waves are normally like, but their english usually isn't that good. From what I gathered, most had seen surfers before but not very often, but they did know what surfing was and what a surfboard was, but it's still a very rare sight. waves are biggest in the morning. I tried to ask about the seasons and when is best, but couldn't get anyone to understand that.
natives - pumped

Natives, not really that pumped unless my surfboard can catch them fish
Sadly didn't really get any good surf pics, Selin did take some from when I went out right in front of the hotel to surf the beach break there (I wanted to try some lefts, but they all just closed out) but she was far away at the hotel pool and I didn't stay there long, so there's only one pic of me actually surfing (starting to stand up). I included it. I also included a pic of our supersweet surf taxi for the hour drive from the airport to our luxury hotel, and a picture of some of my adoring fans. (the kids love to have their picture taken, they get super excited about it, even more excited when u show them the image on the camera screen, it's pretty fun) ...

Enjoy the pics and the email, and now I'm going to actually go to bed!!!!!!!!
walk on the beach

Yoichi & his Wife, my Chennai surfing buds
Me, ripping it up