Along the shores of Kerala—India’s southernmost state—a first generation of surfers are creating waves of positive change with an empowering surf club. Photographer Gaby Conn captures the scene on film.
Surfers have been heading to India’s since the 60s, but despite its exquisite Arabian coastline and pristine waves, the surf scene in Kerala didn’t exist until 15 years ago. And only began to explode in the last five.
The hotspots are the neighboring fishing towns of Kovalam and Varkala where a local community of young surfers, who started off with broken surf boards and no surfing role models, are now the owners of thriving surf houses and schools.
Many of these pioneers, like Shivaraj Babu and Ramesh Budihal, are pursuing the sport professionally and ranking in global competitions; others are using the waves to empower a younger generation of Keralans to break out of cycles of generational poverty.
Enter: The Kovalam Surf Club.
Left: The Kovalam lighthouse is an iconic fixture, helping local fishermen navigate the coastline; Right: Local Kovalam Surf Club students pick up their boards and enter the waves.
Photos: Gaby Conn
Alcoholism is an endemic problem in Kerala, particularly amongst the fishing communities. As a result, many children find themselves dropping out of school early to support their families.
This could have been the fate of some of Varkala’s surf pioneers, were it not for two Brits, Ed and Sofie Templeton, who founded Varkala’s Soul & Surf center in 2010— the first surf house in southern India. They taught young, enthusiastic locals how to surf, certifying them as instructors and offering them employment opportunities.
The Kovalam Surf Club was founded by local surfer Mani Sreekumar and Belgian surfer Jelle Rigole in 2005.
Photos: Gaby Conn
Every weekend, a group of Varkala surfers load up their vans with boards and drive an hour and a half down the coast to reach the sleepy fishing town of Kovalam, where they help run Kovalam Surf Club—an initiative with the tag line ‘no school, no surfing’.
Having been built collectively and so recently, it is free of the competitiveness and ego often found in other surfing hubs around the world.
Children, aged between eight and 23, travel up to two hours to partake in free lessons (boards, clothing, and snacks provided) with some of the country’s top surfers, the only stipulation being that they must have attended school every day that week.
Left: Ansan, surf instructor, stands surrounded by eager local students; Right: A rickshaw is rigged up to carry surfboards.
Photos: Gaby Conn
Swimming is not widely taught in India, and it’s common for a fear of the ocean to be passed down through generations. In order to keep the surf scene growing steadily, the team behind Kovalam Surf Club recognize the need to educate local communities about the ocean, to teach people how to swim, and help them understand how to engage with the water in a way that is safe but liberated from worry.
Left: Fruit salad piled high with freshly grated coconut; Right: Santhosh Bhadran, member of the Kovalam Surf Club, sips on a chai post-surf.
Photos: Gaby Conn
All those hours in the water require a lot of energy, which means the local chai shop along Kovalam’s beachfront is a favorite. Alongside steaming cups of spiced tea in small paper cups, hungry hands—studens and instructors alike—delve into the glass-panneled wooden cabinet, which houses an assortment of different fried goodies: Huge balls of fried banana bread, crispy samosas, and crumbly, sugary ladoo.
For lunch, they head to the local fish restaurant, where the table is laden with the morning’s fresh catch—and all spicy. These plates are mopped up with buttery, flaky paratha bread, and fluffy appam—a typical Keralan savoury pancake, made from fermented rice batter and coconut milk.
“The surf locals here lift each other up, share resources, and celebrate each others’ wins,” writes photographer Gaby Conn.
Photos: Gaby Conn
The club was created to serve as both motivation for the children to stay in school, while also providing them with a potential avenue for their future. A number of the graduate students from Kovalam Surf Club have gone on to make a stable living offering surf lessons themselves, guided surf tours, and even surf board repairs. And as the surf culture in India continues to grow, these opportunities will only become more abundant.
Left: The view over Kovalam beach from the Kovalam lighthouse; Right: Surfers Ansan, Kumar and friend gather after a surf lesson.
Photos: Gaby Conn
The surf scene in Varkala and Kovalam is something special. Having been built collectively and so recently, it is free of the competitiveness and ego often found in other surfing hubs around the world.
The surf locals here lift each other up, share resources, and celebrate each others’ wins, all the while working to empower young up-and-coming surfers. This generation of surf pioneers, like Ansan and Kumar [pictured], have managed to create a wave of positive impact through their communities. All they needed was a few boards, and some decent waves to do it.
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Gaby Conn
Gaby is a travel photographer and writer, raised in London but rarely there. She's been traveling the world for 6 years now, and is currently residing in India. She works almost exclusively with the analog medium—35mm film—to capture stories and moments that feel raw, unfiltered, and honest. In an age of obsessive editing and hyper-perfectionism, she seeks to capture the beautiful in the seemingly ordinary and everyday.
