Surfin H.K.

[Randy W]

How surfing suddenly became cool in Hong Kong, and its ’70s expat roots

Long a marginal sport in Hong Kong, surfing has gone mainstream, with girls and young women in particular taking to the boards and bringing civility to a sometimes rowdy scene

 

 

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Now the self-confessed “office girl turned surfer” lives and breathes surfing. It’s a lifestyle – 
and a healthy one at that. “Eat healthy. Go to bed early. Rise early. Catch waves. Repeat,” she says of her routine.

. . .

“The surf season in Hong Kong is winter so we have to go into the cold water. Or we have to wait for a typhoon swell in summer, so we can surf only for a few months – it’s sad,” says the 24-year-old.

. . .

Although there has long been a small underground surf scene in Hong Kong, the sport only recently made a big push into the mainstream.

. . .

“Back then the surfing scene was tiny – the club never had more than 13 members before I left in 1986,” Hownam-Meek says from Gibraltar, where he has retired. “Only two girls surfed but more came for the ambience and privacy for nude sunbathing.

. . .

“During that time we found that Hong Kong has a world weather record; it has the largest change in seawater temperature anywhere in the world – or at least in the surfed world – from 13 degrees Celsius in February to 30 degrees Celsius in August.”

. . .

Despite some anxiety over a shark sighting off Lantau this month, surfers’ biggest worries today are marine pollution and waste.

Edited January 3, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Mick]

All they need is Jan and Dean, Beach Boys, Safaris, and the Ventures.