Got an email a month ago asking if I’d be interested in heading out to be involved in some surf coach training over in Hainan, China……….I’d love to!
The Chinese Water Sports Association (CWSA) asked the ISA if they coud send a representative who could be involved in some surf coaching and water rescue courses, followed by a few development meetings after. By the time it was green lighted, it was just four days before departure! OK! time to get my skates on—sorting flights, figuring out ways around the Great (Firewall) of China, and took a crash course in local culture, customs and history to hopefully make a solid first impression.
Fortunately, one of the key sports trainers out there was none other than Nicola (Nik) Zanella—Italian surf journalist, Sinologist, and surfing legend who has lived out in Hainan for the last 15 years. I met Nik in Rome back in 2018 and remembered being held spellbound by his excellently told tales of China. Now back in Italy, but also going out for the training, so we caught up and chatted before the trip. It was amazing help, he was such a good source of info and support to help get me ready!
First Impressions & The Language Puzzle
After an uneventful trip to Guangzhou from London, going through Chinese immigration was super easy. There is now 15–30-day visa free entry for around 27 countries. Completing the immigration form was not too much hassle. Then, after a quick domestic flight to Sanya, Hainan, I was picked up by 2 lovely folks from the CWSA around 10.30pm. They had got me some food for the car journey and Emma (Chinese who learn English at school generally are given or choose a European name to prevent confusion for both parties when foreigners are addressing them), kept me entertained practicing her English in answering my many questions.
Chinese is a complex language and stressing on the wrong part of a word can change its meaning easily. “Thank you” can become “Elder Sister” with the slight change of intonation. Try to use the Chinese word “Ma” without some fluency and you could end up with big problems!!!
Got off to a broken jetlagged sleep at the hotel and round 7am, joined the training team for breakfast. Great to see Nik again and to meet in the Real for the 1st time, Pablo, the head of Surfing for the CWSA. From online discussions earlier, found out Pablo had completed a masters at Sheffield university in the North East of England and coincidently had surfed with the awesome NE surf crew round Scarborough as well. Pablo mentioned he’d made an impression, being the first Chinese national surfer they’d ever met and surfed with. After a quick discussion of the day’s schedule, off we went to class to greet the students.
The Class of Coaches
The students were a group of Surfers from all over the country. Mainly from Hainan, although also had a group from Beijing, who run an indoor City Wave and some guys from Leizhou Peninsula in Guangdong province. They were focused, enthusiastic and friendly, the nice part of training surfers wherever they are in the world, is the passion they display for the subject and the great affinity we surfers have for each other.
The courses went on for 4 days covering Surf Coaching and Water rescue training, in the classroom and on the beach. The best part of the training I felt were the scenarios created for first aid and coaching beginner students assessents. We’d set up characters and roles for “casualties” and “learning surfers” to put the coaches through their paces and challenge them. The whole class was laughing at the responses of the coaches to the scenes created!
The Surf: Nights, Pools and Points.
In addition to the awesome 4-star accommodation, amazing buffets of Chinese and European food, (became a dumpling soup junkie!!), there was a wave pool 400m from my hotel room!!! I’ve surfed the Wavegarden tech pools of Bristol and Edinburgh, but this one was very different:- an Endless Surf pool. It uses chambers underneath the pool floor filled with water which is then pumped upwards through vents, with different timings and magnitudes, to produce a variety of waves. Nik and I surfed it at night, fortunately I was offered a really nice 5’9″ Mayhem fish to use by one of the students (Thanks Renee!).
The water and lights created an amazing kaleidoscope of dark blues and purples. This, against the black night sky made it a surreal experience, struggling on the 1st session to get my bearings.
I felt the waves were pushier than the Wavegarden ones and helped it project you out of the turns along the wave. Had 2 sessions on the rights and as a goofy, would like the opportunity to surf it left as well (hopefully next time?). Then nicely rounded off both times shouting the breeze with Nik, over a beer and burger:-)
On Saturday, I got up early and as I had Renee’s board still, thought I’d do a dawn patrol at Riyue Bay. Typhoon Bavi’s recent appearance had produced swell and it was still pumping with only 4 others out! Riyue bay is a left-hand point, it starts off with a fairly easy take off, then rifles off along a shallow flat rock reef and gets progressively hollower. I hooked into two decent head high ones, made some early positioning tweaks, quickly transistioning into driving turns in the pocket, finally tucking into the bowl as it got shallower.
As the sun rose, the swell and tide started to drop. More and more people started paddling out and within 30 minutes was sharing the spot with 30 or so. The subsequent waves involved a lot of threading the needle through people inside at the take off and giving way to hungry local hotties. Pablo came out and chatted for a bit. He was super frothing for some waves, so I left him and the crew to it, more than happy with the session. The walk back to base was amazing, down a country road with a mountian backdrop of lush jungle. Close by, saw such a variety of butter and dragon flies, buzzing round lovely lush flowering plants. Knew very few of the varieties, the majority of the fauna and flora in Hainan was new to the eye.
Reflections on China
On Sunday, my final morning, I caught the first half of the England vs. Norway game before bidding goodbye to members of the team, who also kindly packed me breakfast for the road. Then from that hotel door to my front door back home, it was a smooth 24-hour journey—easily one of the seamless travel experiences I’ve had.
Everything on this trip was brand new to me: the people, plants, animals, apps, writing, language, and architecture. As a pretty experienced (and admittedly somewhat blasé) traveler, Hainan completely reignited my sense of curiosity and excitement.
My Key Takeaways:
- The Culture: People aren’t rude; they can be simply unemotive and direct in public. Culturally, this stems from the custom of showing good “public face.” But underneath that public exterior, people are incredibly warm, helpful, and caring. We shared endless laughs and smiles once the face was dropped.
- National Pride: Chinese have massive pride in their culture and country—and rightly so. Coming back to the UK felt like stepping 20 years back into the past in terms of modern infrastructure and how people work together as a community for the common good.
- Ease of Travel: Traveling is smooth, though Google Translate is an absolute essential. Many locals understand and read English, but like many of us learning and practicing a foreign language, fear of embarrassment and lack of practice keep us away from fluency and of course, being of help.
A fantastic experience!! Massive thanks Hainan, the CWSA, Nik, and all the helpful, friendly people I met along the way……Surfing Eastside of the Silk Route!
Surf Steps: Surf, SUP and Safety. 