By John Redmond
For a sport that is commonly and mistakenly viewed as a summer activity, surfing is gaining popularity as year-round sport among locals and in the expat community. With a growing number of international competitions being held across the peninsula, from Yangyang, to Busan and also Jeju Island, international companies are stepping up to investment, giving the original Hawaiian sport a much-needed local boost.
This weekend sees a rare event with the Korea Surfing Association and sponsors, Australian surf clothing brand, Quicksilver, among others, hosting the 2010 International Festival. The Festival is scheduled for No. 5-7 in Yangyang, Gangwon Province.
Surfing is a very popular sport worldwide even in places not often associated with water sports ― Ireland, England and Alaska ― as well as in Hawaii, South Africa and Australia. That’s where surfing gets its summer image because of the pristine quality of beaches and an endless supply of sunshine.
Waves in Korea fall into the same bracket. During typhoon season the conditions are too dangerous. The fall/winter season, however, lends itself to colder but very surfable conditions.
Jeju Island and Busan have long been considered hot spots for surfers because of accessibility and high profile beach locations, often a hindrance to quality surfing, Yangyang near the 38th parallel is emerging as consistent source of good, large waves, not too far from Seoul.
A lot of the Korean surfing community picked up this sport while studying English overseas, predominantly in Australia and New Zealand.
However, there is one case of a local who was introduced to this activity while working in the Philippines.
Eugene Lee, director of Korean Surfing Association (KSA), who back then, was running a golf academy at La Union San Juan, was introduced to the sport by a high school friend.
“A high school friend of mine convinced me to go surfing in 2004, and went surfing in San Juan. That was my first surf session and I got hooked,” he told The Korea Times.
On returning to Korea in 2006 to visit his grandparents for Chuseok, he noticed there were manageable waves near his home.
“I surfed Yangyang 38 beach for two weeks alone and made up my mind to make it a famous surf spot in Korea. I stopped my golf academy and came to Korea and started a cyworld club called SURFX. I imported some boards from China, opened the first surf shop and started teaching surfing to members of our community,” he said.
Not surprisingly, the sport is gaining popularity on the peninsula with big business taking a keen interest promoting it and a favorable image in the media.
“Major surfing international companies like Quiksilver, Billabong have entered the Korean surfing market and nowadays I’ve seen many Korean companies TV advertisements using surfing as their theme.”
What’s also interesting as of late is that the government has begun inject money into the sport, including this festival, to promote the tourism industry.
The entrance fee for the competition is 40,000 won for advanced fee reservation or 50,000 for a daily reservation. (not clear) The fee includes a promo cap, beach towel, room accommodation, Saturday lunch and beach party BBQ, free beer, raffle tickets and free surfing lessons.
The festival will include the surfing competition, surfing photo contest, Korean wrestling contest, reggae and hip-hop concerts.
The surfing competition divisions are, men’s shortboard open, men’s shortboard intermediate, men’s longboard open, women’s long and shortboard intermediate and men and women’s beginner.
All contestants are required to be at the event on Nov. 5 at 8.30 a.m.