Africa on the Rise
Sierra Leone joins ISA while WSL gets its first black African competitor in Michael February.
- Published:March 15, 2018
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It was recently announced that Sierra Leone has joined the ISA as the 98th member country. This isn’t big news because Sierra Leone is a surfing powerhouse -- it’s important because it’s further proof that the African surf scene continues to expand into areas that just a few years ago would have been thought no-go zones for wandering waveriders. The continent boasts nearly 19,000 miles of coastline, but until recent years, the African surf experience primarily consisted of Morocco to the north and South Africa to the south. Political instability is partly to blame. The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, raged from 1966 to 1990. Meanwhile, Liberia was entrenched in a civil war between 1989 and 1997 that took the lives of a quarter million people. Surf travelers don’t typically mind taking a few risks, but old land mines and rebel militias can be a bit daunting.
Today, as more peaceful conditions have taken hold, the West Coast of Africa has become a hot spot for the expansion of the sport. In 2007, Stanford students and freshman filmmakers Britton Caillouette and Nicholai Lidow released “Sliding Liberia” featuring Dan Malloy, Chris Del Moro and Crystal Thornburg. By ’08, Robertsport’s local surf population was big enough—and stoked enough—to launch their first surf championships. Kwepunha Retreat, located in Robertsport, is home to a long, playful lefthander and an ideal getaway for someone looking for something different than a week on Tavarua or an Indo boat trip.
It was also during this time when Surfing magazine issued their Google Earth Challenge and Namibia’s Skeleton Bay was discovered. The wave now stands as the preeminent sand-bottom lefthander in the world.
“Once you get out of the big cities, and go into the villages, it is a huge opportunity to experience something very special, in a place that has a different way of seeing life,” explained Spanish surf traveler Kepa Acero in a recent interview. He’s dedicated a heap of time and resources to African exploration.
“It’s also an opportunity for them to see how we live,” he adds. “It’s an opportunity for them to travel as well because they see how you live. That’s a very clean relationship.”
And now Sierra Leone is getting in on the act. The Sierra Leone Surfing Association and the Bureh Beach Surf Club are the cornerstones of the country’s scene. Last December they hosted their first-ever national surfing championships and conducted their first ISA Instructor Certification Course. Additionally, in 2017 three surfers from Sierra Leone were selected to receive ISA scholarships (there were another three surfers from Senegal, two from Ghana, and three more from Namibia selected as well). The funds will not only help them develop as surfers, but they’ll also cover some of their educational expenses.
“The ISA Scholarship Program has been very important in the development of the sport of surfing in some of the more remote regions of the globe,” told ISA President Fernando Aguerre in an interview.
Aguerre’s been a huge advocate for introducing the sport to remote coastal areas, especially throughout Africa. “There is this playground right out in front of where they live, and it’s free, and it can teach them so much about life,” he adds. “What could be better than sharing that with people and giving them that gift?”
The movement to expand surfing throughout Africa goes beyond the ISA’s efforts. Last year, San Clemente’s Pat, Dane and Tanner Gudauskas hosted a surfboard drive through their Positive Vibe Warriors Foundation. In about a month’s time they were able to collect over 700 surfboards, as well as wetsuits, fins and other gear. They shipped it all to Cape Town, South Africa, and in January 2018 they teamed up with Surfers Not Street Children and Waves For Change to distribute the boards to kids in need in the area’s townships.
“To be able to be there on the ground, to go into these communities, these townships, it was an eye-opener, for sure,” said Dane. “It really reset my whole perspective on things and the power that surfing can actually have. Surfing is giving some of these kids opportunities they’d never have had.”
So, what does the future look like? Look no further than the WSL’s Championship Tour rankings.
This year South Africa’s Michael February will be the first black surfer to compete full-time on the CT. That’s big…and who knows, in a few years he may be joined by surfers from Sierra Leone or Liberia.
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