Surfs up with love from down under

By Talaia Mika • 18 February 2024, 6:35PM

Surfing in Samoa is not something that people indulge in and an Australian man is trying to change this after realising that many children want to take up sport but cannot because they are unable to afford a board.

Australian surfer Adam Kesbah is trying to change this by bringing in used surfboards. His story has now ignited calls from other people in Australia who want to offer a helping hand.

The villages of Lautuanu'u and Faleatiu are some of the popular destinations for travelling surfers and local surfer Monah Taula said the reason why the sport only leaves aspiring Samoan surfers to watch on was simple.

"They're really sad, they really want to go surf but, no board," Mr Taula told ABC News.

It's a situation that also left Mr. Kesbah feeling uneasy. He said it was obvious the locals were keen to embrace the sport, but they just didn't have the equipment they needed.

"Some of the boards the kids were riding [it] was some really banged-up stuff; no fins, it was just a board in half that they were riding," Mr Kesbah said to the ABC.

Meanwhile, Mr. Kesbah used a recent trip to bring over extra surfboards from Port Macquarie on the Mid-North Coast of New South Wales.

"I was super stoked to see them riding my old boards that I remember riding," he said.

"One afternoon the surf was really messy but the wind swung and it got clean so we jumped out and all the local boys had jumped out too because it was the perfect size.

"It was just a really awesome experience to see them having fun."

Another of the older surfers from that village is 29-year-old Junior Talalelei Samoatah who works at the Salani Surf Resort and who said up until recently, surfing had not really been part of their local culture.

"Not many people around the island surf, maybe just 20 from both islands," Mr Samoatah also told ABC News.

"I think because people can't swim and they're scared by the ocean.

"I remember when I was little, even my family, my grandma, she doesn't want me to go beyond the reef."

Mr Samoatah said he started surfing at his home break after a tourist came and shared his boards, then left some behind.

"The young boys who are the new surfers right now — there might be two or three sharing a board," he said.

"They take turns, get two waves and pass to the other boys waiting on the rocks.

Meanwhile, Mr Kesbah has also reached out to his surfing community in Port Macquarie, asking for any donations to bring back to the island for this year's surf trip.

"They didn't have any leg ropes, which was a huge thing, because it's mainly rocks," Mr Kesbah said.

A surfboard broker in Port Macquarie, Chad Whatley answered the call and donated a kit that included a bag to carry all the boards on the flight, dozens of fins and six new leg ropes.

Mr Whatley said his generosity stemmed from spending about three years surfing around the islands of Indonesia and seeing that locals had very little material possessions.