Saudi’s Surf Pioneers

Unbelievably, it’s been almost six years since I first arrived on the shores of Al Khafji, KSA. With suits and shirts in my case and a surfboard under my arm, I had a strong feeling surfing would be possible in this remote city on the Kuwaiti border. The teacher who had recommended me for the job mentioned seeing waves fit for body boarding and YouTube films showed small swell lines wrapping in. Also, I had spent a lot of time researching wind and swell movements in the Arabian Gulf on Google. However, I hadn’t expected to surf quite as much as I managed across the years and, even more so, to feature in famous magazines and blogs as the Kingdom’s only surfer. 

Far more than for myself, Khafji offered a lot to a surfer as young and light as my son, Rafael. It enabled him to surf fairly frequently through the winter in a wetsuit and even offered some fun days in board shorts during the warmer spring months. While surf sessions often turned into a cat and mouse game with the police who didn't want us to endanger ourselves, we managed to catch enough waves to keep the surf dream alive. It has absolutely helped me to get through to today, and be in a position to soon return to our home on Siargao Island for an indefinite stay. Perhaps if there hadn't been any surf, I might have quit years ago and found myself and my family's position more financially perilous than it is currently, especially with the pandemic closing so many businesses including our own Airbnb rental. 

In celebration of our many years surfing in Saudi, I recently edited and uploaded a new film to our YouTube channel. It's called "Saudi's Surf Pioneers" and offers a drone-soaked intro, a historical flashback segment, a two-minute surf show reel of my son's progress across the years and an update about our life plans to leave the Kingdom for good in just 66 days time. 

If nothing else, the film will prove an epic reminder for both Rafael and I of those unique surf sessions. However, we'd like to believe that one day someone else will take up the mantle, buy some learner boards in Dubai and open up a surf school or shop in the city. Under MBS's visionary leadership, Saudi has tilted away from oil towards tourism. Therefore, there's nothing to stop Al Khafji turning into a laid back surf town offering SUP lessons in the summer and surf lessons in the winter to residents and citizens across the Kingdom and beyond. I know it'd be a huge success!