HONIARA, 17 FEBRUARY 2021 (ABC) – A Solomon Islands tourism operator is on a campaign to bring surfing to the main island of Guadalcanal and make the sport more accessible to locals.
While surfing is popular in many parts of the Pacific in the Solomons it’s relegated to remote locations in the Western and Isabel Province and is often seen as an expat’s sport.
Fred Conning from Olotsara Retreat in West Guadalcanal is intent on changing that by creating a surf hub for interested locals.
“ll the time we have seen the expatriates community riding around on surfboard, I said why can’t we locals do this it’s not that hard,” he said.
He’s hooked up with the surfing association in Western Province where the sport has been growing slowly after it was introduced by tourists.
Last year some association members travelled to Guadalcanal to help map out the surfing ground and returned this month to teach locals how to surf.
Conning said he’ll have three surf guides ready in three months time to cater for visitors from the capital.
Jeremy Baea, President of the Western Solomons Surfing Association believes there’s plenty of appeal in the sport for those in Honiara and villages nearby.
“West Guadalcanal has different types of waves it has beach break at the front of the river mouth for kids to learn…it also has reef break for more advanced surfers,” he said.
Mike Parker-Brown a consultant with Tourism Solomons said Solomon Islands is the last frontier of surfing in the world.
He said developing the sport close to the capital will have appeal for international travellers who usually have to jump on small aircrafts to travel to surf remote sites but with limited space for surfboards.
