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Interview: Hong Kong surfing expert, Ken Choi, on the Hurley Surf Cup 2009
Olympic medalist and Hurley Surf Cup organizer, Ken Choi, talks about Hong Kong's burgeoning surf scene, hidden surf spots, and why he's addicted to the sport
Ken Choi is Hurley Surf Cup 2009's poster boy.The Hurley Surf Cup proves that there are real breaks to be caught in this most densely-populated of cities.
This Sunday, 60 surfers from around Asia will compete for glory and a HK$3,000 grand prize at the sixth annual Hurley Surf Cup, hosted by local surf shop X-Game on the glorious beaches of Sai Kung's Tai Long Wan.
We met with Ken Choi, Hurley Surf Cup organizer, X-Game founder and Olympic medallist, to talk about Hong Kong's burgeoning surf scene.
CNNGo:
Is Hong Kong a good place to surf?
Ken Choi hanging loose.
Ken Choi:
Everybody thinks that Hong Kong has no good surfing, that it's just a big city, but that's not true. In wintertime, from November to April, I'm able to surf three times a week.
Of course we can't compare it to Bali, Australia or Hawaii, places like that, but it's surfable. We're lucky compared to people in Thailand, where you can only surf for a couple of months a year during the monsoon, or Singapore, where there's nowhere to surf at all.
CNNGo: So where's the best place to catch a break?
Choi:
Tai Long Wan is the best. Okay, there's a little bit of hiking through Sai Kung Country Park, an hour walk from Wong Shek Pier, but the good thing about it is that it's open sea, so you get a good consistent swell when the wind blows northeast.
For me, the best thing about it is that there's not too many people. Say you go to Big Wave Bay near Shek O, it's like such a small beach, the breaking point is so small, and you have 50 people there queueing up. It's so easy to have a collision. That's not nice.
In Hong Kong we really have two seasons: winter and summer. Here we get wind swell, there's nothing like Bali or other places where you have reef break. In the winter, when the northeast wind blows, we have two choices, Big Wave Bay or Tai Long Wan. In the summer we have other options, like Pui O and Cheung Sha on Lantau. But they're only good when the wind blows southwest, [which means there will be] nothing in the direction of Tai Long Wan. It all depends on the swell and the wind directions.
CNNGo: I've heard that the best surf is found at a few hidden places that surfers don't want anyone else to know about.
Choi:
Nah. There's some spots that people call secret spots, but they're not really that much of a secret.
Some people go to Tap Mun, to surf near the rocks because there's sometimes really good breaks there. People also go to this place on Lantau between Pui O and Cheung Sha where there's a really nice point break. There's no road access, but you can paddle there in 15 or 20 minutes. You also need to be able to catch the right swell in the right direction. But people are lazy and they don't like to do that.
CNNGo: How many surfers are there here?
Once, they get up on a wave, they stand on the whitewash, they feel the momentum of the wave, they go, "Wahhh! This is my sport."
— Ken Choi, on first-time surfers
Choi:
Let's say keen surfers, yeah? I mean people who go once a week at least. We have a few hundred. Because we don't have that many beaches here, you run into them. Even if you don't know their name, you'll see them on the water and be like, hey, I know this guy.
If you're talking about occasional surfers who own a surfboard at home and go once every two months, there are so many. Thousands and thousands of them. In the past years, there have been more and more surfers. A lot of people think surfing is cool, it's coming back, but when they try they realize it's actually really hard. It's hard to chase a wave, it's hard to go up, they almost drown when they can't breathe in the white water. So they give up.
Others, once they get up on a wave, they stand on the whitewash, they feel the momentum of the wave, they go, "Wahhh! This is my sport."
CNNGo: Where do Hong Kong surfers go when they want to get out of town?
Choi:
Usually they go to Bali, or if they want something cheaper, they go to Taiwan, which is really good in the winter. The coast is long and you can drive hours and hours and come across so many places where you can surf.
Besides that, wintertime is good on the east coast of Hainan Island. But it's really only Japanese, Taiwanese and Hong Kong people that go -- surfing isn't really big there. You need to bring extra equipment because if you break something, there's no surf shops where you can replace it.
CNNGo: How long have you been surfing?
Choi:
I've been surfing for 20 years, but it's really only been my top priority for maybe six years. In the 1980s I windsurfed and in the 1990s I did wakeboarding.
If you're a surfer you just feel good. It's hard to explain. If you have a lot of pressure at work, or from family or whatever, you surf and you forget about everything. If you surf in the morning, come to work in the afternoon or at lunchtime, you just feel good.Hurley Surf Cup 2009: For more details on the Hurley Surf Cup 2009, see our review.
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