The Rock
There is a stack of surf breaks here all within a short tuk-tuk ride so each day you base your decision after appraising all the usual factors. The Rock, rated as one of the best A-frames in Sri Lanka, draws most attention. Kabalana Beach next door is rich with left-handers while Mirissa is a right hander with a rocky launch point. Lazy Lefts does as its name suggests, Fisherman’s is a right hander with a long paddle out and shallow reef, and Plantations has some outer reef action. Welligama is an expansive sandy beach with shorebreak waves popular with surf schools, but there is plenty of space. There aren’t any lifeguards so it’s worth checking in with the locals to establish the patterns of rips and shallow reefs; do your recon before you head out and know the tides and swells for the day.
Sri Lanka has a well-established surf scene supporting a few surf shops and plenty of surf schools and hire places but we noticed there was no real SUP infrastructure…was this significant? We were pretty much the only SUPers in the line-up, with the exception of two guys who hit The Rock each morning at sun up. Sadly one of them was an expert in demonstrating how you could cut up, interfere, drop in and create havoc in the water on a stand up paddleboard. No one was spared from his clumsy, selfish antics; it was not a pleasure to be anywhere near him. With ambassadors like that, who needs localism?
