Come read about wave jams in Kamchatka, from a Russian perspective…
It’s minus twelve degrees celsius in the Russian capital right now. On the Kamchatka peninsula, the Bear’s most eastern point, it’s minus twenty one.
Don’t it make you want to surf?
Come with me to a map.
See that peninsula, way on the right, flanked by the Okhotsk and Bering Seas and way closer to Japan and the US than Moscow? That’s the hot new surf destination in Russia.
Let’s read the story Russian Surfers Turn Remote Region into Year-Round Surfing Mecca from the Moscow Times.
The hill overlooking Khalaktyrsky beach in the
Far East Kamchatka region — 6,800 kilometers journey
from Moscow — offers a stunning view
in winter: snowy volcano peaks loom over an ocean with
crystal-clear waves crashing upon pitch-black —
volcanic — sand, the sky bright and colorful.
Local residents claim that during Soviet times, old U.S.-made
sneakers could be found on this beach — washed ashore
by strong oceanic streams. For struggling locals these
shabby shoes were a valuable find.
Decades on from the days of men wearing these
ragged — but American and therefore considered
cool — running shoes on the streets of gloomy
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the region’s capital, Khalaktyrsky
beach is experiencing a reincarnation. It is now home
to local surfers who ride the waves not only in the
warmth of summer, but in winter’s freezing cold.
“Some years ago people here didn’t care about the ocean —
the beach was completely empty. You could meet young guys here
who had lived their whole lives in Petropavlovsk, but had
never even seen the ocean,” says Anton Morozov, firebrand
of the Kamchatka surfers and owner of the local
Snowave snowboarding and surfing school.
Morozov, 33, admits that life in Kamchatka is expensive
and there are multiple infrastructure problems, but surfing is
his life and he will not be discouraged. Especially now that
surfing in Kamchatka has grown increasingly popular
and begun attracting tourists.
15 Minutes of Fame
Russians were surprised two years ago to discover that surfing
was possible in one of the coldest parts of the
country. The Surf in Siberia team —
a collection of surfing enthusiasts from around
Russia who make colorful films about their world travels —
snagged the spotlight with its first film, which was devoted
to Kamchatka and surfing during winter.
“Kamchatka is an incredible place,” Konstantin Kokorev, Surf
in Siberia’s founder and director of the film, says
in the video. “I’ve been here before several times — saw
the ocean, the gulf, I saw ships sailing, but I had no
idea you could surf here. People who live here have no clue they
have world-class surfing opportunities!”
In addition to stunning landscapes, the 15-minute
film depicts two surfers — Morozov and Kokorev,
34, — as they rush into the ocean right off
the snow-covered shore.
“For me personally [winter surfing] is much brighter, if we talk
about emotions. It’s much more difficult and dangerous —
and it’s attractive because of that,” Kokorev,
a Muscovite with eight years of surfing experience, told
The Moscow Times.
“After we released the film some two years ago [on
the project website], we got lots of feedback
and questions about it,” Kokorev said. Both local
and national media reported about the exotic sport back
then, raising interest in it.
Since then, the overall number of tourists
to Kamchatka had significantly increased, agreed Morozov.
“People have been coming to see volcanoes, and the ocean,
and I think we contributed to that a little,” he
said.
Riding Waves
Morozov started surfing more than 10 years ago. “I’d always wanted
to try, but back then there was nothing that would help me …
All we could do was watch movies and documentaries
and try to figure out how to surf,” he recalled.
When he tried for the first time — in the
summer — he used a borrowed wetsuit and an old
surfboard his Moscow friend had left him.
“The suit was no good for surfing,” Morozov says with
a smile. “And we had no idea whatsoever how to do
it — when to go to get nice waves, how far
to swim. It took me months to learn all these things,” he
said.
Morozov and other enthusiasts gradually accumulated enough
information and experience to enjoy their new hobby.
Eventually, they thought to try surfing in the
winter.
“I’d heard there were people surfing during the winter
in Canada, Norway and Iceland, for example. I saw
a video with a guy surfing in the winter
in Canada, and the beauty of him riding
the waves against the snowy background just stunned me,”
Morozov said.
His first winter experience was excruciating without a surfing
wetsuit, gloves and boots, suitable for the winter.
“Although I was wearing two pairs of [surfing] gloves, my
hands quickly went numb in the water. I ran out of the
ocean screaming in pain and was afraid I wouldn’t be able
to ever warm them again,” Morozov said.
Despite the bone-chilling cold, he managed to appreciate
the beautiful scenery and fell in love with winter
surfing. “We went to the ocean in the morning, right
before the sunrise. It was unbelievable — because
of the low temperature the air was crystal clear,
the sun was rising from the water, our black diving suits
contrasting with the white snow,” Morozov said.
This is his fifth surfing winter. Morozov and his fellow
surfers now have the necessary gear and surf 3-4 times
a week. “That feeling — when you struggle with yourself
in cold water, and at some point the struggle ceases
and leaves pure joy in its place — is special
for me,” he added.
Surfer Girls Don’t Cry
His friend Lyudmila Tanachyova, 28, loves to surf, but finds
the cold a particular challenge — she surfs
in the winter out of necessity. “Here in Kamchatka
we have only three months of summer, and if you take
a break for the other nine months, the next summer
you will have to learn things from the start all over
again,” she said.
Tanachyova, a rock-climbing instructor, has been surfing
for just two years and first tried riding the waves
in the snow last winter. “I caught the wave
and started falling, imagining the moment I would go
underwater and thinking ‘Oh my God, here comes hell,'” she
recalls of her first experience.
Initially Tanachyova had to prepare herself psychologically
two days in advance of entering the water, but
within months she acclimated. “If you have the right
equipment — a warm wetsuit is paramount — there will
be no problems at all,” she said.
The most important thing, she says, is to notice when you
begin to freeze in the water and get out. During
winter, the water measures 2 degrees Celsius on average,
with an average air temperature of minus 15 degrees
Celsius.
Both she and Morozov agree that their greatest obstacle
in winter is not the cold but the lack
of infrastructure. When snow buries the road to the
beach, one can only reach it with a snowmobile, and a
small beach-hut provides insufficient protection from the
elements. “It’s pure torture to put on a diving suit
in the cold,” Tanachyova said.
Yet, this surfer girl perseveres no matter the season.
“[Surfing] is a constant struggle with yourself. But
the feeling you get when you slide down the wave is worth
it,” she said.
Year-Round Mecca
In his Snowave school Morozov teaches people of all ages
to snowboard in the winter and to surf in the
summer, when the Khalaktyrsky beach transforms into a
camp with tents and food cooking over open fires.
His students have expressed an interest in winter
surfing, and he hopes to establish a year-round camp
of surfing enthusiasts.
The summer camp, according to Morozov, attract tourists
from all over the world. A lesson, lasting 2-3
hours, costs 2,500 rubles ($32) in the summer and 3,000
rubles ($38) in the winter. The price includes surfboard
and wetsuit rental.
Morozov claims that you can easily learn to stand on the
board in the water during the first lesson. “It’s not
that hard, … The most interesting stuff starts on the
next level — when you’re eager to improve your skills,”
he said.
The first summer he launched Snowave he had 20 students, but
that number has multiplied. “Some of them are five or seven
years old,” Morozov says proudly. “When parents see their children
in the ocean, surfing, it impresses them deeply,” he adds.
Despite his love of winter surfing, Morozov recommends that
beginners steer clear during cold months. “Surfing in general
is a difficult sport, and in winter it’s twice [as
hard],” he said.
A request for comment on whether surfers contribute
to boosting tourism in the region, sent by The
Moscow Times to the Kamchatka government, went unanswered
by the time this article went to press.
According to Morozov, the regional government supports
the Snowave school through grants. “We bought our first diving
suits for kids with government money and are waiting
for a piece of land to be allocated to us
on the beach,” he said.
As for the difficulty of access to wetsuits, boards
and other equipment — the problem was solved
in 2014 when Quiksilver, the famous surfing
and snowboarding brand, opened a franchise store
in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
Kamchatka Has Potential
Sergei Rasshivayev, a professional surfer and head
of the Russian Surfing Federation also believes that winter
surfing is the most attractive and interesting direction
the sport has taken.
“It’s a great way of challenging yourself,
of experiencing completely different emotions. Surfing among
palm trees is not intriguing anyone these days — surfing
against a background of volcanoes and glaciers is,”
he told The Moscow Times.
He has been to Kamchatka several times to surf,
and says he would love to return and relive
the experience. “When I first came there, the beauty
of this place literally took my breath away,” Rasshivayev
said.
Rasshivayev — who founded Surfholidays, a worldwide
network of surf schools — believes Kamchatka shows
promise despite its need for infrastructure modernization
and its remote location that results in pricy plane
tickets. “I think there is potential, and it’s quite
significant. Kamchatka needs modernization, that’s true, but it’s
not completely shabby either,” he said.
Morozov says “potential” does not even begin to cover it. “I
study many things about surfing — climate, landscapes, weather
conditions, winds, streams, and I’m positive there are many
amazing places for surfing in Kamchatka that simply have
not yet been discovered. But at some point we will,” he
said.
See the story in its original form here.
(Of course, the capitalist west, poisoned by the vice of greed, has long exploited surfing in the Kamchatka. See below!)
