As the surfing diaspora spreads, under pressure from ever increasing crowds, what were once isolated coasts reached only by the adventurous, are becoming surf tourist destinations. And, in the process, what would once have been considered marginal locations, too unreliable for regular boat trips or land camps, become mainstream.  The price of accessing uncrowded waves is then that the odds of getting quality on any particular trip lengthen.

Surfers have long known that there are quality waves in PNG, but they have also known that, even in peak season, they are unreliable and more often off than on. The swells themselves cannot be relied upon. Substantial long period swells are often weeks apart and, when they do arrive, frequently have sets 10 minutes or more apart. The local short period swells that fill the times between usually lack power even when they reach a reasonable size while winds in the peak season can shift direction several times in a day as tropical sun alternates with rain squalls of varying intensity. None of this makes for a classic surf trip. The enticement, of course, is that when the conditions do align, the crowds are thin and there is a wide variety of breaks.

Given the growth in the global surfing population it is almost inevitable that surf tourism to PNG is going to increase, and as in other locations, this can happen swiftly once the potential market reaches a critical level. Strangely, given the recent exposure of a slabbing right, the market is likely to be directed towards surfers of lower ability who are happy to surf the weak intermediate swells and then take on the easier reefs if a serious swell does arrive.

Anyone surfing Australia's east coast in recent years would know the extent to which this market segment is expanding.  In part it is the aging process. There are now, for the first time, significant numbers of surfers in their 50s and 60s, the majority of whom have fairly modest requirements in terms of the waves they are seeking to ride. Add to that demographic the significant numbers taking it up for the first time in their 30s and 40s, most of whom will never achieve the level of competence necessary to ride serious waves over coral reefs, and you have a market willing to accept soft small waves. At the opposite end of the spectrum there is the capacity for pro surfers and film makers seeking isolated perfection to simply fly in with the swell.

So the market is there but so are a host of issues. Currently most PNG surf tourist operators cooperate with locals in a Surf Management Plan designed primarily to limit numbers and to guarantee some benefits from the influx of surfers flow to the local community. Currently this means that surfers should be paying a fee of $A12 a day. Under the plan this goes directly to benefit local communities and is used for projects such as the construction of water tanks.  

It is important when considering this issue to realise that, in most of the areas surfers are likely to visit, living conditions are sub-standard, water quality is low, hygiene practices poor and the nutritional status of both adults and children is likely to be unsatisfactory. Progress in these areas is limited by low literacy levels and these problems are reflected in a range of health statistics including: high infant and child mortality rates; malaria rates of greater than 30% in some areas; high rates of other infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and increasely also in lifestyle diseases such as diabetes. At the same time the resources to deal with this are extremely limited. New Ireland for example has 10 doctors for 175,000 people with a single, completely inadequate, hospital.

Surf tourism has been accused of various sins, from the corruption of the young to the distortion of local economies. These accusations may or may not stand up to proper scrutiny but it is beyond question that in most areas of Indonesia where surfers have established a tourist industry, there have been significant benefits to the immediate communities. There may still be people out there who are happy to go into a poor region, surf its waves and leave nothing but minimum costs behind but that is not really who we are. The spirit of SurfAid with its great work across the Indonesian archipelago, is closer to what most surfers feel. 

The priority then, for both individuals and tour operators in PNG, is to make sure that, at the very least, they are paying their daily fees under the management plans and that, wherever possible they make a greater contribution to the well being of the local community by directly assisting in the purchase of community assets or donating to charities operating in the area. Kavieng Hospital will be opening a web page to accept donations in March. Until then this link is the best option.

blindboy travelled to Papua New Guinea at his own expense.

With thanks to:
The staff at Nusa Island Retreat
Dr. Terence Mark, Kavieng Hospital