The fourth annual Kalim Surfing Competition hits the beach July 18th through the 20th. Hosted by the Kalim Boardriders Club, the 2008 event promises to bring in twice as many surfers as previous years, while raising the stakes with much more lucrative awards for the best displays of talent, style and finesse atop the waves.

The contest’s field will consist of an estimated 100 surfers, half of them representing Thailand. Other contestants are representing Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, South Africa and the United States.

Although not popular with tourists, Kalim Beach makes for a great surfing contest site. “I can tell you for sure,” says competition organizer Khun Charnin “Joob” Aiyarak, “Kalim has the best waves on Phuket. The waves can get pretty big, they’re clean and they have good shape.”

Three divisions will be judged by an international panel of veteran surfers. Shortboard riders are the most popular division, with nearly 65 surfers competing for the top prize of 10,000 baht. Longboard and grom divisions round out the competition, carrying first-place cash prizes of 7,000 and 5,000 baht, respectively. (For those new to surfing terminology, “grom” is short for grommet, or a surfer younger than 15 years of age.)
In addition to 52,000 baht in cash prizes, sponsors have donated a substantial amount of giveaways. First-place finishers in each division will receive surfboards from Cobra and a one-night stay at Patong Paragon Hotel. Other top riders will receive cash and gift vouchers from SFX cinema, SF bowling alley at Jungcylon, and Club Lime.

Thanks to the efforts of Khun Joob and the competition’s sponsors, the combined purse this year totals more than 200,000 baht. This figure represents a doubling of sponsor support from last year, and demonstrates how much the contest has grown since its inception. “We started this thing with just a few guys way back in 2001,” says Huntington Beach native Tom Ketete, a major supporter of the club. “We had no cash prizes back then — just shirts and waxes were given away in the first year.”

Khun Joob also heads up the Phuket Boardriders Club, which was started nearly a decade ago. The club’s main goals are to promote safe and responsible surfing among the local community. In addition to taking part in beach clean-ups, when possible they donate boards and surfing lessons to local youth. “The kids are an inspiration for me to keep the club going,” says Joob.

This year the event begins with registration at 7.35am on Friday, and heats will begin shortly thereafter, thanks to that weekend’s early high tides. Given the bed of jagged, razor-sharp rocks that blanket the bottom in Kalim Bay, surfing Kalim at low tide would be too risky even for this adventurous line-up.

Between heats, music and demonstrations by both kite surfers and stand-up paddle surfers will help to liven the atmosphere. Kite surfing is an aerial dance between parachute and board, while stand-up paddle surfing requires the surfer to ride a modified board using a single hand-held paddle to steer through the troughs and crests. Both are cutting-edge sports using modern technology, and promise to delight the crowds.

Should poor surf conditions threaten to dampen the mood, the contest organizers will postpone heats, with additional heats the following day. They may also move the event to an alternative beach. That being said, this event has seen great waves in the past, with barrels peaking around seven or eight feet.

The event will end with an awards ceremony at Jungcylon and a massive party at Club Lime, in Patong, on Sunday night.

While Phuket is known for its nightlife, it isn’t really known for its surf. Yet for half the year Phuket provides decent swells during the monsoon season, when local trade winds reverse direction from the northeast to the southwest. This switch in direction transforms Phuket’s glassy high-season waters into something a bit gnarlier and quite dangerous for novice swimmers.

These same wind patterns also bring world-class waves to the beaches of Indonesia — simply “Indo”, if you ride. Khun Joob is proud to say he might be the first Thai to surf some of Indo’s legendary Mantawai Islands, off the coast of western Sumatra.

During high season you’re likely to find Joob working as a structural engineer in the Samkong district of Phuket Town. But once those tubes start rolling in with the monsoon, Joob switches to half-days, preferring to carve out some surf rather than hanging 10 (fingers not toes) over his office keyboard. If you’re not aware of the real hang-10 manoeuver, you’ll have to check out the contest’s longboard competition.

While banned from the water recently by his doctor after a poke in the sternum from the nose of his board, Joob tells me, “I surf everyday we have waves. Some guys will complain about conditions, but if you’re not happy in the water, what’s the point?”

Longtime club member and contest judge Luke Remmers smiles fondly and says, “Joob’s the best. He gives total effort with virtually nothing held back. He really cares about the younger surfers. The guy’s got with a great job, a great wife, great kids and he gives all the goodness back to the local community as well.” For Joob and his band, it’s all about respect. “We’ve got to respect the ocean and its power, as well as the people by supporting the local community.”

Whether you’re interested in the surfboard competition or simply supporting a club that focuses on community development, this competition promises to provide something for everyone.

The event is free for spectators, and the entry fee for riders is 500 baht. For more information on the Phuket Boardriders Club, check out their website at www.phuketboardriders.com.