A swell hit the coastlines of Taiwan on the 4th of October, courtesy of Typhoon Nalgae. Several breaks lit up, albeit briefly. I happened to be in the neighborhood.
I had a few more days to hang about and wandered over to Jialeshuei on the south-east coast. A small swell was hanging about on that coast. It’s a river mouth pebble set-up with ever-changing banks. There are lefts and rights. Jialeshuei (which translates to ‘beautiful happy waters’) is surrounded by sandstone cliffs and coral hills that are pounded by consistent waves and wind. The surrounding vegetation is lush, and fauna is ample on the ground and in the air, Formosa Monkeys, Vipers, Sika Deer, a dizzying array of butterflies, as well as a plethora of raptors, such as the diurnal Peregrine Falcon and the Gray-faced Buzzard.
Jialeshuei has a tiny village. There are two bare-bone hostels here that provide beds for the trickle of mostly Taiwanese surfers who pass through. There is one surf shop/eatery, a few local dwellings housing the farmers and fishermen, and boats sheltered behind a four-meter concrete harbor wall. That tells you something …
The wave gets good on occasion, but it’s fickle. A strong trade north-easter blows for a lot of the year. The wind is funneled along the coast, the mountains and valleys that drop off abruptly into the Pacific Ocean provide a grand wind tunnel. The trade-winds are cross-shore / onshore. Nevertheless, Jialeshuei’s consistency in terms of wave-height means the wave is a staple for the surfers of the area. I noticed more than the normal amount of crew milling about the village and wondered what was going on. I bumped into Neil MacDonald and his son Rory who live nearby.
The annual Jialeshuei International Surfing Competition was about to take place, from the 8th of October until the 10th (the Taiwanese National Day long weekend). It has been running for six years and is the biggest competition in Taiwan. The Taiwan Ocean Recreation Sports Association members were setting up the event site. T.O.R.S.A is a group set up to lobby and educate the policy makers, weather bureau and coastguard about surfing and ocean sports (if a typhoon gets too close to the coast you aren’t allowed to surf). They also handle beach clean-ups and make sure the surf schools are safe for the many tourists learning to surf.
While I am normally adverse to surfing competition in any guise I decided to return to see what it’s all about.
The thirty-knot north-easterly wind had not let up for days, and the rain had the river flowing fast. The banks were still OK, and the swell was a lumpy 2-3 feet (remained so for the three days) so the contest was go. The T.O.R.S.A crew had set up a row of tents for the many boardrider clubs that arrive from all over Taiwan, such as Yilan County, Pingtung, Hualien, Tiatung, and the two major cities of Kaoshiung and Taipei. A small yet varied collection of international surfers had also assembled. They were from the United Kingdom, South Africa, California, Australia and Japan. The ubiquitous surf companies were there, flags and tents replete with product and gimmicks. They seemed to be piggy-backing off the hard work of the local community who had pulled the whole event together. Some of the companies had provided t-shirts, stickers and prize packs. Once again, it was a local shaper (Banana Tube) and surfing club (A-Lang) who were the ones who had ponied up the cold hard cash to run the event, as is so often the case in surfing communities around the world.
