This is the curious tale of Mohammed Rahma. His journey has taken him from a wavepool in Dubai to the WSL Big Wave awards in the span of just 5 years. Could he be the greatest surfer you’ve never heard of?
First, a bit of context. Dubai is a city in the United Arab Emirates, made famous by grandiose architectural projects and vulgar wealth. It is a city where the streets are paved with sand, money, and slavery. It lays claim to the tallest building in the world, the largest mall in the world, the only 7-star hotel in the world, the largest chain of artificial islands in the world, and even the largest gold ring in the world. There are other largest, biggest and most pointless things. They are many, and ostentatious, and trite. Because, why not?
Out of this glittering, sandy dreamscape has emerged Mohammed Rahma, the UAE’s first (self-titled) professional surfer. Because, why not?
Mo, as he prefers to be called, is a 29-year-old Emirati native who first tried surfing just 5 years ago. He has cut his teeth in the Wadi Adventure, Al Ain, which is fascinating in itself. According to their website: “With state of the art Wave Pool technology, we can create waves for every level of surfer – from small rolling waves for beginners; to over 3meter Lefts, Rights, A-Frames and Close-Outs.”
(Did you catch that? They offer “Close-Outs”! Real, bonafide, capitalized Close-Outs!)
The availability of Close-Outs on-tap lit a fire under young-ish Mo. Deciding that being a surfer was his raison d’etre, he channeled the ethos with which Dubai was constructed in developing his surfing – do it fast, do it big, throw a tonne of money at, and just hope it stands up.
The bold Mo has racked up an improbable list of surf credentials for such a relative novice. To compliment his status as “professional surfer,” Mo has made pilgrimages to surfing hotspots like Sri Lanka, South Africa, Australia, California, Spain, Ireland, Peru and Bali. He has a vast quiver of surfboards (all custom orders with his own color scheme and sponsor logos). He has enlisted the help of elite level surf coaches Matt Griggs and Sean Mattison to hone his skills. He has represented the U.A.E. at the ISA World Surfing Games and competed in WQS events. He even lists Rip Curl among his sponsors. It’s all on his website. Look him up, it’s real.
Recently Mo received his highest accolade to date. He was nominated for a 2017 WSL Big Wave Award. Yes, with a solid 5 years of splish-sploshing in the pool under his belt, Mo decided it was high time he was whipped into a 20-foot, cold-water bomb at Mullaghmore, Ireland on February 27th, 2017. In doing so, he now finds himself among the WSL Big Wave elite, names such as Shane Dorian, Kai Lenny, Albee Layer and Mark Healey. Esteemed company.
Sure, the nomination was for “Wipeout of the Year”, but it’s great recognition, right? Those at the helm of the fine ship WSL (does it have a captain?) must be proud to be aligned with a surfer of Mo’s caliber and status. To whomever is running the show – crack on, sir, you’re doing a fine job. You possess a keen eye for marketing and talent. Maybe next you could approach a shampoo manufacturer to be a title sponsor and offer Kelly as the face of the campaign?
Perhaps one day we’ll see Mo on the ‘CT alongside Kelly. On his current trajectory, he is predicted to be world champion sometime early next week. Of course, there are no guarantees. The economy of Dubai has been built on sand in more ways than one. But let’s not doubt the bold Mo. Far be it from me to cast shade on his achievements. Mo Rahma is flying high (I think he might work for an airline). And you can’t deny he’s living in surfing dreamland.
