S.O.S.! (Save Our Surf: The 4th Manila Surfers' Cup)

MANILA, Philippines - It’s amazing how the passage of time is founded entirely upon our own investment in it. It drags its feet, self-conscious when we watch its movements like a hawk, mentally egging the minute hand onwards. It speeds up when our mouths are turned up in smiles, our laughter echoing in the air as the moment floats away to the recent past. This way, a freezing, five-hour ride, on a bus wildly careening down the only road that heads north through the dead of night, becomes an easy second in the pursuit of bliss.

This bliss, for a handful of office-locked and paper-weighted souls living in Manila, can only be found in the lull and crash of the waves in San Juan, La Union. For them, these waves carry the promise of an indescribable high, of eternal sunshine — if only they are humble and dedicated enough to learn the dance. Every weekend, these liquid pilgrims, surfers to the rest of the world, travel to the shores of San Juan to make good on the ocean’s promise.

If all this sounds as soapy as a positive affirmation CD, I apologise. The problem is that, while surfers understand each other perfectly — speaking in the same tongue as the tides and sun — when prompted for an explanation for their mysterious obsession, they often resort to tired poetics about Mother Nature and whatnot — that is when they aren’t semi-catatonic from all that sun exposure. Let’s be frank, all of it sounds like a load of hooey.

And so, frustrated from their ineffective communication skills, unable to share what seems like an amazing gift with the rest of the world, one particularly earnest and slightly odd group of surfers decided that the only thing for it was to show, not tell. The group was the Manila Surfers’ Association (MSA); and their event was the Manila Surfers Cup.

Three years and four Cups later, the folks at MSA haven’t lost any of their enthusiasm. This year’s Manila Surfers’ Cup, entitled Save Our Surf, was held in San Juan, La Union, just a few weeks ago on Jan. 31 to Feb. 1.

MSA members competed against each other to win the title of best surfer in the city — and not just for the more advanced wave-riders in our populace, as excited beginners in the sport got a taste for competition in their own division. Newcomers to the beach, who’d never even seen a surfboard before, rode their first waves, with smiles so big they could deflect half of the sun’s light. Stoked Inc., retailer of the one and only Billabong (plus a bunch of other hyped-and-hip brands like Hurley, Ezekiel, and Nixon), kept the good vibes flowing with surf goodies and gift certificates galore. Green Zinc, a non-profit group looking out for our beaches and ocean waters, came out to stir up support for our liquid playground and everyone showed some love, their faces painted with green zinc. Surfers and beach bums, visitors and locals, foreigners and Filipinos sang and danced their hearts out over a beachside bonfire. And, most importantly, happy waves and happier times were to be had by all.

‘Course, if all that didn’t seem like enough fun to convince the more hesitant types to get in the water, I’m pretty sure the sight of Miss Earth waving from her surfboard — crown, sash, and all — was enough to swing the vote. That or Nacho Libre, who wrestled the waves in an outfit luchador legacies are built upon: a one-two combo of a green shiny mask and black bikini briefs. It couldn’t get much better when Nacho (who goes by Lui Tortuya, owner of Fiveforty Surf Co. by the weekday) tackled his fellow competitor, the UP Oblation statue (a.k.a. architect Buji Libarnes, who compromised and wore a fig leaf for the sake of the event’s underage spectators … unfortunately), the two of them falling from their boards and into the raging surf. Looks like this costume surf competition, an MSA original, will become a favourite tradition from here on out.

But as many synonyms as I’ve dragged out of my vocabulary, literary images I’ve painted, and sentences I’ve constructed, demolished, and renovated in the attempt to capture everything that MSA and Save Our Surf are about, I’ve come to find that just one word, nothing more, is suffice. Stoke. Not quite sure what I mean? You’ll have to come on out and see for yourself.

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Clicking on manilasurfers.multiply.com, www.stokedinc.com.ph, and fiveforty.multiply.com, or joining the group Manila Surfers Association on Facebook may help you out some.