Holiday Maldives

There are a variety of factors that make waves in the Maldives conducive to creative and exciting surfing. The waves usually rise between two and ten feet, according to Robertson. Most of this years waves were between three to five feet. What is particularly useful about the surfing area around Pasta Point is that the angles formed with neighboring islands create another five or six breaks nearby.

In other words, where the waves come out of the deep water to create holidays in maldives white water. These extra breaks provide surfers with more room to warm up and practice. The offshore wind conditions, as well as the reefs, allow for exciting aerials opportunities, such as Gudauskas rodeo clown.

Stark points out that these conditions are useful not just for high level competitors, but for aspiring recreational surfers as well.
Surfers on the Rise in Paradise

Ahmed Dara, operational manager for Atoll Adventures, and operating and handling agent which has exclusive rights to who surfs off of Chaaya Island, says that one of the reasons why surfing is growing in the Maldives is due to the international exposure that comes from the competition. He says that the number of surfers that he books rises each year, reaching approximately 900 this year.

To protect the tranquility of the sport and avoid overcrowding, Atoll Adventures allows a maximum of 30 surfers on the resort at a time. People like this because there is no crowd, Dara explains. In other places, like Australia and Hawaiithere are good waves, but its too crowded. Demand for surfing increases every year and despite a fallback during the financial crisis, surfing levels are back to normal.

maldives surfing seasons reef waves
Partners and Event Sponsors

Sri-Lankan airlines have been the main sponsors for the competition in the past years. Mr Shihad, assistant front office manager, says the event grows every year, calling for increasingly elaborate opening and closing ceremony parties.

Other sponsors this year included Maldives Tourism Board, Chaaya Island, and Ocean and Earth Surf brand. Dhiraagu also sponsored the event, providing the live feed that allowed the event to be broadcast online.

60,000 people watched last years event through this system and Stark expected more than 10,000 viewers for todays final heats. He says that in the next years, the competition is Going to need support from Maldivian sponsors to keep it alive and keep it going.

Since the competitions founding, ASP has been working closely with the Maldives Surf Association, and tomorrow Stark will be meeting with the Maldivian Tourism Promotion board to debrief them on this years competition.

In the future, Stark says that they grey reef shark would like to get the womens championship tour event at this site as well because of the perfect conditions.

Gudauski gave a surfers impression of the surfing environment at Pasta Point, saying This is like an Olympic pool. Other surfer spots are kid pools. The way the waves break on the reef leads to high performance. Also we love staying at a resort.
Wright agreed, Yeah, this is paradise.

Paradise repeated Gudauskas.

The ministry of fisheries and agriculture has extended the moratorium on reef shark fishing to cover the territorial waters of the Maldives, as part of a historic move towards a total ban on both reef and oceanic shark hunting.

A ten-year moratorium was imposed in 1998 to cover the seven atolls where tourism had been established on the assumption that many tourists visited the Maldives to see sharks.

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