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In 2005, a Belgian surfer named Jelle Rigole arrived in Kovalam as an intern with the Sebastian Indian Social Projects (SISP). Along with his surfboards, he brought a new idea that would transform Kerala’s coastal youth. At the time, SISP—founded in the early 1990s—was running an open school for children from fishing communities, offering a second-chance education to those who had dropped out. Yet attendance was low; many preferred the sea to the classroom. Jelle launched the

By 2025, Kerala’s surf story had found its hero. Surfer: Ramesh Budihal Ramesh Budihal, once a barefoot boy from the early batches of the Kovalam Surf Club, had spent nearly two decades chasing waves. In 2024, he became India’s National Surfing Champion. A year later, at the Asian Surfing Championships in Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, Ramesh rewrote history—becoming the first Indian surfer to win a medal at the continental stage, earning bronze against elite athletes from across