surfing/swimming off the ECR

spiritofthings

Hi, I'm considering a move to Chennai in the not-so-distant future. I'm wondering if it's possible to surf off the East Coast Road - from Besant Nagar, Thuruvanmiyur area going south. How about swimming? Is the water clean?

Lovin' this forum! Thanks so much!

andysol

Generally swimming is not safe off the ECR due to the currents and riptides. However i have heard that there are surfing lessons near Kovalong 30km down the coast. But be careful out there its pretty wild.
Andy

Nick-H

Many people drown every year because they ignore the warnings that the Chennai coast is not safe for swimming.

I have never seen any appreciable amount of surf: it is a steeply shelving coast, waves break very close to the shore, and rollers are not particularly big except in severe weather.

chennai_surfer

I surf near my place in Valmiki, Nagar, but visit Fisherman's Cove (25minutes south on ecr) on the weekends when there is a decent swell. It gets good here every so often....mostly just beachbreak slop. There are about 5 of us who paddle out @ the cove when its breaking. Bring a long board and a fish.....exactly what I did. Sri Lanka is about a 1:20min flight and Hikkaduwa has a very good wave between Nov. and April.

MattK

I am moving to Chennai too, from Sydney, in January. I've done a bit of research- take a look on google at Big Rock surfing india. Its not far south of Chennai. It looks ok. If you're going to be surfing there it looks like there'll be two of us, as when I took a trip there there was no-one out. So we'll have to work out a roster as I hate crowds .

luckyshibu

Seiously? its the same Tiruvanmiyur area where italian resto Bella ciao is there right? Do you get a proper swell there? i thought max wave height in that region was 1 to 1.5 m?