Covelong Point beckons this weekend with Surf, Yoga and Music

Chennai, 22.08.19: For aficionados of Surfing, Music and Yoga, it could hardly get anybetter. The COVELONG POINT SURF, MUSIC & YOGA FESTIVAL is set to be held this year on August 23 and 24 at Kovalam, a sleepy fishing hamlet on the picturesque Chennai coast.

The 7th edition of the event will bring together national and international surfers for a three-day competition, alongside Yoga modules conducted by renowned Yoga instructors from across the world.

But the icing on the cake is a fascinating line-up of eclectic music, featuring artists from across India and the globe.

“The Festival primarily aims to promote the sport of surfing and stand up paddle in India, spread the message of importance of good health and wellness, provide a platform for India’s artists to showcase their works, promote cultural tourism and facilitate social change for the better,” said Arun Vasu, promoter of Covelong Point Surf, Music and Yoga Festival.

Jonty Rhodes, the world-famous South African former cricketer, is the Festival’s Brand Ambassador, and will be present at the venue throughout the weekend. Speaking on the occasion, Jonty said, “India with its thousands of kilometres of shoreline and beaches is a natural haven for pursuing surfing as a sport. It is only a matter of time before we see surfing champions emerge from this country. The fact that surfing has emerged as one of the disciplines for the next Olympics augurs well for this sport and will soon gain larger acceptance across the world.”

This biggest only one of its kind Festival of SURF, MUSIC, AND YOGA, will feature a full-fledged carnival area with over 50 stalls featuring unique products and specially-curated food stalls and trucks.

“The Festival will bring to the participants the local village flea market, showcasing village products and fare. It will be a great opportunity for these various businesses/establishments, (such as hotels, resorts and restaurants) of the villages to promote their brands,” Arun added.

The promoters of the Festival estimate 20,000 visitors at the event over the course of the weekend.

SURFING COMPETITION, 2019

Surfing, as a sport, gained prominence globally with its recent entry into the Olympics. The National Surfing Challenge at this event, where 200 of the best surfers in the country will compete, is currently the only ticket for India to participate in surfing at future Olympic events.

Also, this year the event features the RAST (REnextop Asian Surfing Tour). Top surfers from all over Asia are scheduled to take part in this year’s challenge. Grand masters Murthy Megavan and Mukesh ‘Mumu’, alongside the legendary Arun Vasu will be joining to compete once again. The trio are widely considered to be the pioneers for the development of the surf scene and talent on the east coast, if not India as a whole. This year we’ll see more young talent than ever before. Look out for Kishore Kumar (10 yrs, Kovalam), Navin (12 yrs, Mahabalipuram), Akilan (14 yrs, Mahabalipuram), Ajeesh Ali (18 yrs, Kovalam), Sanjay (18 yrs, Kovalam). And of course local fan favourites five time national champion Dharani Selvakumar, Manigandan ‘Appu’ and Vignesh ‘Vikki’ will battle it out in their respective categories.

The 2018 champions, Karnataka’s 19 year old Ramesh Budihal (juniors), and Puducherry’s Percival Fayon (open), who both have a bright future on the global stage, return to defend their titles.

In the women’s event we welcome back defending champion, Karnataka’s 17 year old Sinchana Gowda. The Mahabalipuram surf team, who took out multiple top podium positions last year – Sivrag Babu (groms), Raghul Panner (seniors), Santhosh Moorthy (masters) – are returning. Last year, in the groms and under 12 categories, 5 of the top 6 positions went to Mahabalipuram team members. Kovalam’s own Srikanth was the only one to halt their white wash of the groms categories when he took out the under 12s title. The top two ranked surfers of each category from the 2018 National Championships, have been awarded wild card entries to the RAST event.

Event Schedule

22nd & 23rd National heats // 24th RAST heats // 25th National & RAST finals

Covelong Point National Championship Categories 2019

Surfing Groms: Under 16 years

Surfing Men: 16 – 28 years

Surfing Men: 29 years+

Surfing Women: All ages/ Indian passport holders only

SUP Men & Women Technical: All Ages/All Nationalities

SUP Men & Women fun rally: All ages/Amateurs only

RAST Categories

Men’s Shortboard

Men’s Longboard

Women’s Shortboard

Women’s Longboard

MUSIC FESTIVAL

Carmen Rizzo, a two-time Grammy Nominee, will do small performances at the Festival.

This world-famous producer, mixer, programmer, DJ and recording artist based in Los

Angeles, California, has worked with artists such as Seal, Coldplay, Paul Oakenfold, and

Alanis Morissette, among others.

The main stage music show will feature 3 international bands/artists – Blind Suns (France),

Nadav Dagon (Israel) and Yogev Haruvi (Israel), and five prominent Indian Bands – Lagori, Mosko, Lady Kash. The Sylvester Trio and Non-Violinist Project.

The second smaller stage will feature up-and-coming artists from AR Rahman’s KM

Conversatory and other local talents.

YOGA

The festival this year will feature 4 dierent Yoga Shalas, with 8 dierent sessions in each of the Shalas making it one of the biggest Yoga events in the country. The highlight of this year’s Yoga workshops is that the sessions have been carefully curated to oer a wide variety that has never been done at any one event.