CHENNAI: AT only 16 years of age, Tayin Arun is at the forefront of a new generation of talented surfers, part of a brand-new movement of Indian surfing. Enjoying an almost meteoric rise in the junior divisions, the surfer broke through to the national surfing team last year, and is now looking to prove his worth with the rest of his teammates at the upcoming ASF Asian Surfing Championships in Mahabalipuram to be held from August 3 to 12.
Hailing from Akkarai, Tayin is no stranger to sports. His elder sister Eloksi Arun is a batter for the Tamil Nadu women’s cricket team. Reminiscing about his earlier days, Tayin recalls, “I remember playing many sports as a kid, and surfing seemed to be the sport that I wanted to join. But the infrastucture wasn’t developed then. Moreover, many people were scared to send their younger kids out to the sea. So, I only started to learn surfing when I was nine.”
Tayin learnt surfing in Kovalam at the Surf Turf, Chennai’s first surfing school considered one of the best in the region. This allowed him to not only hone his craft, but also give him exposure and access to surfing equipment. “Boards are really expensive when you import it, and sometimes not getting access to them can hamper your growth. I used the boards given to me by the TT Group (owned by Arun Vasu, the founder of Surf Turf) for many years because you couldn’t get it easily from anywhere else in India," said the young surfer. Today, due to his excellent performances at tournaments such as the Covelong Classics and at the Indian Open of Surfing, he has secured himself sponsorship from the TT Group to get equipment.
Tayin shares a unique philosophy and compares surfing to art and like all art form one has to master the craft.
“Surfing is not like other sports. There's no one correct way. People can teach you but it's how you apply it which makes the difference. It's more of an art. There’s no one correct style which anyone can teach you. It’s how you show what you see in the wave and how you interpret it and choose your moves.” His respect for the waves, as well as the affinity towards the calmness it gives him, drives him to compete. Unsurprisingly, Tayin’s favourite tricks in the water are the barrels (going through the wave as it curves forward) and carves (going across back and forth the wave). However, his deep respect of the waves also gave him insight to a very understated part of surfing - the concept of luck and mother nature. “In surfing, you’re doing stuff with nature, which brings a lot of things down to luck. Suppose you need a score during a hit, and mother nature turns up and stop sending waves. In that case, you're done. Overall, it's not just because of the hard work you want to put in along with the talent, but also with what nature provides you which you work with and that's something you learn along the way while surfing. That helps a lot because you learn how to take loss and work harder and hope for the best,” explains Tayin with immense maturity.
When asked about the future for the up-and-coming surfer, the sky was the limit for him. “The long term plan is to get to the Qualifying Series for the World Surfing League, and try my best to see how far I get to the Challenger series. However, the main goal is to qualify for the Olympics, and get India to the next level,” says Tayin, before signing off.
