The New Indian Express ·
Waves of change: TN couple nurtures coastal talent through water sports
RAMANATHAPURAM: Long before the first paddleboard glides through the waters off Ramanathapuram, young trainees from the fishing hamlets walk the shoreline in the mornings to pick up plastic bottles, discarded fishing lines and other waste the tide has brought in.
For their trainer, 43-year-old Jehan Hoshi Driver, or JD as his trainees call him, this is their first lesson – responsibility – before balance, speed, technique or anything else. The sea can be a classroom, a sporting arena, a workplace and, above all else, a community asset worth protecting, he said. Only after the beach is cleaner than how they found it do they begin training for the day.
Jehan first traveled from Mumbai to the Tamil Nadu coast in 2002, and returned in 2013 during his pursuit of the perfect wind for kitesurfing. In 2013, he helped organise a Red Bull-sponsored kitesurfing event in Dhanushkodi with support from the district administration, introducing the sport to locals who had never seen it before.
