Ravishankar Paranjape | Surfing Swami Foundation

Mantra Grom Search – 2022

by Ravishankar Paranjape | May 22, 2022 | Surfing

Surfing Swami Foundation presents the 3rd edition of “Bolas Mantra Grom Search” 2022. The competition, which was held on Panambur beach, was a grand success that saw great talents displaying quality surfing from young girls and boys from the Mangalore region. KG Nath, deputy chairman, of NMPT, was also present as the chief guest for the event.

The event was flagged off by Gaurav Hegde, director of the Surfing Swami Foundation.

Head Judge Shamanth Kumar said 25 athletes have taken part in this competition and that the talent among the athletes has improved significantly. The surfing schools such as Mantra Surf Club, Indica Surf School, and Mangalore Surf Club have been coaching children from the age of six.

Gaurav Hegde said “Surfing Swami Foundation provides free training, surfing equipment, and scholarship for 15 athletes every year. The best six competitors will be participating in the upcoming national event “Indian Open of Surfing” which will be held at the end of the month at Panambur beach.

The prize distribution ceremony took place post the competition and was distributed by KG Nath – Dy Chairman NMPT, and Rammohan Paranjape – VP for Surfing Federation of India.

Bolas Mantra Grom Search 2022

Boys preparing for the heat

Praveen attempting a cutback

Selva with a successful cutback

Happy groms

Just kissed the lip

Sanvi’s not so big wave moment

Pradeep ripping

Ojal showing everyone how to fly

Head Judge Shamanth Kumar explaining how to win points

Sinchana in her zone

The youngest grommet

And she won the third price in girls (under 20)

Sinchana carrying home first price

Ojal bagged the 3rd place

Hanumantha bagged 2nd place

Praveena bagged 2nd place in the under 20 boys category

K G Nath, deputy chairman, NMPT, congratulating all the groms for their effort and commitment.

Surfboard Sponsorship in association with KSMC – Karnataka State Mineral Corporation

by Ravishankar Paranjape | Dec 13, 2021 | Athlete Development, Sponsorhip, Surf Development

Surfing Swami Foundation takes this opportunity to thank Karnataka State Minerals Limited for sponsoring 10 full sets of surfing boards and accessories worth 5lakhs through the CSR initiative. The surfing boards were distributed to 10 girls and boys by Shri Venkata Ramana Akkaraju, Chairman of NMPT (New Mangalore Port Trust), along with Directors of Surfing Swami Foundation, Dhananjay Shetty, Gaurav Hegde, Shamanth Kumar, Kiran Kumar, and Rammohan Paranjape Vice president for Surfing Federation of India.

The foundation conducts free training and provides various types of equipment and scholarships for over 25 children in Surfing, Beach Lifeguarding, Surf Instructor, and Stand up paddling from less privileged sections of the society.

The objective of this program is to empower skill development and scout new talents along the coast of Karnataka. The foundation has been carrying such programs for over a decade and has produced International and national level surfing and stand-up paddling champions.

Surfing Swami – Godfather of Indian Surfing, Passes Away

by Ravishankar Paranjape | Jan 5, 2020 | Surfing

Surfing Swami a.k.a Swami Narasingha departed from this world on Jan 2nd, 2020 amidst his dear disciples, followers, and well-wishers at his spiritual dwelling near Mysore.

Surfing Swami established India’s first surf club – Mantra Surf Club in 2004. Swami was one of the early members of North Florida’s first surf club, Oceanside in 1963 and was among the pioneers of surfing on the East Coast of the United States. Forty years later He pioneered many aspects of surfing movement in India along with his students with the aim of making surfing a recognised sport in the country.

Those who knew Swami, know him as a person who was always enthusiastic about surfing, ocean and holistic living. His energy in water was infectious and He always carried the spirit of Aloha. He deeply cared about the ocean and well-being of surf communities. In 2014 Surfing Swami singlehandedly began the work of the Surfing Swami Foundation[SSF], funding all its activities personally.

Surfing Swami has immensely contributed towards the growth of surfing in India by establishing the surf club/school model [Mantra Surf Club] back in the early 2000’s, he was also instrumental in establishing of Surfing Federation of India, the National Governing Body of Surfing in India and created other ventures such as Surf Adventure Enterprises, Thundermonkey Surf Gear Pvt Ltd, India Surf Tours Co. which setup the template for surf industry in India. Surfing Swami and his work has been widely recognised in over 300 news publications and magazines around the world from The Washington Post, BBC, Surfer Magazine, India Today, National Geographic, Lonely Planet, Sports Illustrated, Der Spiegel, The Inertia, Redbull Media, Economic Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph UK and many more.

We are deeply saddened by His untimely demise, it will take us a long time to come to terms with it. He has left a great void in our lives which will probably never be replaced. His legacy will be honoured and continued by all his followers and well-wishers at Mantra Surf Club & Surfing Swami Foundation in the near future.

We would also like to thank each and everyone who’s been part of His journey and ours.

Mantra Beach Clean up – December 2019

by Ravishankar Paranjape | Dec 8, 2019 | Beach Clean Up, Ocean Awareness

Beat Plastic Pollution

Once more, the local youth of Mulki & Mangalore came together to make this effort of contributing to the environment. The event “Mantra Beach Clean-Up” was held on 7th & 8th of December 2019 & was a success with over 150 people helping Cleanup the beach. The event was organized by Surfing Swami Foundation in association with Mantra Surf Club to promote Beach cleanliness & Ocean Awareness among the youth.

50 NCC cadets from Narayan Guru School cleaned the beach on 7th & 100 Students from Alva’s college & came in on 8th to do the same. We briefed them about why this trash ends up here on the Beach, How to segregate them into Recyclable Waste of Glass, Rubber & Plastic.

Why it is important!

When people actually clean the beaches they realize why we should be more aware of the Consumption of One-time use/disposable materials & where we should dispose of our daily waste.

It was Humbling to watch everyone from NCC Students to College youth picking up the trash and cleaning up our environment. After 3 hours of picking & segregating, we had successfully cleaned the beach and disposed of the trash to Recycling. Everybody had a sense of contribution to a Social cause and a feeling of satisfaction when they were returning from the beach. There was also a Surfing demonstration in the waters where surfers were catching waves and encouraging people to learn this exciting sport of Surfing and becoming comfortable with the ocean. After coming back there was Refreshment provided by Surfing Swami Foundation. The Clean-up was embraced & cheered by many local people around Mulki.

Our Supporters

This event was supported by Bolas, Novigo solutions, Semnox and CodeCraft without whom, executing on this Social cause would not be possible. Sincere thanks to Mr. Gangadhar Poojary to lead all the NCC cadets with discipline, Thanks to all the Volunteers from Semnox group lead by Mr. Raghu Saligram. We would also like to thank Mr. Gaurav Hegde, Director of SSF & constant supporter of these events. Kudos to Team Mantra for making this event possible.

The event aimed to keep our environments clean & bring awareness to the Local people regarding Ocean awareness & Waste management. Surfing Swami Foundation plans to continue hosting such monthly events to protect its pristine beaches along the coastline of Karnataka.

We heart-fully extend our gratitude to all the Students/Teachers of Alvas College & Narayan Guru School & to all the other volunteers who turned up and especially Mantra Surf Club for being the backbone of these Cleanups.

Shri Ram Global School from Bangalore Visits Mantra Surf Club

by Ravishankar Paranjape | Nov 28, 2019 | Beach Clean Up, Surfing

Shri Ram Global School Bangalore

Recently, 25 students from Shri Ram Global School from Bangalore (OMR Branch) visited us. The students learned surfing, kayaking, stand up Paddling and a lot more fun activities. We would like to thank the administration for taking such initiative and introducing young kids to sports and activities like these. It’s always good to start sports like surfing at a very young age. In a country like India where water sports are still a growing sport, it was nice to see these kids embrace the ocean and surfing.

This is the second time the school has brought the students over to Mantra Surf Club. We would like to take this opportunity to appeal to other schools and organizations to take a similar step. Surfing is an amazing activity and helps kids in more ways than just physical fitness. It helps kids to have patience, focus, build team spirit and a lot more.

Beat Plastic Pollution while Surfing!

The students also helped us with cleaning the beach. We told them about the adverse effects of plastic on the environment and how we can contribute towards cleaner oceans. They picked up the trash and segregated them into plastic, glass and rubber waste. This was later sent to the recycling plant.

The beach clean up programs are regularly organized by Surfing Swami Foundation and supported by Mantra Surf Club. We aim to encourage more schools and organizations to participate in such activities. The kids will learn about waste management in the early years and this helps to create a cleaner environment going forward.

Surfing India – Surf, Kayak, and Keep the beaches clean!

We would like to once again that Shri Ram Global School for taking the initiative to make this happen. We hope to see more schools and organizations come forward to do this. Here are some pictures and a small video compilation of the students and teachers surfing, having fun and helping with the beach cleaning.