Surfing makes a splash

Excitement in their wake

"Riding the waves, looking at the sea melting into the sky and listening to the music played by the wave-making boat — this is the beauty of wakesurfing," said Chen Kuixi, better known as Jack on social media.

Chen, 38, is a surfer, an owner of a wakesurfing club in Sanya and the first person to livestream wakesurfing on the Chinese video-sharing platform Douyin.

He came to Sanya in 2006 and worked as a purser for China Southern Airlines. For the first time, he learned about surfing in Sanya.

Since 2008, he taught himself how to surf by watching videos online and hired a professional coach to help himself improve. At that time there were only a few surfers in Hainan, so he quickly got to know almost everyone who fell in love with riding waves.

"Surfing can bring joy and inspiration," he said. "I think surfers all have a love for nature and are usually optimistic and resilient toward life."

Although surfing looks fun and cool, Chen said, it is also tough and challenging.

"Many times surfers will fall in the water, sometimes quite painfully, but they have to try again and again. Surfing requires the spirit of never giving up," he added.

In 2008, Chen tried wakesurfing — a water sport in which a rider trails behind a boat and rides the boat's wake without being directly pulled by the boat — for the first time on a lake in his hometown of Chengdu, Sichuan province.

In October of the same year, Chen — likely due to his surfer's bravery and persistence — started the Frontside Wakesurf Club in Sanya, the first wakesurfing club in the city.

In the beginning, few people knew about wakesurfing. His club had to spend years promoting the new sport and persuading people to give it a try. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Chen posted short videos of wakesurfing on social media and began livestreaming the sport in Sanya. Unexpectedly, his account soon attracted more than 1 million followers. "Surfing has become a popular sport among young people. Traditionally it requires time to wait for the right waves, but here comes a new, efficient way of surfing: wakesurfing," he said.

Celebrities like Yang Ying (better known by her stage name Angelababy), Jia Nailiang and Huang Bo also shared videos of wakesurfing on social media and have drawn wide attention.

"The thrill can transcend screens. Frequently watching surfing videos of stunning surfers and incredible waves is as exciting as taking the adventure yourself," said Chen.

Now wakesurfing has become a trendy sport, and Chen's club has more than 100 employees and owns six Nautique wave-making boats, each worth about 2 million yuan ($279,900).

Even if our customers can't swim, they can still catch the waves easily and experience the thrill of surfing as long as they wear the required safety gear.

"The wave-making boats can help control the waves — big or small — so the process of surfing can be smoother and more stable," Chen explained. "At the same time, the customers can still have deep contact with nature at sea."