Harreesh and I went down to Tamil Nadu (India's southern most state) hoping to score a decent Manapad Point. It seems to have tons of potential, but wasn't working when we were there. It was an endless perfect ankle high. It's a long right situated such that the predominant wind is offshore. However, if the swell is 4ft at 16 sec.s or 2.5 ft at 18 sec.s aiming for 1 o'clock, then it's evidently not enough.
So forced to explore, we went searching. Many outer bars prevented the waves from making it to the beach with any size. There was also a lot of denied access and a few disappointing jetties. Eventually, we risked a long sandy trail which was all my 2-wheel-drive could handle. We took that as far as we could go and walked the last half mile. When we finally got to the river mouth we were shooting for. It was capped off by the beach and probably has been since last December or so, so expectations were low. But as sweet providence would have it, there was a row of rocks that went out 100 yards or so into the sea. It produced what you see above...better lucky than good.
The right was pretty lazy, but the left had a lot of spark. The peak is one of those bowls with a lot of energy. As you can see in the video, there's some rocks that are pretty much water level towards the end of the left. It kept me a bit on edge. An alternative to pulling out of the left was to head back right and hope for a decent reform. That never really happened for me, but you can see me try. With more swell, or a different angle, the right could be good.
The day where most of the video is captured was really windy - side-shore at maybe 25 mph. The video masks that at bit. This place may be really good with a light wind and a little more swell. The take-off point boils really hard due to a shallow rock. It's a little spooky but makes it easy to find the peak way out there and sit in the right spot. I suspect no one else has ever surfed here. I'd like to here that I'm wrong on that one. Until then, we'll call the place "Boiling Rock." Once you surf it, you'll know you're in the right place by the name.
To find it...it's the river mouth on the longest bridge between Manapad and Kanniyakumari. I don't see it getting crowded in the next 20 years. The construction guys on the north/east side of the river wouldn't let us through. It's quite a hike. Don't get your car stuck.
