The tides are changing as Mumbai’s surfing community is getting back into the water after the monsoon. It gets even better because Devdatt Manjrekar and Manoj Kumbhar, two Virar residents and enthusiasts are busy making their own surfboards. This could be the start of a movement of surfboard makers on the west coast
Devdatt Manjrekar (left) has finished making his first surfboard (in picture; Manoj Kumbhar (right) is busy working on his first surfboard, while making another one too. Photos Courtesy: Devdatt Manjrekar/Manoj Kumbhar
Key Highlights
- Over the years, surfing has developed into a unique sub-culture in Mumbai
- Mumbai has two of its own surfboard makers, who have only just started
- Mid-day.com spoke to both of them to know more
After completing his course in graphic art, Devdatt Manjrekar wanted to be a sculptor but somehow that never came to fruition. Little did the Mumbaikar know that many years later he would become the first-known surfboard maker on the west coast in Mumbai. “Sculpting a surfboard is fulfilling that dream,” expresses the Virar-based graphic designer, with a child-like innocence. Such is his enthusiasm for making surfboards that while he was making his first one, he was simultaneously shaping another one.