When I got the invite to Thailand to cover the 2019 Phuket Surf Festival, I had heard about surfing in the Land of Smiles but wasn’t convinced. What I would find when I landed in Phuket and watched the surfing demonstration at the Festival were a few young Thais not just surfing but ripping! Also, much to my surprise, the girls were better than the boys! A young surfer girl called ANNI FLYNN was leading the charge in the water with explosive and powerful turns despite the tiny conditions. I caught up with Anni to talk about how she has become one of Thailand’s best surfers and what she see in the future for the fledgling Thai surf scene. Anni is living proof that you don’t need consistent, pumping surf to improve your skills.
Sea Hearts: Thanks for taking my call, I saw you ripping at the Phuket Surf Festival the other night and I wanted to talk to you, I just got back from Khao Lak, which was amazing.
No problem, oh Khao Lak is awesome isn’t it? It’s way more consistent up there. When the waves are pumping, down in Phuket the waves are better shape and more powerful. When it’s flat, Khao Lak is pretty entertaining.
Tell us, how you got started with surfing…
I was lucky, my dad is Australian as well (like teammate Nisha who I met in Khao Lak). I started wake boarding first because I didn’t know Phuket had waves and my FaceBook had an ad for wake boarding. So I was like “dad, I want to try this,” and I got really, really into it. I was wake boarding for 1-2 years before I started surfing.
And were you living in Phuket?
I moved to Phuket when I was about eight years old. So I started wakeboarding there but my knee started hurting because I was doing air raillies and it really impacted your knees. My dad told me to try surfing and I met two little boys there that are the same age as me and everyday I would just meet them and go surfing and it was the best time.
Just being a grom?
I just loved it, yeah being a grom. I would finish school and my friends would go to the library and do the little clique thing and I was like, “bye I’m going to the beach.”
Can you surf year round in Phuket or is there a season?
There is a season definitely. It’s going to be 6 months on, 6 months off. June to Decemberish. Well December is quite debatable, the waves are already done.
What month would you say is the best?
I would say July and August.
What are the waves like for the most part?
When it is really big on the island is when the monsoon hits, when you see all the storms, all the rain is when the waves really pick up. They’re not beautiful, the water is grey, they are tumbling. Basically, like wind swell.
What are your favourite spots around Phuket?
Definitely, Kata. Kata is the main place where I go. But if Kata is too small, I go to Kata Noi. It’s a much smaller beach and so it picks up more swell. But it’s not far, only a five minute drive.
When there’s no waves, what do you do?
I ride the Flowrider. I really had no idea what Flowriding was either until, well I always go to Kata, and they had this weird blue construction site like a blue sheet of a wave and I was like, “what is that?” When it finally opened up, I tried it and the manager there was like, “you’re really good, you should be on the team.” Eventually, we made a team and competitions and we went to ride the other Flowriders, like the stand-up barrel in Sentosa, Singapore.
Is surfing in Thailand pretty much brand new?
It’s debatable. I think that the locals have been doing it for a while. But it’s getting bigger now definitely.
What’s the feelings of the general Thai population towards the ocean?
The locals aren’t definitely not scared of the ocean. But I think the thing that Thai people are most scared of is the sun. They don’t want to get their skin very dark. If you can see on social media now, there’s bloggers about Thai surfing, and the surfing culture becoming more acceptable to Thai people and the hipsters, the 23 year beautiful ladies, they’re like, “oh, I want tan skin now.” So it’s becoming very open.
When you tell people you’re going surfing or doing the contests, what’s their reactions?
My teachers were shocked. I took so much time off of school for surfing competitions, and they were like, “You surf? Here?”
What do you see for the future of Thai Surfing?
We are looking towards the SEA Games at the end of the year in the Philippines. Our Thai team is currently training and hiring coaches and working out. Our goal is doing big competitions representing Thailand.
Where do you train?
Besides the ocean, we are going to Thanyapura. They have extremely good facilities and I’m very thankful that they are sponsoring the team as well.
Can you tell us about the local circuit they were talking about at the festival?
Oh, we have a local circuit with about six contests. We’ve been doing it for about 5 years now but not consistently. So we go through all the little local beaches and we hold contests and the last contest is normally at Khao Lak. So that’s when you get all your prizes and find out who won the circuit.
Is there a big push to get more groms involved in surfing?
Yes! We have so many FaceBook groups for the groms at each beach like the Kamala groms, the Kata groms, etc. There’s this guy who gets old surfboards and gives them to the groms who want to go surf and he’ll take them to other beaches to surf.
So, you won the World Flow Boarding Competition?
Yeah. I’m the International Champion for 2017 and 2018. In 2017, I didn’t win the Asia Finals but I contacted all my sponsors and asked if they could take me to Mexico. So, I did and I went to the competition and won! The next year, I went to the Dominican Republic. We surfed there but it was a lot like Kata, just beach break.
Wow, Mexico and the Dominican Republic, have you traveled anywhere else for surfing?
Pretty much all over Asia. When I was. 13, I won the ASE Competition. I got points from all of the competitions and I went to the Mentawaiis, Malaysia, Philippines, Hong Kong, everywhere.
Tell us, what are your surfing goals for the future?
I really want to see Thai surfing grow. I want to see more girls. I want to see the girls get out in the waves and have fun and not care about their skin so much. Just wear sunscreen. If you’re going to get dark skin, get it. I just want to see it (surfing in Thailand) grow so much bigger than it is. That’s what I hope for!
You can follow Anni and her adventures on the Thai Surf Team:
On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anni_ssa/
and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annispage/