At one of Bali’s most famous surf spots — Medewi on the island’s west coast — strict restrictions have been introduced for beginner surfers. The local community group, Medewi Board Riders, has officially banned beginners from paddling out to the outer line-up and surfing the point without an instructor.
Under the new rules, beginner surfers and soft-top board users may train only in the inside zone, closer to shore and near the fishing boats. Access to the outer line-up is completely closed to them. All beginners must be in the water with an instructor, and one coach may supervise no more than two students at a time.
The requirements apply to both tourists and instructors working in Medewi on a permanent or temporary basis.
Compliance is monitored by the Medewi Board Riders club itself. Instructors and surf camps coming in from other areas must also follow the “one instructor, two students” rule. If they don’t have enough staff, they must hire local coaches. If the rules are broken, surfing in Medewi will be banned.
A separate rule bans anyone from being in the path of the fishing boats — a measure introduced after last year’s tragedy, when a Chilean surfer died following a collision with a vessel. The rules also stress the need to respect local surfers, ban drop-ins (interfering with a surfer who is already riding a wave), and require wave sharing (following the general queue and line-up etiquette).
The initiative has already been publicly backed by well-known Balinese surfers, including Tipi Jabrik and Flora Christian. They agree that measures like these are long overdue. According to them, crowded line-ups and the rise of illegal surf schools directly affect not only safety, but also wave quality and the overall vibe at the spots.
What’s more, Medewi is now being seen as a pilot case for the whole island. With line-ups overcrowded and foreign instructors working without permits, voices in Bali’s surf community are increasingly calling for similar rules to be introduced at all the island’s popular spots — from Canggu and Kuta to Uluwatu.
Sources: theinertia, dukesurf
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