For those of you still thinking Lebanon is a desert, I'll have you know that you can windsurf and snowboard here if you wish! On a little mission to find the surfers I had read about last year, I ended up at Pierre and Friends, a little beach bar just outside Batroun, where they offer windsurfing lessons. That's where I met Dany Faddoul, a charming 21-year-old windsurfing instructor who's been part of the sport for nine years. One day, about four years ago, when there was not enough wind for windsurfing, but good enough waves, he unhooked his sail and used his windsurf board as a makeshift surfboard - and he's been seeking (epic) waves ever since. His first surfboard was brought into the country two years later by a friend who'd visited Australia, but this summer Lebanon's first surf store, Skipper, has opened in Batroun, and Dany and the 20 or so other surfers in Lebanon will be able to purchase boards in their preferred shape and size.
His favourite waves are in Shekka, and he recently surfed four- to five-metre waves (although Lebanon's waves are on average one to two metres high).
Now if someone would just allow me to tag my surfing pics on Facebook to show Dany that I too am a surfer. Cowabunga dude!
Dany the windsurfer.
Dany the surfer.
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