CEBU CITY, Philippines— From skating on rough pavements to riding waves, to creating a grassroots community in surfing for young athletes in San Fernando, Cebu.
This is the story of Ian Bacalla, 40, a skateboarder, paddle boarder, and surfer from this southern Cebu town.
At a young age, Bacalla started cruising the streets on his skateboard.
“I’ve been skateboarding since 1991, and later in my skate life, I discovered that surfing was the reason skateboarding was invented. In 2014, I had the chance to experience surfing in Baler with my partner Miot, cousin Marmi, and her husband Gene,” he said.
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Knowing that Cebu’s surf waves are harder to find and catch, he opted to just let his surfing experience slide and went on to his usual lifestyle, which was skateboarding.
Together with his friends in San Fernando, they have created a small community where they teach kids how to skate, in the hopes of someday producing amazing skateboarders.
But the surfing gods had a different plan for Bacalla.
For some reason, his old friend, Boe Paras, an old-school skater, chanced upon him and said:
“What are you doing? Gabaan baya ka anang nagsige kag skate diha unya naay bawd diri sa tungod sa inyo unya dili nimo surf-an! Ni ari man gani nang taga lagyo!”
Surfing in San Fernando
It was like a huge wave crashed into Bacalla that ignited him to study weather conditions in Cebu, as he saw it as the first step to have consistent practice for local surfers to enjoy the surf swells in their locality.
“Since then, I’ve been surfing, studying weather forecasts because Cebu doesn’t have the same conditions as the islands facing the ocean. While learning with my San Fernando crew at our Hometown Surf Spot, I met many surfers visiting San Fernando during our surf season. I went on surf trips with them to Leyte, Samar, Siargao, etc,” he said.
Starting their local surfing community was not hard for Bacalla, especially since he knew a lot of the locals were willing to learn how to ride the waves.
Ian Bacalla riding waves at San Ferndando, Cebu. | Ed Lim
The challenging part was getting his physical strength back in top shape.
“My first 3 years of surfing were quite difficult because I needed to shake off a lot of my skateboarding muscle memory and my (alcohol) drinking habits since I wasn’t that young anymore. Surfing consumed me in a good way as it required me to be healthy physically and mentally. I also did yoga—it helped a lot. Surfing felt more connected to nature because I was riding “Nature” (the wave),” he added.
Being better led Bacalla to expanding the surfing community in San Fernando.
Now, Bacalla is proud to say that they have more “kuyas” in the community who are helping the budding surf athletes. They are also organizing local events to strengthen the bond in their local surfing scene.
Bacalla shared that we now have an average of one week a month, where conditions are good for surfing in San Fernando.
Surfing in Barili.
“We Kuyas are just doing our part while doing what we love. We share the lessons we’ve learned with the kids: discipline, perseverance, continuous learning, respect for nature, and humility. Overall, we’re happy to be here now. Lots of work need to be done to sustain our efforts. We’re not perfect, but we’re trying our best to make our world a better place through what we know,” he added.
Aside from surfing, Bacalla notes that he enjoys seeing more people getting into different water sports, like dragon boat, canoe, kayak, stand up paddle board, among others.
“I just want it to coexist with nature so future generations can live in a balanced environment. That would be nice, don’t you think?” he said.
Training the kids today is just Bacalla’s way of paying it forward to nature, which has given him so much joy.
From skating to paddling boarding to surfing, he knows that with this kind of active lifestyle, kids in the future can instill in them the discipline in training, loving nature and being able to appreciate their physical and mental strengths.
“[My] long term dream of surfing in Cebu is get more people enjoy the lifestyle, I believe it helps in some ways, both physically and mentally. By getting hooked to it, the more people act for preservation of Sea Access. And I wanna see my grandkids surf our hometown wind swell waves and maybe surf with them too if I reach the age of 80.”