The Pingtung Manzhou Jialeshuei International Surfing Festival, now in its 18th year, will take place from October 13th to 15th at the Manzhou Jialeshuei Yucun Park. Today (16th of August), a press conference was held at the county government office.
Besides the surfing competition, this year’s festival will commence with Senior Citizen SUP and Tribal Kids’ Surfing Experience on August 23rd.
Additionally, the event will feature markets, lawn concerts, parent-child DIY activities, a MINI RAMP mini skatepark, and more, creating a diverse atmosphere. The event is not just a festival; it’s a vibrant celebration, with a focus on continuing to nurture the surfing experience for tribal children and ensuring the surfing culture thrives in the southern region of the country.
This year’s event theme is “Welcome Back to Jiale, Rooted in the Local (歡迎回佳 深耕在地)”.
The aim is to extend the concept of water affinity and ocean self-rescue education to the remote tribes of Manzhou. Therefore, on August 23rd, in collaboration with the Manzhou Township Indigenous Family Service Center, a safe and calm water SUP experience will be provided to promote to senior citizens.
This initiative ensures that elderly individuals can enjoy water activities without age limitations. Moreover, drowning prevention and self-rescue training for tribal children, along with surfing experiences, will be included.
Additionally, this effort aims to provide tribal children with limited exposure to ocean knowledge through drowning prevention courses and surfing experiences, ultimately hoping to extend this knowledge to basic education in Manzhou Township or throughout Pingtung County. This initiative aspires to reduce the likelihood of accidents occurring annually due to lack of water or ocean awareness.
During the experiential event on August 23rd, the Taiwan Ocean Leisure Sports Development Association will collaborate for the first time with Taiwan’s first corporate-supported professional surfing team, the “Nation GROMS Surfing Team.”
Established in 2008, this team has been dedicated to nurturing young surfers in Taiwan for the past six years. This year, they have invited promising young surfers from the Nation GROMS Surfing Team to serve as coaches for the tribal children’s experience. This allows the children to feel the charm and safety of surfing through the experiences of these surfers who have competed in various places.
In this event, in addition to the usual competition categories, in response to longboarding’s inclusion in the 2028 Olympics, this year the longboarding competition specifications will be elevated to the international category. The first-ever longboarding open category will serve as a nurturing ground for Taiwanese athletes.
Additionally, a new longboarding newcomers category has been introduced. Apart from last year’s U12 Youth category, there will also be an engaging “Fun Surfing Race for Fur Babies and Owners,” which serves as a major highlight of this year’s event.
This year’s three-day event features a diverse range of competitions. In addition to the U12 and U18 Youth categories, there will be men’s shortboard and longboard challenge divisions, men’s longboard A/B (newcomers) categories, women’s shortboard A/B divisions, bodyboarding for both men and women, SUP surfing for both men and women, as well as the “Back to Youth” category for participants aged 45 and above. Furthermore, there will be a fun surfing race for fur babies.
The total number of participants is nearly 350, and the total prize money reaches up to 500,000 NTD, making it the largest-ever participant count in Taiwan’s history of surfing competitions!
Sunrise on Jialeshui’s beach near Yucun Park where event takes place, with a lone surfer in the sea