Surfing Vanimo New Guinea

Vanimo is in the North-West of Papua New Guinea. To get to Vanimo and Lido you will have to fly in because there are no roads into the area. Air Niugini flies from Port Moresby to Vanimo three days a week. AirLink connects Vanimo with Aitape, Wewak, Madang - other surfing spots in Papua New Guinea. Lido is a point break that is five kilmometers west of Vanimo. There is also a left hander at Lido.

The Vanimo region gets swell from the north because there are no islands in the way to stop the swell. Further east and they do not get as much swell. Lido village and kids are very keen on surfing - they make their surfboards out of wood from the jungle. Some say that surfing first began here and they used old canoe planks. The first Australian surfer came here in the 1990's and he amazed the local surfers because he was standing up on his board.

The Lido surfers only have two fiberglass surfboards in the village and these are saved for contests. The kids trek into the jungle to look for a special tree root. They do not have enough money for a fiberglass surfboard so they have to make one out of wood. They shape the surfboard with knives and adzes. They have learned their skills from the local boat builder fathers who make canoes out of solid logs. The Lido surfer shapers use a plane to smooth the surfboard. The fin is put in with notches. They draw some traditional art on the surfboard and then put a coat of varnish on the surfboard. They have to wait until it dries out. It takes a week to dry before it can be surfed.

Vanimo Surfing Resources

Sandaun Province Information
Other villages and towns in Northern New Guinea that have surf are: Kavieng, Arawa, Madang, Bogia, Wewak, Vanimo, and Aitape.
Kavieng New Ireland Surf Spots
wewak east sepik Surf Breaks

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