On Easter Sunday of 2019, Sri Lanka was rocked by a series of terrorist suicide bombings. Three churches and three hotels were the first targets, then a housing complex. All told, over 250 people were killed. Sri Lankan officials said that all seven of the bombers were associated with a militant Islamic group called National Thowheeth Jama’ath.
Before all that happened, Laura Enever went to the wave-rich country for a few reasons: waves, obviously. Enever’s not chasing a world title anymore, so she’s chasing something a little different – knowledge, culture, and the surf that surround those different cultures. She wanted to address the glaring dearth of female surfers in Sri Lankan lineups, so she met up with Natasha Sand, a Billabong rider and Sri Lankan local. For a long time, Hand has been an advocate for female surfing in her country. It’s not that surfing is taboo for women there; just that it’s not a normal thing to do.
After the terrorist explosions, Enever reached out to Sand to hear her thoughts about it. “Firstly, my condolences go out to my dear people, everyone affected, and those who lost a loved one,” Sand said. “It still seems so unreal that this terrible unjust act happened to my country. Brothers and sisters, this is now our time. We must stand together to be strong, we also need to honor those that have been lost by carrying on as we normally would. So, please do not tick Sri Lanka off your list, we need you now more than ever.”
Know the Feeling is Billabong’s latest foray into the world of the internet series. It’s about far more than surfing. As anyone who travels for waves knows, surfing is merely a vessel for the real experience. The real experience is in the people you meet, the places you see, and the journey to get to where you’re going. The series showcases women in the surfing world from interesting places who are doing interesting things—and it is one of the best things in surfing right now.
In this installment, Enever and Hand talk about what Hand’s goals are for Sri Lankan wave riding. “It’s not for me,” Hand says. “It’s for the next generation. The next generation of local women in Sri Lanka. It doesn’t say anywhere that we can’t wear a bikini and go surfing or that we shouldn’t be in the water. I just want to normalize it.”
See more episodes on Billabong’s Youtube channel.
