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Kuma Surf
A surfboard painted with a red spider web leaning against a wall beside a rattan chair, seen through a van window

Boards

Take one out. Bring it back salty.

Soft-tops for learning, funboards for the in-between, and shortboards when it's working. If you snapped something, bring it in.

  • Board Rental

    Two hours, half day, or full day

    Soft-tops for the humble, funboards for the honest, shortboards for the brave and the lying. Take one out, bring it back salty. Bring it back dinged and we'll talk, gently, and on this beach boards have survived far worse than whatever you did.

    • 2 hours₹1,000
    • Half day₹1,500
    • Full day₹2,000

    Prices exclude GST, which is added at the applicable rate.

  • Ding Repair

    Turnaround varies

    Cracked rail, crushed nose, fin box hanging on by hope. Bring it in. Boards have been patched on this beach for years and yours is not the worst we've seen. It's not even close.

    Quoted on inspection, usually same-week

  • Ask about a board
Board racks under the thatch at Kuma Surf
A woman in a black rash guard rides whitewater on a mint-green soft-top while others wait in the water behind her
Whitewash, a mint-green soft-top and one arm up for balance.

Renting or learning

Surfboard rental in Varkala, or a lesson with the board included

If you have never stood up on a board, renting one mostly gets you a large thing to carry. A group lesson is ₹1,500 per person, and the soft-top, the rash vest and the lift from where you are staying are all in that price.

Once a lesson has you standing, rent. Nobody picks your waves for you after that, which is both the point and the problem.

A surfer on a blue board rides whitewash as bigger waves break behind and people stand in the sea watching
A small one in front, bigger ones behind. Know which you are paddling into.

Out on your own

Read the sea before you paddle out.

Surfboard rental in Varkala means going out without an instructor beside you. Edava has a sand bottom and a forgiving break, but the currents can be strong, and every year the rips here catch swimmers out.

Before you go in, ask at the house what the water is doing. Stay close to shore, and take a friend rather than going out alone.

If the answer is not today, believe it. The sea will be back tomorrow, and so will the board.

Getting it wet

Two minutes to the water, leash on before you get there.

The beach is about fifty metres from the house, a two-minute walk with a board under your arm.

Put the leash on at the water's edge, not halfway through the first wave. Boards that get away tend to find someone's shins.

Staying in the house? There is board storage downstairs and an outdoor rinse, so neither the board nor the sand has to come to bed with you.

A woman in a black rash guard bends forward, hands on knees, beside mint-green soft-tops on dark sand in the rain
Raining. The boards did not seem to mind.
A bearded man in a Kuma rash guard holds a white board under one arm, leash in hand, another board at his feet
One board under the arm, one still waiting on the sand.
A man in a turquoise rash guard rides whitewash on a white board as someone carries another board past
One riding in, one wading out. The shallows get busy.