Surfing at Fulong

I joined a company-sponsored outing to Fulong yesterday for some surfing. I’d been really looking forward to it because I’ve been talking about going surfing in Taiwan for more than two years and because, being raised in Miami, I love the beach.

I’ve been to Fulong before, but both times it’s been rainy or overcast. Fortunately, the weather was pleasant yesterday. We met at Taipei Main Station and jumped on the 10:35 train to Fulong. Since we grabbed the “stops at all stations” train (ticket at 85 NT was marginally cheaper than the express train), it took about an hour and a half to get there. The express train will get you there in about an hour.
The Fulong train station is a five-minute walk from the beach (nice!) and a 30-second hop into a line of lunch-box shops. Fulong is famous for its “Railroad lunch-box” (鐵路便當) and that’s normally the first item on the agenda for visitors. We dug into our 50 NT lunch-boxes and then met with the surfshop to organize our surfboards (500 NT for a day’s rental including a free rinse-off).

Finally, we set off towards the beach. I’ve only been surfing twice (this time was the second time) but even I was shocked at the number of people trying to catch a wave. There must have been about 80-odd people in the same 100-200 meter stretch. I hit one of my workmates TWICE and another workmate was skewered by me and another guy once. It was CROWDED. Good news is I finally stood up and actually surfed. The feeling was nice and I can see how it can get better as your skill increases (and if there aren’t too many people around).

After about an hour, I decided to go out a bit deeper to watch the experienced guys surf. They could grab the wave MUCH earlier and ride it much longer, unless they had to jump off to avoid hitting us newbies in the front blocking their way. They were unbelievably patient, I never saw any of them mouth off to any of us guys floating right into their paths.

I gave the board a rest and decided to try to swim over to the “paid area.” As I was approaching, I saw a lifeguard jump down to meet me as I crossed the line. I decided not to cross the line and he had nothing to say. I think I saved him from having to deliver the “pay to play” spiel and just walked back to base camp in the “no-swim zone” where all the surfers were.

As the shadows grew long, I got the craving for a beer, but the workmates were rushing to get back to their lives in Taipei so we hopped back into the train. All in all, it was a nice day, I got a nice sunburn, but I don’t think Fulong is a premiere surf spot by any standards.