How their search for cheaper surfboards made two Virar men make their own board

Updated On: 07 October, 2023 04:23 PM IST | Mumbai | Nascimento Pinto

The tides are changing as Mumbai’s surfing community is getting back into the water after the monsoon. It gets even better because Devdatt Manjrekar and Manoj Kumbhar, two Virar residents and enthusiasts are busy making their own surfboards. This could be the start of a movement of surfboard makers on the west coast

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Devdatt Manjrekar (left) has finished making his first surfboard (in picture; Manoj Kumbhar (right) is busy working on his first surfboard, while making another one too. Photos Courtesy: Devdatt Manjrekar/Manoj Kumbhar

After completing his course in graphic art, Devdatt Manjrekar wanted to be a sculptor but somehow that never came to fruition. Little did the Mumbaikar know that many years later he would become the first-known surfboard maker on the west coast in Mumbai. “Sculpting a surfboard is fulfilling that dream,” expresses the Virar-based graphic designer, with a child-like innocence. Such is his enthusiasm for making surfboards that while he was making his first one, he was simultaneously shaping another one.

“When I started, I said I will make two at a time so whatever goes wrong with the first board, I can rectify that with the second board,” explains Manjrekar. While the first one has taken him a good seven long months, he is confident that the second one will get done in about 12 days if he burns the midnight oil. Interestingly, he is only one of the two people in Mumbai currently known to have started making surfboards, though in the nascent stage, in the community.

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Home / Lifestyle / Culture / Article / How their search for cheaper surfboards made two Virar men make their own board