Rabat – Surfing is on the rise in Morocco, which has become a top destination for local and foreign lovers of its Atlantic swells, according to American news channel CNN.
The channel’s “Inside the Middle East” program, broadcast October 15 and 16, highlights the growing popularity of surfing in Morocco.
To explore the kingdom’s draw as a surfing spot, the CNN team meets with Moroccan surfers, including Rami Boukhiam, Ilyas Masrour and Fatima Berrada.
The program follows Boukhiam, who is currently ranked 21st in the World Qualifying series, to his Moroccan favorite surfing spot, Taghazout, just 23 kilometers away of his hometown of Agadir.
The Moroccan surfer tells CNN that he participates in different competitions across the world, “but no country is comparable to here […] it is my home, I love it.”
Boukhiam adds that foreign surfers choose to come to Morocco because of the “perfect point break waves in Morocco’s seas,” and because it offers many surfing opportunities from the north to the desert to the south.
The CNN team also talks to Berrada, who in 1994 became the first professional woman surfer in Morocco.
Berrada says that for her, “surfing is a way of life. If I do not surf even for one day, I feel like something is missing.”
The surfer says that she has encouraged her two daughters to follow her, explaining that they started surfing at age three and four. “Every time we’ll have a free time, we will surf. As they are now surfers, they can continue this family tradition.”
CNN made the report while covering the Anfa Place Pro surfing competition, which took place in Casablanca from September 12 to 17 at Casablanca’s Lalla Meryem beach.
