Riding the waves

Waxing down his board at the beach where he grew up, Souleymane Sidibe is determined to show the judges in Cote d'Ivoire's first surfing competition that he's a future champion.

The west African country is best-known internationally for its cocoa. With its 570-kilometer (355-mile) coastline and its impressive waves, it now wants to make a name for itself as a surfer's paradise, alongside South Africa, Morocco and Senegal.

In late February, Assinie beach, 80 kilometers from Abidjan, hosted the Africa Surf Tour, a continent-wide competition.

"Over the past few years, more and more people have taken up surfing," Sidibe said.

The 30-year-old athlete has created an NGO to open up access to the sport and started his own Souley Surf School, a new addition to the handful of surf clubs that have appeared since 2017.

Among the dozens of supporters at the competition that day were young amateur surfers draped in the national flag, who, like Sidibe, had had to teach themselves the art of the wave by imitating the most experienced board riders.

"I've come along to watch and learn stuff," said 22-year-old Kouadio Daniel Koffi, on the lookout for take-offs, rollers and other moves practiced by his hero, one of the only professionals of his generation in Cote d'Ivoire.

Oumar Seye, the Senegalese head of the African Surfing Confederation and organizer of the Assinie competition, said it was crucial to "give a boost to African surfers".