'We're going to write history': The surfers putting Lebanon on the world surfing map

A graffiti artist, a financial analyst, an investment banker, and a surfing/skateboarding/snowboarding instructor and business owner are currently in the Maldives getting ready to represent Lebanon in the Asian Surfing Championships between July 8 and 17.

Together, Alfred Badr, Lena Abdelnour, Lena Allam, and Chris Dirany have formed Lebanon’s first-ever homegrown surfing team and have flown to the Maldives with the clear mission of putting their country on the world surf map.

They each got introduced to the sport in their own unique way, and never knew there were surfable waves in Lebanon before they actually hopped on a board and tried for themselves.

Lena Allam, a 29-year-old investment banker who has been living in Dubai for the past two years, grew up in Deir El Qamar, south-east of Beirut, and fell in love with surfing when she was a child, watching a Disney movie.

“It was thanks to Lilo & Stitch, the Disney cartoon. In Lebanon we don’t have surfers, so I never saw a surfer on the beaches in Lebanon. So I think the idea came to me when I was watching Lilo & Stitch and I was always replaying the same part of the movie where they surf this big wave and I used to get like super excited,” Allam told The National.

Allam’s fascination with surfing grew from there. She would write school projects on Hawaii because of its vibrant surf culture and it was always a dream to get on a surfboard and catch a wave. That dream finally came true when she was 18 years old.

She initially tried windsurfing but didn’t enjoy it before she eventually got in touch with a surfboard shaper and began taking lessons in Batroun in Lebanon. The first surfboard Allam bought was a decorative one hung up in a Quiksilver store that wasn’t intended