Windsurfer I Gusti Made Oka Sulaksana a king of the sea

Windsurfer I Gusti Made Oka Sulaksana a king of the sea

By Alpha Savitri

SANUR, Bali (JP): "Eccentric" would probably be the most
suitable adjective to describe 30-year-old windsurfer I Gusti Oka
Sulaksana.

Sun-burned, muscular, dyed-blond hair, bare-chested and
wearing knee-length pants, a pair of sunglasses perched on his
nose, unkempt -- that is I Gusti Made Oka Sulaksana, a beach boy
and Indonesian windsurfer.

In the sweltering heat of noon, after carrying out his routine
windsurfing regimen, he joined his fellow beach-lovers at Sanur.
Unlike his other more voluble friends, he is taciturn, but turns
out to be a good listener.

It was on this beach that he started his career and it is here
that he spends every day. The sea has been the most important
part of his life. And it is also the sea that thrust him into the
limelight after he won various windsurfing contests at the
international level.

His father -- a fisherman -- introduced him to the might and
ferocity of the sea when he was a toddler. Growing up on Sanur
Beach, he became emotionally attached to it -- just like one
madly infatuated with a beautiful woman. "If I don't see Sanur
even for a single day, I get a headache and feel like something
is missing in me," he explained.

Every morning after rising and taking his son to elementary
school, he goes straight to the beach for regular training or to
coach fledgling surfers.

There, the best Indonesian athlete of 1999 based on the votes
of journalists is involved in a string of aquatic activities. He
owns a space on the beach where he stores his surf boards and
windsurfing paraphernalia to be leased out to tourists. Teaming
up with a hotel there, he rents out surfing and diving equipment.

He acknowledged this line of business has brought him success.
However, most of the proceeds do not flow into his pockets but
end up being paid out on training expenses or efforts to promote
windsurfing.

"Perhaps this is the risk of dealing with a less popular
sport. It is different from trying to upgrade quality in
badminton or tennis where funds are easy to come by," he said.

The winner of many world-class windsurfing awards spent his
childhood peddling odds and ends on the beach. "By doing so I
could pay my school fees," he recalled.

After school, the little Oka would always walk to the beach
hawking shells, necklaces and bracelets. He never had any idea of
what his future was going to be like. And neither would the idea
of becoming a world class surfer ever have flashed through his
mind.

"They say that life is just a gamble," he said.

"Traditionally, my family didn't mold me to have high
expectations. And to us, to be able to go to school was already a
blessing," recollected Oka about the hardships of his youth. He
went through good and bad times and not infrequently he was
subjected to rough treatment, physical violence and intimidation
by public order officers.

"I had no other choice," he said. "They were after me and I
was so scared that I plunged into the sea. I was soaked to the
skin and so was my merchandise. Then I burst out crying. Can you
imagine that the officers, too, were willing to plunge into the
water to get me."

At the age of seven, Oka was already well acquainted with the
surfboard and, naturally, most of the beach boys were able to
surf. When the weather was favorable, all of the beach boys took
to the sea with their boards.

Oka only came to know about windsurfing in 1982 when the
Sanur Beach Hotel held a competition for the hotel guests. Much
to his consternation, he discovered there was another sport
similar to surfing and one that was even more fascinating as it
looked as if the surfboard had a sail, just like the sail on the
traditional sailing boat his father had.

Upon seeing a new type of surfboard, Oka couldn't wait to try
it out. He borrowed one from a tourist and had a go on it. He
found out that it was actually more exciting than the ordinary
surfboard. Later on, he managed to borrow some windsurfing gear
from the Bali Dive center but after a few days, to his dismay,
the equipment broke meaning he had to stop for a while.

Enthused with the joy of windsurfing and aided by his
companions from the Bali Hyatt -- Jack Sujana and Ketut Weta --
he then fashioned a windsurfing board out of bamboo, a piece of
cloth and the trunk of a waru tree. Surprisingly, it worked
perfectly well.

Feeling confident, Oka joined the second Bali Open Tournament
in 1984 using his homemade gear but, as many had predicted, he
failed dismally. A year later, he tried out his skill in another
event. Out of sheer luck, a visitor from Jakarta was willing to
lend him a board; he tried it and finally he won. In 1986, he
recorded another victory. Soon afterward, he scored another
success in his Singapore Open debut where he came second.

Oka has climbed to the top of the windsurfing ladder of fame.
From Singapore, he headed for France to participate in the World
Open Sailboard competition. Out of 150 participants of
international standing, he managed to come 20th. In 1988 he was
invited by MISTRAL to join an international competition, beating
hundreds of other participants, though he only came ninth.

The following year, at the Malaysia SEA Games, he took the
bronze. Thereafter, he has participated in various competitions
in Asia and has always come out a winner.

The year 1993 was a bad one for him. He had the misfortune of
being hit by a speeding jet ski while resting on the beach.
Multiple fractures and a three-day coma meant that he had to
spend six months in hospital. "I was really frustrated and
worried that I would never be able to go wind surfing again.
"Thank goodness, I'm OK now, although I never really recovered
100 percent," he said.

A year later, he participated in two competitions in
Singapore and Thailand and, rather surprisingly, he did very
respectably. Thailand's SEA Games saw him taking a gold medal. In
the qualifying round of the Spa Ragatta in the Netherlands, he
was in the top nine. He was in the top 11 in IMCO. Successive
achievements smoothly paved the way toward his participation in
the world's most prestigious sporting event -- the Olympic Games.

"I didn't know that I would be in the Indonesian contingent
until two weeks before the Olympic Games were scheduled to start,
so I had not prepared myself for it ... I was not informed at all
so I thought I wasn't going to be there," he recalled.

Using a sailboard totally new to him, he only managed to gain
the 13th slot.

Psychological reasons

He said he also failed to win a medal in Sydney's 2000
Olympic Games for psychological reasons.

"I must say that I was psychologically unfit. At first they
had promised AA Dwi Arini -- my wife -- a return ticket to see me
compete. I really needed her moral support. But they never kept
their word," he said. Oka, however, expressed the hope that he
could still take part in the next Olympic Games before he quits;
he plans to be a coach afterward as he knows the challenges
Indonesia may face in the future.

Oka relentlessly struggles to promote windsurfing and trains
some kids in the vicinity for free. At times he has to use his
own money to help these elementary- and high-school children
pursue their hobby.

Occasionally, he spends as much as $85 repairing a damaged
part. "I really want to see somebody here who cares about
windsurfing, but I haven't seen any so far," complained the
father of two children, his eyes gazing out to sea as the tide
went out. Oka has to manage everything by himself; he bought his
own equipment and makes his own preparations and arrangements. In
other words, he willingly plows a lonely furrow.

To join the 14th National Sports Event, Oka needed some Rp 25
million. He had no money so he pawned his Isuzu Panther van which
he finally had to sell to pay off his debts. For his medal, KONI
in Bali rewarded him with a bonus of Rp 30 million. "But that
just works out even," he said.

Many people would think that Oka lives a good life and earns
a good living from his participation in various championships.
The true picture is, however, different: International events
don't often give prize money. Windsurfing, in a way, has messed
up his schooling; his regular training regimens have occasionally
forced him to stay away from school and he has made lots of
sacrifices. Nevertheless, he keeps on training some 20 students.

Promising offers have started to pour in from Jakarta and East
Java for him to help strengthen their teams. Malaysia, Thailand
and Hong Kong have offered him coaching positions with their
respective home squads. However, he says, "I still love Bali and
I don't want to be away from my family."