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."