In a small beachside shack in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, Pape Diouf spends hours on each surfboard he makes, shaping its foam surface with an electric planer to create the perfect curve.
Diouf, 27, is the first surfboard maker in the West African country, which has attracted surfers from around the world for decades due to Dakar’s position on a spit of land that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean, creating world-class waves.
The surf scene is dominated by locals, many of whom surf on old boards donated or passed down from older surfers.
Photo: Reuters
However, Diouf, who is also a surfing instructor, aims to change that by increasing the availability of locally made boards.
“Ever since I was a little boy, I have dreamed of making my own board,” said Diouf, who opened his business Sunugal Surfboard Repair in 2020 with funds he earned from participating in an entrepreneurship competition.
Although he also repairs boards, making them is now his focus.
Photo: Reuters
“Board making really needs to pick up,” said surfer Aita Diop, who competes with a board made by Diouf.
“Thank goodness we have one person making them, but there should be more so we can show that we are capable of making good boards,” she said.
Diouf’s boards sell for about 250,000 CFA francs (US$419), which includes the cost of materials such as fiberglass that he has to import from Europe. He personalities some by decorating them with African fabrics.
“Currently it is only on site that you can have a Sunugal surfboard, but the goal of the project is not to stay in [the neighborhood] Yoff,” said Diouf, adding that he is working to open branches in other parts of Dakar and the country.
“Tomorrow, I hope we will see Sunugal surfboards all over the world,” he said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) greetings with what appeared to be restrained rhetoric that comes as Pyongyang moves closer to Russia and depends less on its long-time Asian ally. Kim wished “the Chinese people greater success in building a modern socialist country,” in a reply message to Xi for his congratulations on North Korea’s birthday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday. The 190-word dispatch had little of the florid language that had been a staple of their correspondence, which has declined significantly this year, an analysis by Seoul-based specialist service NK Pro showed. It said
On an island of windswept tundra in the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles from mainland Alaska, a resident sitting outside their home saw — well, did they see it? They were pretty sure they saw it — a rat. The purported sighting would not have gotten attention in many places around the world, but it caused a stir on Saint Paul Island, which is part of the Pribilof Islands, a birding haven sometimes called the “Galapagos of the north” for its diversity of life. That is because rats that stow away on vessels can quickly populate and overrun remote islands, devastating bird
‘CLOSER TO THE END’: The Ukrainian leader said in an interview that only from a ‘strong position’ can Ukraine push Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘to stop the war’ Decisive actions by the US now could hasten the end of the Russian war against Ukraine next year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday after telling ABC News that his nation was “closer to the end of the war.” “Now, at the end of the year, we have a real opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram after meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress. “Decisive action now could hasten the just end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year,” he wrote. Zelenskiy is in the US for the UN
A 64-year-old US woman took her own life inside a controversial suicide capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, with Swiss police on Tuesday saying several people had been arrested. The space-age looking Sarco capsule, which fills with nitrogen and causes death by hypoxia, was used on Monday outside a village near the German border. The portable human-sized pod, self-operated by a button inside, has raised a host of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland. Active euthanasia is banned in the country, but assisted dying has been legal for decades. On the same day it was used, Swiss Department of Home