KIJAL
After more adventures along the coast we found a beach near Kijal, called Penunjuk Beach, with an awesome setup. It faces south east and is framed by massive granite rock formations at the eastern end. The north eastern monsoon hits the beach side onshore and it was obvious a massive tornado had hit the area recently as many palm trees were completely damaged. The road leads along the beach with a few houses a respectable distance from the sea …obviously for a reason! Nice swell runs into the bay and the water is turquoise blue. Local kids have spotted us and are immediately interested when I started to rig the gear. All seems to be perfect. Suddenly a local car drove extremely quickly in our direction. I was nervous! All the ingredients for a nice session were ready. A golden yellow shining beach, relatively clean, nice side onshore waves. But we didn’t get a single smile except from the young local kids, when driving through the village. Aren’t we welcome on that beach? Is it a holy place, which doesn’t allow foreigners to touch or perhaps owned by a private person and we would need a permission? So far it’s the best looking windsurfing spot we’ve seen. It’s exactly the spot we were looking for during our trip. I was actually a bit disappointed not to have my wave gear.
The jeep parks next to our Pajero and a man on a high energy level jumped out and came towards us. “Hi I am Ibrahim. How is the wind force, too strong, 4 to 5?” We are impressed. Someone from such a remote village knows the windsurfers language? “Yes, close to 5”, I answer. “Today the wind is lighter at Penunjuk beach. Normally we measure force 5 – 7”. He continues to explain to us that he is a windsurfer too, but it’s too rough for him here.
My feet dug deep into the golden sand, when I walked down the steep sloping beach to the water’s edge, where I launched for the first time at Ibrahim’s home spot. The pressure in my sail felt great. We reckoned we would get 12 to 15 knots at Kijal. But conditions were much better and improved during our stay. The greenish-blue waters made the session even nicer. And it was easy to show some nice jibes and turns to impress local rider Ibrahim. When I returned after a few nice turns and jumps with the free ride gear, a lot of kids were already lined up at the beach and I offered them to step on the board and hold the rig for the first time in their life. What a great moment. Then Ibrahim invited us to his wooden house. Sitting on the terrace with a great sea view was an unforgettable moment on our trip along Malaysia’s east coast. Ibrahim told us that he was extremely delighted that windsurfing works so well at Kijal and asked us if we will return and we promised we would be back! We loved the Malay hospitality, the warm climate and the surprisingly excellent windsurfing conditions.
Next time we would definitely drive straight to Kijal to check the waves. Further north are several nice beaches to launch too: Kemasik and the beaches around Pantai Tanjong Jara, but none of them beat Kijal to be honest.