Iligan’s princess of the waves

SWEET RIDE Eight-year-old Chantelle Lagmay spends her weekends riding the waves at Linamon town in Lanao del Norte province. —RICHEL V. UMEL

LINAMON, Lanao del Norte — Every weekend, 8-year-old Chantelle Lagmay would head to the shore with her father at Barangay Magoong here, wearing a colorful swimsuit, from their house in nearby Iligan City, in what would be more than a day of beach fun.

She would watch out for wave formations, paddle toward them on a yellow surfboard and execute surfing maneuvers as the waves swell to 2.13 meters (7 feet) high.

Chantelle is the youngest of about 10 weekend surfers riding the waves of Magoong. She can do the “standup,” or standing on the surfboard after paddling with the speed of the wave, and the “cutback,” or picking up speed and suddenly twisting back to meet the wave and glide.

Her father, Lee Art or Dingdong, said Chantelle acquired her love for surfing when she was just about a year old.

Starting at 3

“She would tag along with me and my wife, Charmie Amor,” he recounted, when they go out with their surfer friends. The child would piggyback on her mother, he said.

Dingdong, an event coordinator who has been competing in surfing festivals in Mindanao and the Visayas, said he began teaching his daughter how to balance on a surfboard when she was 3. “As she grew older, she learned how to paddle toward the waves and ride them.”

“I always tell her to be confident of herself. That helped her overcome her fears,” he said.

Today, Chantelle can be on her own, even navigating the waves with longtime surfers.

Siargao dream

“I enjoy and love surfing. I am practicing hard because I want to compete when I grow up,” said the Grade 2 pupil at Napocor Elementary School in Iligan’s Barangay Maria Cristina.

She said she enjoyed what she had been doing with her father—playing with the waves.

One of her dreams, Chantelle said, was to go to Siargao, Mindanao’s surfing capital in Surigao del Norte province, and test her skills against other surfers.

“I want to become a surfing competition champion in Siargao one day,” she added.

Saving lives

Dingdong is confident that she will eventually join serious competitions, as what his team has been doing for years.

But more than the recognition, he said the real reason he taught Chantelle how to surf was that the skill was useful during emergencies.

“There were several instances of an emergency that we were able to save lives through surfing. One example was when some of the beachgoers in Magoong drifted away from the safe zone while using a rubber floater. They nearly drowned and we rescued them,” he said.

He spoke of how a local surfer survived the huge waves generated by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) in 2013.

“The surfing board is the best [equipment] for life-saving because of its light material. Unlike a life vest, it won’t sink . As long as your feet are locked on the board, you can survive. But of course, training and practice also make the difference because these are basic elements of surviving on a surfboard,” he said.

His experience with Chantelle gave him the idea to teach his other daughter, 2-year-old Francesca, and other children frequenting the beach.

“We now teach more children to learn the basics of surfing,” he said.