„Surfers from other countries are different, because they have better boards, bigger waves, and travel frequently to different countries,“ Mannan told AFP.
„It’s impossible to understand an ocean if you’ve never surfed there.“
His first trip to the Maldives was a shock. Used to Bangladesh’s five-foot (1.5m) waves, he found himself facing 15-foot breaks.
Club founder Rashed Alam has no illusions about the scale of the challenge.
„You can’t improve without proper training, and we don’t have any sponsors to send our surfers abroad,“ he said.
But for Alam, one of the pioneers of the sport in Bangladesh, that struggle is nothing new. Surfing’s unlikely history in the country has always been one of chance, generosity and improvisation.
He traces its arrival to Cox’s Bazar in 2004, when four American tourists came to ride the waves.
„Four big guys from Hawaii, with their board shorts and big cameras, came to ride our waves,“ he said.
Other foreign surfers followed, leaving behind boards for local enthusiasts, including Alam.
„That’s how I fell in love with surfing,“ he said.
The passion eventually took him to California, where he worked as a surf instructor and lifeguard, before returning to Bangladesh in 2013 and opening the country’s first surfing club.
„I thought, if men can surf, girls can surf too,“ he said. „It was exceptionally challenging to teach girls in Bangladesh because of community and family pressure.“