Under the resplendent September sun, while trucks roar past us on the Suao-Hualien Highway, straight down a sheer 1000-meter cliff wall the far more serene-looking Pacific Ocean, which has been part of the lives of the peoples of this island for thousands of years, stretches off over the horizon. Strolling onto a sandy beach that runs along the cliff, we find a group of young kids--all enrolled at the Outdoor Taiwan school in Hualien--carrying five brightly-colored kayaks, prepared to take on the ocean breakers head-to-head. On this trip they will paddle eight kilometers along the Chingshui Cliff, part of a graduated course of training in sea kayaking.

The sailing boat Fugueijiao set off in August of this year on a round-the-island cruise to draw the government's attention to the many difficulties faced by pleasure craft in finding harbors to dock in. The photo, taken during the craft's stop at Tungshih Harbor in Ilan County, shows county chief executive Lu Guo-hwa being taken out to experience a sea cruise.

An intimate dialogue

On this adventure, when they get three kilometers away from shore, they get a fabulous view of the Chingshui Cliff. Rugged lines of collapsed boulders make assorted seascapes out of the coastline. Later, tired from paddling, the kayakers discover a sandy beach with what looks like a cave, and they spontaneously opt to stop there. A few of them slip away into the "cave," formed by boulders, for a little down time, and enjoy the novel sensation of being showered by seaspray that strong waves force through a myriad of crevices and gaps on all sides.

You get the picture: The elegant elongated shape of the kayaks, against a backdrop of marine blue and azure sky, rising and falling on the swells, with a gentle cooling breeze.... The tall, dark, slim instructor, Michael, eyes reflecting a wisdom beyond his years, describes this close encounter with the sea thus: "It's amazingly quiet out there; all you can hear is the plup-plup sound of your paddle and the crashing of waves against the shore in the distance." He adds that in the ocean his thoughts often take wing, and sometimes he becomes so relaxed his mind empties completely and becomes intoxicated in the embrace of the water. Because the eyes of a kayaker are nearly level with the surface of the water, when the craft plunges into a trough, looking up at the crest is like looking up a small hill. And when the kayak catches the top of a wave, the water below unrolls like a meadow. Once Michael and his group even happened upon some dolphins, and watching their powerful yet graceful bodies gambol through the waves, nearly close enough to touch, was much more dramatic and moving than any view from a whale-watching boat.

Alhough the Nanwan beach recreation area near Kenting has been divided into "motorized," "swimming," and "non-motorized" zones, it is still common to see jet-skis roaring through areas filled with swimmers or surfers

Hoist the sails!

Heading north along the shoreline of eastern Taiwan, with its curious rock formations, you hit Fulung. Just south of that town's well-known beach recreation area, near the spot on the coast that in recent years has been home to the Hohaiyan Music Festival, there is a two-story warehouse of about 350 square meters in floorspace. In the rooms in the back half lie all kinds of sailboards, as well as junior sailboats for kids. The front half of the warehouse is semi-open, with several wooden tables--all facing the ocean--scattered casually around the large space. This is the home of the Fulung Sail Service System, a group with quite a long history behind it.

Club director Chan Chih-hung grew up surrounded by sailboats. Several years ago he took over his father's business and took the bold step of abandoning the old boat rental system in favor of a membership format getting his operating revenues from renting storage space for sailing gear and from sailing instruction.

"Before, when the coast was off-limits [due to military restrictions], my father and uncle literally risked bankrupting the family because of their love of sailing," says Chan. With the lifting of martial law in 1989, sailing committees were formed within city and county agencies responsible for sport and physical fitness. But these were mainly dedicated to developing athletes for competitions, and the number of people sailing just for fun remained limited. Although there is a training center at Fulung, it has always been sloppily run. It has only been in the past few years, with the purchase of 400-plus new sailboards to be provided to local sailing associations under the Ocean Sports Program of the National Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (NCPFS), and the staging of many activities to give people a chance to try sailing themselves, that the number of people windsurfing has grown, and sailing sports have finally come out into the sunshine.

Lifelong pleasure

Windsurfing--also called sailboarding, windsailing, or boardsailing--is a cross between surfing and sailing, with a sheet of sailcloth attached to a surfboard. The whole rig weighs less than 20 kilos. Windsurfers have to stand on the board and use their hands and arms to control the angle of the sail. In contrast, in a sailboat one remains seated, steers using a rudder, and controls the angle of the sails with a series of ropes. In theory, the two types of craft are roughly equal in terms of the motive power they can get from catching the wind. Because sailboards are so much cheaper, they are often the entree into the sport of sailing. For example, of the 80 members of the Fulung club, 80% have sailboards while 20% have sailboats.

"Lots of people will tell you sailing is a sport you can enjoy your whole life," says Kuo Chun-chieh, who still considers himself a rookie though he has been windsurfing for three years. Many of the members at Fulung have other hobbies, like fishing, diving, or golf, but in comparison to these sailing is more challenging, and there is no limit to how far you can push it, so that it has more staying power.

The most basic thrill in windsurfing is speed, but later you can take on wave-jumping (leaping off the crests of breakers), 360-degree spins, and other daredevil moves. Those who shy away from the X-games stuff can simply cruise and enjoy the intricate combination of impulsion and grace that comes only from wind power. Those with more ambition (and cash) can buy a competition sailboat. Or you can study all there is to know about inshore sailing, about handling different wind conditions, about how wave conditions change... there are plenty of challenges. If you graduate to the level of oceangoing keelboats, the fields of skill and knowledge to be explored are even broader, including climate, currents, tides, and other elements of long-range navigation.

There is a large stretch of soft coral in the ocean off Houpi Lake near Kenting that, after rehabilitation in recent years, is again teeming with sea creatures. This is one of the best spots for scuba diving in Taiwan.

Made for watersports

In terms of inherent characteristics, Taiwan is surrounded by the sea, the coastal topography is rich and varied, and the wind and waves throw up a lot of different looks. Add to that a suitable latitude (not windless like the equatorial belt or cold like the frigid zones), and it is a great environment for practicing sailing, windsurfing, and surfing. Many people think that the strong northeasterly monsoons in winter and the frequent typhoons in summer are obstacles to developing marine sports in Taiwan, but actually these can be considered assets in some respects.

In kayaking, for instance, it is true that high winds and powerful waves make for a somewhat demanding environment. Yet, says John Sun, chairman of the Taiwan Recreational Kayaking Association, just look at the UK, the country where sailing and kayaking are most developed despite the fact that the North Atlantic and North Sea are renowned for their treacherous waters, so that conditions suitable for less experienced persons are available for only a few months in the year. In Taiwan, you can take to the sea from April through September, and even in the northeasterly monsoon season, if you choose the right time and place, conditions won't be too bad.

"The main reasons people don't go into the water are actually fear, born of ignorance, and a general lack of participation in outdoor activities" states Sun. Given that the coasts were closed to the public for decades, Taiwanese have little understanding of the ocean--and even less sentimental attachment. For most people, when they hear the term "marine activities," the first word that comes to mind is "danger."

Take the following common example: On a hot summer's day a swimmer playing in shallow water is dragged off by a rip current and drowns. Follow-up news reports invariably warn people to stay away from the beach where it happened. But the media never tells you what you can do to save your life if you are caught in such a situation, nor how to judge what kinds of conditions are likely to be dangerous.

"If you are swept out by a riptide, don't panic! Just go with the flow out to 100 meters or so, beyond the head of the current, and you can wait calmly for help, or move parallel to the shore to get out of the current, then swim back to shore," advises Sun. He explains that rip currents are often the result of typhoons or weather fronts, which bring in large amounts of seawater, which as it retreats forms rip channels when the water rushes past narrowing undersea features. If you are unlucky enough to get caught, the one thing you don't want to do is try to swim straight back against the current. "It's too bad that all we ever do is place restrictions, but never teach!"

A rising tide for marine recreation

In recent years, under the impact of the "Maritime Taiwan" policy, what the sea means to people here has been changing. It is no longer simply someplace the military has to defend against a possible invasion, or a convenient way to ship goods, or the place where fishermen troll for their catch.

In 2004 the ROC Tourism Bureau loosened restrictions on the use of the coast by issuing the Regulations Governing Water Recreation Activities, which provide the legal basis for undertaking related activities. Moreover, the somewhat earlier Ocean Sports Program of the NCPFS has also begun to bear fruit. In 2003 the NCPFS bought several hundred sailboards and kayaks, and began training 50 alternative military service recruits a year as marine sports instructors. In 2003 and 2004 there were marine sports festivals at Tapengwan in Pingtung County, giving people the chance to discover how one can have fun at sea. By a ripple effect, non-governmental groups have also joined in, so that marine sports are starting to spring up islandwide.

On another front, the Fishery Agency of the Council of Agriculture, under a policy of encouraging recreational fishing, is developing multifunctional fishing harbors and advising fishermen on how to retool for the business side of recreational fishing. In recent years, fisherfolk have gradually come to understand the importance of taking advantage of scarce resources by selling their catches themselves, and many recreational fishing harbors are packed with tourists on weekends and holidays. One new fashion in leisure has been to take out a sightseeing boat or do some diving, then head back to the pier to handpick fresh seafood and have it cooked to order. One such harbor in Tanshui, rechristened Fisherman's Wharf, boasts a laid-back atmosphere that has made it a ready-made hangout for crowds from Taipei.

In addition, cetacean watching has steadily developed since its inception in Hualien County in the late 1990s. In the past few years there has been a steady stream of over 200,000 visits per year, with the rate of growth topping the list of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Nonetheless, there are still clouds hanging over this apparent boom in marine recreation. One obvious example is the clash between recreation and the fishing industry, resulting from a lack of unified authority and from different value systems. Tourism Bureau deputy director-general Steven T.Y. Kuo Su noted at a recent conference on oceanic recreation in Taiwan that although the Fishery Agency has redefined "monopoly use for the fishing industry" as not excluding marine recreation, fishermen are extremely stubborn about the sense of ownership they feel toward their respective fishing zones. As a result, you still hear stories about conflicts between those who mine the sea for its resources and those who just want to play over the surface.

You will find young and old alike at kayaking courses offered by the Taiwan Recreational Kayaking Association in Sanchih Township in Taipei County. They look like they're having a blast!

Hard sailing

In mid-August of this year the Fugueijiao, a 46-foot heavy sailboat from the Taiwan Watersports and Recreation Association, embarked on a month-long circumnavigation of Taiwan to draw the attention of the authorities to the problems faced by pleasure craft (both motorized and canvas-powered) in entering, docking at, and leaving harbors (both fishing and commercial).

Currently there are only two marinas along Taiwan's entire coastline of more than 1400 kilometers which handle pleasure craft (Lungtung on the northeast coast and Houpihu in Kenting). Elsewhere, pleasure craft must dock in fishing harbors. The Fugueijiao's captain, Chen Po-jui, says that to stay in different fishing harbors, you have to file documents separately with each county or city government. Even then, the responses you get are pretty uniform: Tourism and leisure agencies welcome you with open arms, while fishing agencies are reserved. The latter in fact generally reject requests to stay in their harbors, citing reasons like "there's no space" and "unfortunately the fishermen are opposed." Ultimately you have to depend on intervention by local tourism authorities to arrange something, or even pull some strings to get into a harbor. "We can get by this way," he admits, "but what about other boats?"

He points out that in recent years the Taiwanese fishing industry has virtually exhausted fish resources, and many of the more than 200 harbors on the island are barely used. He asks why some of these can't be put to use for maritime recreation. Although the Fishery Agency has in recent years begun to permit pleasure craft to dock at 11 fishing harbors on a fee-paying basis, there have been few takers, mainly because there are no essential ancillary services like water, electricity, or showers. As a result, initial hopes that the plan would encourage local yachting have been dashed, not to even mention hopes of attaining international standards.

"Why is it that every year several hundred yachts cruise past Taiwan, but none of them ever comes in the door?" wonders Kuo Ting-hsiang, CEO of the Taipei Offshore Sailing Association, who, partnered with Nelson Liu, completed the first ever sail-powered circumnavigation of the globe by any Taiwanese. Foreign pleasure craft are currently only allowed to enter the five international commercial ports in Taiwan (Keelung, Taichung, Kaohsiung, Hualien, and Suao) and the two pleasure-boat marinas. Moreover, they have to follow the same procedures as merchant ships, seeking out the customs house to file relevant declarations. In the minds of many foreign sailors, these and other inconveniences put Taiwan in the "unfriendly" column among nations. Thus harbor towns miss out on substantial potential income from such things as boat repairs, supplies, and onshore food, drink and accommodation.

Waves of legal problems

As for small craft like kayaks and sailboards, storage is a serious problem. Chan Chih-hung points out that because most coastal land belongs to the state, local sailing clubs cannot get legal property rights, so at best there are only crude storage facilities, which are eyesores to boot. There is an urgent need for the government to come up with a plan to deal with this problem.

In contrast to the lack of a legal framework for sailboats and cabin cruisers, other marine activities at least have a legal basis in the Regulations Governing Water Recreation Activities. But this does not mean everything is smooth sailing. It is understood that the Tourism Bureau drafted these regulations with the aim of encouraging the development of marine sports by liberalizing existing restrictions. Hence they only require a complete or temporary ban on using a water area if there are serious safety or environmental concerns.

But however well-intentioned the new rules, they ran aground in the implementation phase. "Each local authority is empowered to draw up its own implementing bylaws. So in Taipei County, for instance, instead of drawing up a list of places where water sports are banned [making all other locations automatically legal], they decided to make a list of places that are open. Predictably, this requirement for positive endorsement of the safety of a given location left only two legal places for water activities--the canal in the Erhchung Flood Diversion Channel and Pitan Lake in Hsintien, both of which have only very light winds," says John Sun, making it clear that the whole plan is a washout as far as he is concerned. Many cities and counties have failed to come up with any lists at all, creating a legal gray area, and leading to disputes such as the Coast Guard trying to shut down kayaking activities in a location without being able to show any legal basis to do so. Old hands familiar with the ins and outs of the rules can generally stay on the safe side, but newcomers may find themselves in over their heads.

Because the NCPFS's authority is limited to promoting events, and more than ten different agencies are involved in managing the waters around Taiwan, many cross-departmental problems can only be resolved through mediation by the Executive Yuan's Ocean Affairs Committee.

Given the complexity of the obstacles to promoting marine recreation, what is the way forward? How can a culture of high-quality maritime recreation be molded?

Leisure revolution

Take a trip to Taiwan's beach mecca of Kenting and you can observe first hand the recreational model followed by Taiwanese; you certainly can get some food for thought. The stretch of road from Hengchun (the nearest sizeable town) to Kenting itself is lined with homestays, hotels, restaurants, scuba and surf shops, and places offering diving, banana boats, or jet-skis. The endless stream of acrylic signs alone is enough to set one's head spinning. When you reach Nanwan (a beach between Hengchun and Kenting), your ears are treated to the roar of jet-skis in the water and to the exhortations of hawkers renting umbrellas and beach toys, while the eyes feast on the chaos and trash that now dominate the beach itself. A cruise in a glass-bottomed boat is also revealing--the water seems much less clean than before.

Is there no other way? Sure, crashing a jet-ski over the chop is a rush, and people laugh and shout with joy during the "capsize your opponent" game on banana boats. But think for a minute about what these do to the natural environment and the natural tranquility of the seaside. Instead, maybe you can find a licensed diving instructor to take you under the sea to experience the dream-like quality of the coral world and the vitality of the "tropical rainforest" of the ocean floor. Or try a sailing trip, and enjoy the feeling of powered motion that needs no engine, the exhilaration of genuinely "riding the wind." It's not hard to find a kayaking course, either. Or would you prefer to just find a restful corner of sand where you can take a leisurely swim and idly watch the clouds passing overhead as the afternoon eases by?

Recreation needn't mean being in a big crowd or doing only what is fashionable. If you go to Kenting, but you aren't a real headbanger, couldn't it be for something else besides the Spring Scream music festival? When people are no longer satisfied with stopping at the water's edge, and are willing to open their hearts to embrace the sea and enjoy oceanic adventures, how could Taiwan's maritime culture fail to be changed?