Barbados: 11-year-old Ras Menelik Lewis dominates international surfing tournaments

Barbados: An 11 year old sensation of Barbados, Ras Menelik Lewik has won four of five surfing tournaments in which he competed in the USA, which is an accomplishment that sets him apart from other local and Caribbean surfers in his age group.

Lewis is known as one of the most talented surfer in the ‘11 and under’ age group in Barbados and outshines his competitors in his age group in the Caribbean who are yet to shine internationally.

He is a two-time champion at the East Coast Surfing Championship in Virginia, USA which is one of the world’s longest running surfing contest.

He also won his first ‘East Coast Surfing Championship” in 2023 and this year he dominated the under-11 co-ed division in that tournament to emerge as the undisputed champion under-11 champion for the second straight year.

In 2021, Lewis won the 11 and under division in the Gnarly Charles surf series in Jacksonville Florida and in August 2023 he won the ‘Eastern Surfing Association’ under-12 contest in St Augustin, Florida.

At home, Lewis won an under-14 competition at the age of 9 in 2022 and he has surfed in three local competitions for the year winning all three in his age group.

In the first ‘Surfer Of The Year’ (SOTY) competition in January, Lewis won the under-12 division and in February he won the under-12 division and was second in the under-16 division in the second SOTY competition. 

He continued his winning streak in the third SOTY competition which was held in April when he won the under-12 division and placed 4th in the under-14 division.

Notably, Lewis’ journey in the world of surfing began on Miami Beach in Enterprise. He oftenwent to the beach with his dad, Wayne Lewis and his older brother Ras Tafari, and the trio would have fun body boarding, but the passion for surfing got started when the boys and their dad accompanied a friend who was visiting from the USA to surf. 

Sometime after at Miami Beach, the boys were playing around on a body-board and they would often watch other children surf and that created the temptation for them to try surfing.

Realising that the boys were interested in surfing, Wayne who grew up surfing, set about to get the boys equipped and from the time they hit the water with their acquired surf boards, they showed exceptional skills and talent in the sport and they quickly developed to begin competitive surfing.

The beach lover who also has an interest in keeping the ocean free of litter is coached by his dad who owns and is the coach at Freights Bay Surf School in Enterprise Coat Road.

On graduation from Milton Lynch Boys’ School, Lewis received the ‘Outstanding Achievement Award”, and he now attends Intuition College, a small private school, located in Oistins.

He aspires to be a professional surfer and is looking forward to competing internationally at the highest level.