FRENCH SURFERS MILHAU AND LAMOTHE HEADING TO MOZAMBIQUE FOR THIRD OCEAN INDIAN CUP
Nahia Milhau and Pierre Lamothe will represent France at the third Coupe de l’Océan Indien, scheduled for September 17 to 27 in Tofo, Mozambique, as the competition extends its rotating format to a new national host for the first time. Geoffrey Mallet, technical sports adviser for the French Surf Federation, will travel with the pair as the event moves beyond the French and South African territories that anchored its first two editions.
The competition sits at the center of a broader initiative called “Surf & Développement,” managed jointly by the Reunion Surf League and the French Surf Federation in partnership with TOBAM Surfing Tofo and Surfing South Africa. The Union of Indian Ocean Surf Federations, known as UFSOI, provides the institutional framework. Established in late 2023 with French federation support, UFSOI was created to strengthen connections among surf organizations across the Indian Ocean zone and support emerging federations in their development.
Both French representatives arrive in Mozambique with recent competitive form. At the start of April in Capbreton, Milhau won the second stage of the Banque Populaire Surf Tour during the 2026 national season. Lamothe finished second in the men’s final at the same event, behind Sam Piter. Neither athlete is new to this gathering. Lamothe competed in the inaugural 2024 edition held in Reunion and returned for the 2025 installment in Durban, South Africa. Milhau participated in the South African edition as well, giving both surfers direct familiarity with the event’s structure and philosophy before arriving on the Mozambican coast.
Four delegations will compete: France, Reunion, South Africa, and host nation Mozambique. Reunion is sending a notably large contingent of 21 young people, comprising 11 competitors and 10 participants in the “Fé Surf Nout Kartié” program (the name translates to “making our neighborhood surf”), a youth-focused initiative that reflects the cooperative aims running through the entire regional framework.
Meanwhile, the September schedule extends well beyond the competitive draw. Organizers have planned sessions combining sport with cultural exchange, social action, and environmental awareness. “Green Classes” developed in collaboration with the Marine Megafauna Foundation, which operates in Tofo, will address marine protection during the delegations’ stay, positioning the event as a vehicle for knowledge transfer and regional connection rather than competition alone.
The UFSOI’s short history maps the growing institutionalization of surf governance in the Indian Ocean. The inaugural Coupe de l’Océan Indien drew roughly forty young surfers from multiple territories to Reunion in November 2024 for a week of competition. The second edition followed in December 2025 in Durban, establishing the pattern of rotating host locations that now brings the event to Mozambique. Whether the network continues to expand into further new national contexts after 2026 remains the open question for the federation officials who have built it.