Quest Academy's Ramanathapuram Training Ground Gets National Recognition
Quest Academy's coastal training work in Ramanathapuram was featured in The New Indian Express Sunday Brightside supplement on 13 September 2026, in a piece titled "Waves of Change" by M S Thanaraj. The article traces how a stand up paddleboarding and ocean sports program built by Jehan Hoshi Driver and Upasna has grown into one of Tamil Nadu's emerging centers for coastal youth development.
From Mumbai to the Palk Bay coast
Jehan first arrived on the Tamil Nadu coast in 2002 and returned in 2013 to pursue kitesurfing at Dhanushkodi, drawn by the wind at the tip of the Rameswaram peninsula. He went on to help organize a Red Bull sponsored kitesurfing event there, introducing the sport to a community that had never seen it before. That early work grew into what is now Quest Academy, offering training and certification across stand up paddleboarding, sea kayaking, scuba diving, sailing, and windsurfing.
Jehan is an International Surfing Association coach in Stand Up Paddle and Lifesaving, General Secretary of the Surfing Federation of India, and a member of World Sailing's Under Represented Communities Committee. Upasna, also an ISA certified coach, has focused much of her work on bringing young women from fishing communities into water sports for the first time.
Building pathways, not just athletes
The Sunday Express piece centers on a philosophy that guides the couple's coaching. Training is not about producing a single athlete, but about opening pathways. A child who becomes a coach, a diver, or a protector of their own coastline moves the whole community forward with them.
That philosophy is the foundation of Groms Quest, developed with longtime collaborator Arun Vasu. Groms Quest brings introductory stand up paddleboarding, water safety, and environmental awareness programs to children across coastal districts in Tamil Nadu. It runs under the Ocean Ambassadors Foundation, with Quest Academy as organizing authority and the Surfing Federation of India as sanctioning body.
A coastline producing its own coaches
The numbers reflect what a decade of consistent training has built. More than 15 local coaches and instructors now work along the Ramanathapuram coastal belt, many of them former trainees of Jehan and Upasna. Fifteen year old Aarthi, one of their students, is now India's National Stand Up Paddle Champion in the women's category. Sixteen year old Kanthaswaram, another product of the program, is training to become a PADI Divemaster while already helping lead marine conservation and reef development work in the Gulf of Mannar.
Muthukumar, Kaali, Naveen, and Reagan are among the other trainees who have gone on to win national medals and now train the next generation coming up behind them.
Why this matters for Ramanathapuram
Ramanathapuram's coastline sits on the Gulf of Mannar, one of India's most ecologically significant marine regions. Programs like Groms Quest connect sport, livelihood, and conservation directly, giving coastal youth a stake in protecting the reefs and waters they train in. Quest Academy continues to run stand up paddleboarding, sea kayaking, scuba diving, sailing, and windsurfing programs out of Rameswaram, working alongside the Ocean Ambassadors Foundation and the Surfing Federation of India to bring this model to more coastal districts.
To learn more about training programs at Quest Academy or to get involved with Groms Quest, visit quest-asia.com or contact booking@quest-asia.com.
