Best Surf Trip Ever - Mentawais, July 2009
This was my 7th trip to Indo so I feel the subject line requires a bit of justification.
It was my fourth trip with Sumatran Surfariis. There was a lot of drama this year with my buddies bailing and me
stressing about having enough guys to make the trip a go, but once we got there it all rinsed away. Even with a solid swell forecast Scuzz and Yu were unanimous - go South, go South, Tora! Tora! Tora!. I had been leaning that way myself. After years of running from the crowds it was time to just go where the waves are. The hackneyed,
played-out, cliched, overcrowded Mentawais. The Mentawais, where the B-waves would be the A-team anywhere else. When we got to the boat Marsh and I were stoked to see AK paying us a surprise visit. The Padang crew was totally on it and Mikumba was underway within minutes of our arrival on the dock. Straight off the crossing we
dropped anchor at Telescopes at first light 30 min before sunrise, an hour before anyone else came by. The first day there was plenty swell but with some funny wind and lump. Icelands handed out free beatings, no charge. The next morning things were much smoother and Yu put us on offshore, overhead Telescopes with no other boats for multiple
sessions. It was special - I've very rarely had waves that good with so few people out. That was day two.
That night the engine fired up in the dark and at first light we dropped anchor at beautiful head high HT's. We were the only boat there and first ones in the water. Guys trickled out from the beach but with three peaks working the crowd again wasn't a factor. It was an ideal day to get a feel for HT's and figure out how to stay off the Table. In the midday the wind was shifting around so the goofy half of the crew hopped in the tinny and took off for Lance's while Mikumba
stayed at HT's. Lance's had perfect, glassy, overhead lefts with nobody out. No boats, nobody there at all. Bevo and I shared the cobra peak and it was niiiiice! I'll never forget how quiet and peaceful that session was. Lance's is a beautiful spot.
The next day we headed south. Bat Caves had nobody out and it was a lot bigger than it looked. Two boards, one hat, and one booty died at sea. We pulled the anchor and headed for Maccas. As we came around the point into the bay the bommie outside KFC's had 10 foot backs, easy. My heart started racing - it would be my first go at Macca's
and Bevo kept whooping and saying it was going to be ON. I had been telling the guys that Macca's would be "fun, rippable, and crowded" and I was now about to eat my words. We pull up and there is one guy in the water, no boats, and Maccas is throwing sub-sea level death holes. It was a little onshore and backlit making the pit look especially dark. It's making my guts churn just to type this. I dug out my Gath and Yu, Bevo and I had a go. When we paddled past the one guy he was sitting way off on the shoulder, wide-eyed, and visibly bleeding from his neck. The swell was straight south so there was no wall and no shoulder hopping, either take off in the pit or you miss it. We all caught a warm up or two and Luciano came out. One big bomb came through throwing a lip about 2/3 up the face and froze us
all - even Bevo blinked. It's so rare to get such incredible and gnarly waves all to yourself - honestly it was as much Indo as anyone wanted. Hollow, perfect, the edge of anyone's ability, nobody around, the best case scenario you hope you'll be ready for. The carnage continued - another board died.
Next morning we shared Macca's with a handful of West Oz chargers. It was offshore, sunny, cleaner, and still bombing. I never waited long for my turn, having seen it the night before I knew where to sit and pumped and stalled through some of the best barrels of my life. Soja and AK were shooting photos from the tinny and had it in so tight that I paddled out around the tinny a couple times. Everyone had a go at Macca's that morning but it was time to push on to something less intense. The sets were also making the anchorage a bit unsafe. Cap kept yelling "Om De!" as the tops of the big walls pushing into the bay slid under Mikumba. The sets were about eye-level with the top
deck railing. Yu took a heavy one and snapped his board, but came up smiling. Abunai!
With the regularfoots looking for a more user-friendly option Yu bypassed a couple heavy lineups and found us a really fun right, head high plus and nobody around. The magic of the Ments - when it's big and gnarly it always seems like there is some mellow option around. There was still some carnage though - Bolts snapped his boss-looking
yellow 3" thick Tuflite 2 board. The next day we knew better than to leave good empty rights. A couple boats came, surfed, and left, but Yu kept us there for a magical, super-clean sunset session where the performance wave transformed into racy, perfect tubes with just a couple of us in the water.
Thunders was really pretty the next day. Not huge, sets just a bit overhead, offshore, nobody around. I kept telling the guys the swell had dropped, the wind had some S in it and they needed to get out there before all the other boats arrived. But nobody ever showed - we had it to ourselves until we pulled the anchor late in the day. Thunders is a really good wave. After Bevo explained his scar we were all wary of that inside suckout!
On the way back north a couple days later we hit HT's again, first thing in the morning. A couple overhead sets rolled in and we thought, yeah it's ON! Once we got out there the waves switched off for a while - it was just shoulder to head high, weak, weird. After so much good surf in previous days Yu showed patience and steady nerves, and around 4 o'clock from dead low tide the wind went offshore and double up bombs just start rolling through. I guess what the tide took away in the midday it gave back for the sunset session. Gnarly, well overhead double-ups rolling in from the outside and unloading, some more makeable than others. I got a few good ones taking off under the double-up, got stuffed on a few, and was having a decent go - almost everyone out there was as skittish as I was. I was wondering why more of our guys weren't coming out when I found out Jason picked a bad one, got a bad beating and got a nasty fin slice on his leg. Hearing about his stitches (capably performed by Yu) and almost
copping a big cleanup set on the head I took my winnings off the table. I wanted to get video of perfect front-lit HT's more than I wanted another wave. Once again we had for the taking as much Indo as anyone wanted, and we were just super-stoked for the opportunity. Those were some of the most intense rights I've ever witnessed from
the water, just incredible lip concussion, awe-inspiring. A couple of the tuberides we saw were straight out of September Sessions, and the crowds were at about 1999 levels too! Carnage: Three boards with huge holes, one leg had a mouth, and many egos recalibrated.
Next morning HT's was onshore, around the bend for some double-overhead plus Lances. There were two other boats there but only 5-7 guys in the water all morning. I just missed a big one and remember thinking I hadn't looked that far down in a loooooong time. Once again for most of us it was as much Indo as anyone wanted, right there for the taking. We motored on to Scarecrows and there were 2 guys in the water with overhead sets. Nobody ever goes to the Mentawais thinking "I hope we score Scarecrows" but I got a really long barrel on the inside that stands out as much in my mind as any of my waves. It may not have been as gnarly looking but it was super fun, and there were only a few guys out all afternoon.
Playgrounds was forgettable. Yu tried to talk us out of it but most of us had never been and he was totally flexible. I knew he was probably right but I just had to see for myself. It was tough conditions up there, hard SW winds, chop, full of boats and camp guys. I didn't realize it's really just the one island Nyang-Nyang that works consistently. The other spots up there need pretty specific conditions and maybe aren't that dependable. In any case we were so
sated from all the waves earlier in the trip that we actually started the crossing about 4 hours early on the last day. Bintangs, BS, sitting in the breeze, cracking "Garuda" peanuts and throwing the shells off the rail just never gets old.
played-out, cliched, overcrowded Mentawais. The Mentawais, where the B-waves would be the A-team anywhere else. When we got to the boat Marsh and I were stoked to see AK paying us a surprise visit. The Padang crew was totally on it and Mikumba was underway within minutes of our arrival on the dock. Straight off the crossing we
dropped anchor at Telescopes at first light 30 min before sunrise, an hour before anyone else came by. The first day there was plenty swell but with some funny wind and lump. Icelands handed out free beatings, no charge. The next morning things were much smoother and Yu put us on offshore, overhead Telescopes with no other boats for multiple
sessions. It was special - I've very rarely had waves that good with so few people out. That was day two.
That night the engine fired up in the dark and at first light we dropped anchor at beautiful head high HT's. We were the only boat there and first ones in the water. Guys trickled out from the beach but with three peaks working the crowd again wasn't a factor. It was an ideal day to get a feel for HT's and figure out how to stay off the Table. In the midday the wind was shifting around so the goofy half of the crew hopped in the tinny and took off for Lance's while Mikumba
stayed at HT's. Lance's had perfect, glassy, overhead lefts with nobody out. No boats, nobody there at all. Bevo and I shared the cobra peak and it was niiiiice! I'll never forget how quiet and peaceful that session was. Lance's is a beautiful spot.
The next day we headed south. Bat Caves had nobody out and it was a lot bigger than it looked. Two boards, one hat, and one booty died at sea. We pulled the anchor and headed for Maccas. As we came around the point into the bay the bommie outside KFC's had 10 foot backs, easy. My heart started racing - it would be my first go at Macca's
and Bevo kept whooping and saying it was going to be ON. I had been telling the guys that Macca's would be "fun, rippable, and crowded" and I was now about to eat my words. We pull up and there is one guy in the water, no boats, and Maccas is throwing sub-sea level death holes. It was a little onshore and backlit making the pit look especially dark. It's making my guts churn just to type this. I dug out my Gath and Yu, Bevo and I had a go. When we paddled past the one guy he was sitting way off on the shoulder, wide-eyed, and visibly bleeding from his neck. The swell was straight south so there was no wall and no shoulder hopping, either take off in the pit or you miss it. We all caught a warm up or two and Luciano came out. One big bomb came through throwing a lip about 2/3 up the face and froze us
all - even Bevo blinked. It's so rare to get such incredible and gnarly waves all to yourself - honestly it was as much Indo as anyone wanted. Hollow, perfect, the edge of anyone's ability, nobody around, the best case scenario you hope you'll be ready for. The carnage continued - another board died.
Next morning we shared Macca's with a handful of West Oz chargers. It was offshore, sunny, cleaner, and still bombing. I never waited long for my turn, having seen it the night before I knew where to sit and pumped and stalled through some of the best barrels of my life. Soja and AK were shooting photos from the tinny and had it in so tight that I paddled out around the tinny a couple times. Everyone had a go at Macca's that morning but it was time to push on to something less intense. The sets were also making the anchorage a bit unsafe. Cap kept yelling "Om De!" as the tops of the big walls pushing into the bay slid under Mikumba. The sets were about eye-level with the top
deck railing. Yu took a heavy one and snapped his board, but came up smiling. Abunai!
With the regularfoots looking for a more user-friendly option Yu bypassed a couple heavy lineups and found us a really fun right, head high plus and nobody around. The magic of the Ments - when it's big and gnarly it always seems like there is some mellow option around. There was still some carnage though - Bolts snapped his boss-looking
yellow 3" thick Tuflite 2 board. The next day we knew better than to leave good empty rights. A couple boats came, surfed, and left, but Yu kept us there for a magical, super-clean sunset session where the performance wave transformed into racy, perfect tubes with just a couple of us in the water.
Thunders was really pretty the next day. Not huge, sets just a bit overhead, offshore, nobody around. I kept telling the guys the swell had dropped, the wind had some S in it and they needed to get out there before all the other boats arrived. But nobody ever showed - we had it to ourselves until we pulled the anchor late in the day. Thunders is a really good wave. After Bevo explained his scar we were all wary of that inside suckout!
On the way back north a couple days later we hit HT's again, first thing in the morning. A couple overhead sets rolled in and we thought, yeah it's ON! Once we got out there the waves switched off for a while - it was just shoulder to head high, weak, weird. After so much good surf in previous days Yu showed patience and steady nerves, and around 4 o'clock from dead low tide the wind went offshore and double up bombs just start rolling through. I guess what the tide took away in the midday it gave back for the sunset session. Gnarly, well overhead double-ups rolling in from the outside and unloading, some more makeable than others. I got a few good ones taking off under the double-up, got stuffed on a few, and was having a decent go - almost everyone out there was as skittish as I was. I was wondering why more of our guys weren't coming out when I found out Jason picked a bad one, got a bad beating and got a nasty fin slice on his leg. Hearing about his stitches (capably performed by Yu) and almost
copping a big cleanup set on the head I took my winnings off the table. I wanted to get video of perfect front-lit HT's more than I wanted another wave. Once again we had for the taking as much Indo as anyone wanted, and we were just super-stoked for the opportunity. Those were some of the most intense rights I've ever witnessed from
the water, just incredible lip concussion, awe-inspiring. A couple of the tuberides we saw were straight out of September Sessions, and the crowds were at about 1999 levels too! Carnage: Three boards with huge holes, one leg had a mouth, and many egos recalibrated.
Next morning HT's was onshore, around the bend for some double-overhead plus Lances. There were two other boats there but only 5-7 guys in the water all morning. I just missed a big one and remember thinking I hadn't looked that far down in a loooooong time. Once again for most of us it was as much Indo as anyone wanted, right there for the taking. We motored on to Scarecrows and there were 2 guys in the water with overhead sets. Nobody ever goes to the Mentawais thinking "I hope we score Scarecrows" but I got a really long barrel on the inside that stands out as much in my mind as any of my waves. It may not have been as gnarly looking but it was super fun, and there were only a few guys out all afternoon.
Playgrounds was forgettable. Yu tried to talk us out of it but most of us had never been and he was totally flexible. I knew he was probably right but I just had to see for myself. It was tough conditions up there, hard SW winds, chop, full of boats and camp guys. I didn't realize it's really just the one island Nyang-Nyang that works consistently. The other spots up there need pretty specific conditions and maybe aren't that dependable. In any case we were so
sated from all the waves earlier in the trip that we actually started the crossing about 4 hours early on the last day. Bintangs, BS, sitting in the breeze, cracking "Garuda" peanuts and throwing the shells off the rail just never gets old.
posted by Ian Rhodes at
12:33 PM
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