This week’s edition of Box of Light is coming from a remote corner of the Indian Ocean. We’re in the Mentawai Island chain of West Sumatra, Indonesia. It’s one of my favourite places in the world. The water is the same temperature as the air (around 29°C) and the many little islands that make up the chain are loaded with waves of all kinds.
We’ve been surfing an incredible, hollow right and a wave known as the “World’s Funnest Wave” – both on most people’s bucket list. We had a new swell for the right and that was at times intimidating and breathtaking all at once.
Arriving to a new swell was one thing, but watching our crew paddle into the inky dark lineup of pre-dawn was something else. We had no idea what size to expect, let alone the aspect of the lineup or the nuances as the first sets rolled through.
On board the biggest boat in the Sumatran Surfariis fleet, the Mahogany, are a dozen Kiwi surfers ranging from surf comp groms and their dads to Phil, in his 60s. All of them frothers in their own way and a lot of fun to adventure with.
By Day 2 any hesitation within the stroppy lineup had dissolved. George Senior was first then the two Phils and shortly after we had seven broken boards piled up on the Mahogany – a record I believe for Sumatran Surfariis. My boy Keo, a stowaway on this trip, busted two of his fins out with his ribs when he mistimed a turn and then broke a fresh board learning to ride backhand barrels with George and Frank Roberts and Reuben Lyons.
A day later we had added four stitches to that tally (Reuben landing an air and getting rolled on to his fins) and there have been multiple lime squeezes into cuts and reef rashes.
Each evening, we regroup over a meal created by our chef, Juli, and enjoy it with a couple of Bintangs. It’s a simple, beautiful life that we all wish we could bottle.
See you at the reef … Derek
PS The forecast for us is two days of small swell before an even bigger swell kicks in on Thursday. That means we’re on the search for a few days with a veritable jackpot to see our trip out. The back nine will all be about discovery and I cannot wait!
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