'MENTAWAI 2009' with Billabong Team Malaysia & Cali Crews
Late May/Early June 2009,
13 surfers were on their way one of the World’s most famous surf destinations, the Mentawais. Most of the crew travelled half way across the world to surf perfect waves in the warm crystal clear waters of the Indonesian chain of islands.
The swell forecast showed some waves but nothing major the day we arrived. I personally was glad of that as I haven’t surfed since the monsoon in January. Start small first and moving up to bigger waves seemed to be a good deal.
We got off our 10 hour Ambu-Ambu ferry ride at the break of dawn to get onto our small boats which were to be our transportation for the next 1 week. No time was wasted, we chucked our stuff into a small house cum shop and got ready for the first surf session. Destination, Scarecrows.
The day ended really early. By 9.30 p.m the entire team was already sleeping, knocked out by the first day of surf and a good 24 hour travelling and transit time.
Day 2
Unlike surfing in Bali, we didn’t have to wake up before sunrise to catch the surf. Sun rise in the Mentawai Islands is around 6.30 a.m local time but we usually got up at around 7.30 to have breakfast, head back for a quick poo and head onto our boats.
As some of the crew were natural footers, including me, we wanted to surf some right handers. We got on the boat with our lunch packed, headed on a 1 hour boat ride to play grounds on the next island. Play grounds had some right handers which included Bankvaults, Pit Stops, Nipussi and 4 Bobs.
After the hour long ride, we stopped by at the famous spot Bankvaults. It was firing on Malaysian standards. There were a few guys out and looked kinda sketchy with the head plus high waves shifting and breaking on different sections of the reef.
We opted to surf somewhere easier with less crowds/no people. Beng Bengs was our next stop. There, long walls of water passed and broke over a pretty shallow reef. It was undoubtly on of the best waves most of us have surfed. Long over head waves, easy and very smackable for some of the boys. With Khairil getting some Layback Snaps and Mamat some aerial. It was the perfect opportunity for Mark Dimo, our trip photog to snap photos which turned out awesome.
After about two hours surf, we had a generous serving of the typical fried noodles and rice and some fruit for lunch. We scouted around for another spot to surf. This time, we got off at Nipussi to surf a right hander. Although sizeable, the surf at Nipussi on that day wasn’t good. Fellow pilot and friend Tien said he’s surfed it way better before and had a blast then
After a few waves and wipeouts we decided to head back to Tuapejat for a session at Icelands. There, only 4 surfers paddled out (Khairil, Morgan, Luiz and Tien) to catch (or attempt to catch a few waves). We saw a few bombs drop in with one kiwi dude wiping out on a pretty massive set. Luiz snapped his one and only board that evening. I took some photos as the surf was too big for me. At the end of the session, I remember Tien saying after Icelands, “I don’t know why I went out there” especially after a two surf sessions at Beng Beng’s and Nipussi.
Icelands is quite a messed up spot cause of the freak sets that roll in without warning and you’d have absolutely no chance of escaping when it does come in. In other words, get ready to eat it.
Day 3
More to come guys, keep checking surfmalaysia.blogspot.com for more updates on the Mentawai Adventure. Some photoss are taken by Mark Dimo (surfdoc.blogspot.com)
Hope this will keep you guys stoked for your next surf session!
Posted by 'Joel McGuire'
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