Morning Glass

Peru in the offseason - swell AND sunshine

2009-12-17T16:27:00.001-08:00

A buddy asked about Peru in the offseason and it's looking like they are still getting some solid S swell. The Lima gray haze will also be gone in September so real beach weather is a possibility!

Review of "The Drifter" starring Rob Machado

2009-12-07T13:14:00.000-08:00

I was strongly predisposed to like this movie. I like travel, I like Indo, and most of all I like traveling to Indo. However "The Drifter" exceeded my expectations in storytelling, music, and cinematography and I'm glad to have spent my own money to buy it.

In terms of the surfing minutes vs. everything else minutes, this is basically a travel movie with a surf theme. There is more non-surfing than surfing in the 57 minute feature. However, to make up for this, there is essentially a 2nd movie on the DVD that has only surfing, additional high quality surf footage, is set to different music and comes in under 20 minutes. Basically a second more old-school surf movie on the same disc with just waves and music. The guy at the shop where I bought the Drifter mentioned this as increasing the re-watchability of the Drifter, which made sense at the time. However, five days after my initial viewing, I popped the DVD in again and found myself wanting to watch the whole thing again, and maybe even try to foist it on a non-surfer or two.

"The Drifter" is the best surf movie I've seen in a long time. It's artfully done, with music that is conceptually consistent throughout, with few jarring transitions. It's a pleasure to watch. The Drifter should be a part of your permanent collection, and is worth your $35. I know $35 isn't chump change in an era where major release titles on DVD cost $4.99, but Netflix will soon have some copies available so you can check it out from them before you buy.

Padang Earthquake Update from Chris Scurrah of Sumatran Surfariis

2009-10-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

I just got this email from Chris, aka Scuzz sent around 7:15AM the morning of October 2 Padang local time:

Gday ian, thanks for your always kind thoughts, herees what I've been emailing the boys
Gday guys, biggest quake I've felt and really hard to stand, earth opened up, massive damage to town. I'm ok, as is our mutt leeroy, all our office girls(who made it out with about 2 seconds to spare) our 3 boats are all at sea and all fine. Christina is on the way from the states, horrible site to come back to, but atleast she's safe.
Our office is flattened, our house is ok but roof is open to all rain and its raining and mossies everywhere. Nealry all big hotels down or fatally damaged. Going to be western deaths there. Its clean up time now, going to be a long long time, very smashed up, excavators needed, fuel too.
Boats will keep running hopefully, some shops and restaurants opened tonight,everyone jumpy on the aftershocks.
Pretty wild scene with people just driving around dazed.
Thanks for the good wishes, we live to see another day, carpe diem, scuzz

I was gratified to hear my friends at Sumatran Surfariis came through OK, and thought I would put the word out as best I can.

If you would like to make a donation, here are two very reputable charities that are probably already on the ground helping people:

http://crs.org/indonesia/earthquakes-typhoons/

https://payment.csfm.com/events/msf_usa/donate.php

Mentawai Spot Observations - Macaroni's

2009-08-15T13:47:00.000-07:00

Tide Height

We surfed it in the evening around 4-6pm and again in the morning 7-9 AM. These would have been fairly opposite tide phases and the waves seemed pretty similar in nature.

Swell Direction

The swell direction where we got it big was 180 straight south. The waves we observed were either a super-critical takeoff into a gnarly barrel or further down the line a slower mushy wall without the rippable open face. I understand it's more rippable and shoulder-hoppable with more SW direction, but we didn't see it from that direction so I can't say. Probably the most freakish thing we observed was the wall of the swell down the line was regularly bigger/taller than the part of the wave that was breaking. This seemed to be the case both from the lineup and from the boat.

Swell Size

As it gets bigger, Macca's breaks in pretty much the same spot. This means fun barrels at shoulder to head high turn into heaving, below sea-level pits when well overhead, and the rare double-overhead wave is awesomely gnarly with the top 25-30% of the face throwing out as lip. Evidently if it gets much bigger than 10-12 ft faces it breaks on an outer reef and is just whitewater through the inside.

The Reef

At Macaronis the reef is a big flat slab. If you get really close it it has some sharp stuff attached, but it's not particularly jagged or uneven. The real issue when hitting the reef is the violence of the impact, not so much the scraping/shredding of you skin. Guys have gotten compressed vertebrae and broken bones going down hard on bigger days, so with size comes real consequence.

I was on the inside in 18 inches of water when a big set hit, feeling pretty unlucky. The current sweeps hard down the reef, making it always seem like you are trying to punch through the breaking part of the wave if you paddle against it. However if you just relax and go with the flow the current mostly carries you out of trouble to the bottom of the reef, and you just have to make a long paddle back out.

Wave selection

Macca's is amazingly mechanical. You could move 15 feet in or out and be catching well overhead death slabs or shoulder high leftovers in the same session from about the same spot in the lineup. I observed the waves grinding down the line so slowly and regularly that if you were actually sitting in the lineup there was a zero percent chance of getting caught inside. Maybe this would work differently with a 225+ west swell, but I can't say.

The mechanical nature of the wave really helps when trying to figure out the takeoff spot. Move a couple palm trees further up or down the reef and you are too far back to make the tube or totally missing the tube and not getting barreled at all. If you are in just the right spot you have a heavy drop, a critical wall, pump a couple times then stall really hard to stay in there. It takes confidence to slam on the brakes after driving for speed but Macca's gives you that confidence quickly.

On the bigger days the 4th, 5th, 6th waves of the set were cross-chopped from the first couple set waves whitewater reflecting sideways off the reef and moving down the line. It seem be pretty obvious to avoid those.

At about the 20 second mark check the little wave breaking on top of the suckout - he thinks he's in charge!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwJuKFXpfmY

Mentawai Spot Observations - HT's (Lance's Right)

2009-08-15T13:19:00.000-07:00

HT's is less mechanical and more moody than I thought it would be. It's consistently rideable but to get quality HT's you just have to sit there until the tide height, tide direction, and wind direction come together, and then pick the right waves.

Tide Direction.

With an outgoing tide, all the water in the Mentawai channel behind Sipora and North Pagai is gushing out the straits between Sipora and North Pagai. Swell on it's way to HT's has to push in through there, and when the swell slows down relative to the bottom it has more time to feel the bottom and lose energy. I should have figured this would be the case a la Desert Point but it just never occurred to me. When the tide starts coming in hard, on one session we observed a lot of chop coming through the lineup. It was like a continuous boat wake for 15 or 20 minutes, unexplainable considering it was glassy and no boats were going anywhere.

Our last day there we saw consistent overhead sets predawn, and very very few overhead waves for 9 or 10 hours until the tide started pushing in and then suddenly the sets were double overhead with overhead waves just pouring through. Considering the 180 degree swell wrap at HT's, tide push is the only possible explanation for regular overhead waves there.

Tide Height

High tide seemed much softer. A lot of barrels would pinch shut. Some waves didn't really barrel. There was water on the reef but with a little less danger but a lot less wave quality I'm not sure it was worth it. I steered clear of this condition.

At the lowest tide incoming we saw the set waves barreling on the outside, pinching off, doubling up and barreling really hard again through the middle. This lasted about an hour or so and by the time more water had filled in the sets weren't really doubling up any more.

Wave selection

Wave selection is absolutely crucial at HT's. We'd be sitting for the wide ones and then really wide ones would come, throw a closeout barrel all the way to the channel, then mush on the shoulder. Those waves just aren't rideable. Saying you are sitting for the wide ones was also kind of a misnomer, waves would peak or wall up all up and down the line. It's not just one boil of peak on the wide ones.

Up at the Office we saw total closeouts, smoking down the line barrels makeable only by the fastest guys, and slower bowling barrels with drawn out bottom turns, stalls into the hook, and lots of arm dragging. All in the same session at the same spot. The best guys would sit out there for 30-45 minutes with a couple other guys on the peak just waiting for the right wave. It was not a crowd factor, just waiting for the right one.

Crowds

People often quantify Mentawais crowds in increments of "boats", as in "We had south wind and small waves and there were seven boats at Thunders. It sucked." However HT's breaks not too far off the beach in front of Katiet Village on the well-connected island of Sipora. The opportunities for budget-minded surfers to stay with an enterprising hut owner in Katiet for $2 a day are nearly unlimited. In past years up to 60 guys might be staying on land in peak season. The high end resort at Katiet Villas was totally empty when we were there, but the manager and a handyman working there were both out surfing, along with 15-20 guys in Katiet.

The bottom line here is that even if the swell is pumping and the winds are perfect all day, the tide conditions are going to cause big intraday quality fluctuations at HT's. It's definitely a place to sit and watch for a while before having a go, and if you've got your eye on it you can be first out when it turns on.

The second wave in this video is one of the best waves we saw at HT's, rider unknown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnsiYs_sgoo

Best Surf Trip Ever - Mentawais, July 2009

2009-08-15T12:33:00.000-07:00

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.

Indo swell forecast looking solid - Ments or Telos?

2009-06-22T13:41:00.001-07:00

My first day surfing off Sumatra on Mikumba is June 28. We are in luck! Surfline's premium long-range forecast is showing a lot of long period juice headed our way. Now we have some more data to help with out decision on going North vs. South.

First, long range weather forecasts of any kind can be pretty iffy. I look at this forecast a couple times a day and it has been changing a lot lately. Even if the swell arrives 3-4 feet smaller than predicted there should still be head high to overhead waves at most spots. If it arrives as predicted then most spots are well overhead to double overhead.

If the swell is small or there have been consistent bad winds (either straight N or straight S) then I'd 100% want to be in the Mentawais. Let's be totally clear - the Mentawais have more spots, more variety of exposure, and more consistent spots than anywhere in the world, including the Telos. If you could catch the Ments with off-season crowds and good swell then there's no place I'd rather be.

But alas...off season crowds happen only in the off season. Except this year is a global recession and luxury products like boat trips and $200/day resorts are seeing lower bookings than normal. This resulted in April/May crowds that were "ten year lows" for the Mentawais. If there was a year to take chances with peak season crowds, maybe this is it.

So then why bother with the Telos? Good swell there makes for uncrowded hollow rights and lefts. There aren't lots of 5 star waves, but there are definitely some. Telo Island Lodge is in the north Telos has documented a bunch of their local spots, more named Telo spots than I have seen anywhere else. Telo Island lodge uses different names than I remember, but as the area is just now becoming a more mainstream, named destination it will take a little time before the Lance Right vs. HT's spot name issues sort themselves out. The new Resort Latitude Zero is being more circumspect about naming names, but has some enticing photos. Surfline had a 2-part feature on the Telos recently promoting a pro trip to Latitude Zero, and they also got a lot of great photos but named no spots.

As you look at the photos on Surfline from the pro trip, keep in mind that those guys were already on set up on Bali, saw a good swell forecast, and chased it. The photos show not everyday Telos not every day, but with good swell. Quality is great, but it needed some swell push to get overhead at the top spots.

Crowd-wise, if you're on a boat the three land-based options in the Telos cannot possibly cover all the spots. Boat punters out of Padang aren't dumb - most boats have a surcharge to go the distance to the Telos and with the Ments less crowded this year why pay up? Boats based in Sibolga wouldn't go as far south as the Telos. It's kind of inconvenient for everyone and therefore consistently uncrowded.

Sailing Sumatra on "Mikumba" June 27

2009-06-03T19:13:00.000-07:00

There were a lot of last minute deals out there this year, even for some peak season dates. Back in October I had booked Mikumba with Sumatran Surfariis. I knew the boat was solid, and the guide would be on it.

When the economy hit the skids a bunch of the people I thought would come had to bail. I was facing a nightmare - I had committed to a trip that might not go because it didn't have enough people. What happens in this scenario? You get your money back, but only a week in advance, which is really too late to do anything except go to Padang and try to get on with some boat, any boat.

The guys going with me were depending on me to find us the best trip, and I shopped all the last minute specials and emailed every boat I could find to see if they were available during my timeframe. If a boat is available, you have to ask yourself why - is the boat not quite what it looks like on the internet? Is the guide a drunk who likes to sleep late? How bad could the food be? For the posh looking boats you have to wonder if the guide really knows what's going on.

It came down to these factors: Most boats only had one tender boat, and Mikumba has two - this is really key for shooting video or being able to ferry guys between two nearby spots without abandoning anyone. There were a couple of nicer boats available with experienced captains and I seriously considered going with San Souci 2, but $50 more per night for a 14 day/15 night meant the trip cost a LOT more money. I wasn't sure it would be worth it.

Bottom line was through friends of friends of friends and a couple of random guys we got enough people to secure a guaranteed departure. We were totally psyched to get the boat we wanted, the crew we wanted, the dates we wanted, and the flexibility to head to the Telos & Nias with no BS surcharges. There weren't any discounts, but in the end we still got a great value - 14 surf days for $3150, a spacious boat with a 20 foot beam, two tender boats, the freedom to go to the Telos/Nias/beyond, the Mentawais, or both, and a proven guide & crew.

Mentawai historical swell data by month

2009-03-21T13:10:00.001-07:00

As a Surfline premium member, I get access to crazy amounts of data. Over the last year or so I have been manually collecting data for the Mentawai/Sumatra area day by day from Surfline's LOLA model.

To the best of my knowledge, this data for Sumatra isn't based on anything collected by scientific instruments in Indonesian waters or human observation. It's just the output from a complex proprietary Surfline algorithm for predicting swell height, period, and direction based on limited, but real wind speed, direction, and sea state data collected by weather stations, buoys, and US government satellites. As such, it needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

This narrow swell-focused view does not take into account wind or tides, but I feel these are reasonable to ignore. With the smaller tidal range west of Sumatra most spots work acceptably on most tides and tide flow directions. With respect to wind, Sumatra is noted for light and variable wind. Strong, consistent winds from one direction do happen (like the S/SE pattern July-Sept 2006) but such patterns are relatively rare until you go south of the Mentawais on mainland Sumatra.

So on to the numbers - what I have here is the average "Swell Energy" for each month from July 07-February 09. I use quotes around swell energy because if Surfline said a given day was 3-4 ft at 15 seconds, I just add the smaller height number to the period to get Swell Energy. So a pumping, big-as-it-gets swell of 9 ft 17 sec would be a 26 whereas some 3 ft 12 sec junk would be a 15. This works because wave energy is a function of both swell height squared and swell period squared. To some degree, the two are fairly interchangeable. This isn't to say that 3 ft 17 sec will look just like 6 ft 14 seconds at your local break, but that level of complexity is spot-specific and beyond what I can possibly figure out.

July 2007 Average 21.1

August 2007 Average 21.6

September 2007 Average 20.3

October 2007 Average 18.4

November 2007 Average 16.9

December 2007 Average 15.1

January 2008 Average 16.1

February 2008 Average 16.8

March 2008 Average 17.9

April 2008 Average 18.9

May 2008 Average 19.9

June 2008 Average 19.8

July 2008 Average 20.6

August 2008 Average 19.9

September 2008 Average 19.7

October 2008 Average 17.2

November 2008 Average 13.6

December 2008 Average 15.2

January 2008 Average 16.5

February 2008 Average 14.9

I know there are a lot of sites out there that crunch historical data and give it away for free like this one - but there are differences. Since magicseaweed has to cover all sorts of crappy unreliable spots in Florida, the Caribbean, Brazil, etc, their bar for "ridable" is a lot lower than the average Mentawai boat trip punter. To say that Macaroni's is "rideable" between 62% and 90% in January might be true in the Florida sense, but if you pulled up there and the swell was 4 ft 11 sec, the guide wouldn't even drop the anchor before pulling a U-turn and heading for Thunder's.

From what I have seen swell energy of 19 or 20 should be enough juice to make swell magnets go overhead+ and get all but the neediest spots into the shoulder-to-head high range. This is the swell that gives you the session of the trip, everyone's best wave of the trip, all the keeper photos and video clips, and sticks in your mind and makes you determined to come back next year. In peak season, you can see the islands off Sumatra do that pretty consistently.

Mentawais vs. Telos vs. Banyaks boat trip itineraries

2009-03-21T12:37:00.000-07:00

I'm going on a Sumatra boat trip in late June/early July. This much I know for sure. But I still have some questions

Since I don't have enough people to charter a whole boat, will my trip definitely sail?
What itinerary will give us the best waves with the lightest crowds this year?

I'm going to do some research to see what else is available for my dates in case my trip falls through. Maybe one of my buddies has to cancel, maybe nobody else will book, who knows. But this year I need a backup plan. Hopefully researching availability will also give me an idea of what crowds might be like in different areas, and I'll add to this post later with my findings.

As for 2) I know the Northern Mentawais have the highest spot density and consistency, but I have heard horror stories of Mentawais crowds with 6 camps in the Playgrounds. I have personally witnessed 8 boats at Thunders during a couple days of small swell & S/SE winds. How many boats will actually be running when I am there?

Since so many boats are now offering the "Telos/Hinakos" option out of Padang, I thought I'd do a little exploration on what is reasonably possible. Logistically, there are only four places to start or end the crossing to or from Padang assuming you actually want to surf on your first and last days. From south to north: South Sipora (HT's/Lance's), North Sipora (Telescopes/Icelands), Playgrounds (Kandui, Rifles, Bank Vaults, Ebay), and South Telos.

Traditionally Mentawai charters have been 10 days/11 nights or 11 days/12 nights. When starting in Padang, in order to spend meaningful time in either the Banyaks or far southern Mentawais you need at least 13 days/14 nights, with additional days beyond that adding additional flexibility. I'm aiming for a 13/14, 14/15, or even a 15/16 trip if I can pull it off, so I should have the flexibility to do a more unusual trip, IF that's the call.

a) Traditional Ments Trip ranging from Playgrounds to Thunders

This area still has the highest concentration of consistent world-class waves in the world, it's only a question of crowds. My backup plan research should give me some info on crowds during a specific period.

b) Southern Ments trip from HT's to the tip of South Pagai

Going south of Thunders is a significant commitment (for a Mentawais trip anyway), but a pretty reliable crowd avoidance strategy. Spots are relatively unknown with a lot of bogus maps and info out there, but the potential is solid.

c) "North-South" trip starting in the northern ments and ending in the Telos

The range from HT's to the northern Telos encompasses a lot of 5-star spots with a big range of consistency & crowding. It allows you to test the waters in the Ments and leave if the crowds start to test you. Downside is the trip from Playgrounds to South Telos is long, you skip Maccas, and your time at HT's will be limited and early in your trip.

d) Telos-Hinakos only

Depending on which boats and camps are booked when, this could be the least crowded itinerary, with generally only a light sprinkling of Padang-based boats. Avoiding the long run up or down the back of Nias means you could spend some time moving between southern Nias, the Hinakos, and western mainland Nias instead of pushing on.

e) Telos-Nias-Hinakos-Banyaks

The Banyaks have some great waves, but the boats based in Simeulue and Sibolga are on it enough to give the Padang-based guides pause before pushing past Nias. Swell direction can also be a factor in lighting up more Banyaks spots.

What would you do?

Mentawai bookings hit hard by global recession

2009-03-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

With official recession status established in the US and looming in Australia, anecdotal evidence indicates the Sumatran surf industry has been hit hard by slow bookings and last-minute cancellations in Q1 2009. Q1 is normally be a peak time for bookings for travel during the May-September high season.

The industry consists of 40+ charter boats and over a dozen land-based camps and resorts scattered from North Pagai Island in the Mentawai chain to Simeulue and the Banyak islands north of Nias. With 6-12 surfers per trip spending between USD2500 and USD5000 each, one week in peak season could see over USD100,000 in tourism dollars flowing through companies based in Padang, the capital of Western Sumatra province. Obviously not all this money is spent locally. Commissions on these trips paid to booking agents range from 10-30%. Boat owners and guides are generally not in the business for the money, most being surfers themselves they are willing to cut their own profits to low levels to cover their capital costs, stay in the water, and enjoy personal relationships with long-time return guests. Still, around half the revenue coming in is likely spent locally on fuel, food, salaries, tips, maintenance, lodging, and government taxes.

The recent news is not all bad. For the 2007 and 2008 seasons fuel costs soared, causing charter price increases and fuel surcharges, especially for more fuel-intensive trips from Padang heading north to Nias and beyond. However recently fuel costs have decreased with the drop in oil prices, and those fuel surcharges are generally a thing of the past.

Another side effect of reduced fuel prices is that it gives charter operators with half-filled trips some latitude to discount prices or leave port half-empty. With fuel prices sky-high during 2008, many boats would not leave port less than 80%+ of available spots filled. In a good economy, this was a way to keep per-person prices down while leaving some margin. But with today's fuel prices and slow bookings, many operators are choosing to guarantee sailings of half- or mostly-empty charters to incent new bookings and bring in needed revenue to offset the fixed costs of boat ownership and off-season maintenance.

Finally, boat captains and booking agents may be more willing to accomodate individuals rather than holding out for a low-hassle, full-boat booking that puts the responsibility to fill the boat on whoever puts up the money for the booking.

As evidence, I got a promo email from wavehunters.com on February 20 with a lot of half-empty, discouted peak-season trips. This sample is only 4 boats of 40, but since wavehunters makes frequent updates regarding availability and discounts I looked at their site to sort of "update" their promotion and see how things are going right now for peak season trips in May-July.

Apr 28 - May 09: (Nusantara) 4 spots *$2800pp (Guaranteed to sail)
May 02 - May 14: (Addiction) 10 spots * Highly discounted
May 12 - May 23: (Nusantara) 7 spots *$2800pp (2 more minimum to sail)
May 22 - Jun 02: (Bintang) 12 spots *$2100pp 11 night trip / $2290pp 12 night trip (6 minimum to sail)
Jun 05 - Jun 16: (Bintang) 5 spots *$2100pp 11 night trip / $2290pp 12 night trip (Guranteed to sail)
Jun 09 - Jun 20: (Nusantara) 3 spots *$2800pp (Guaranteed to sail)
Jun 18 - Jun 30: (Navistar) 7 spots *$2580pp individual / $2313pp 8 person full boat booking (4 minimum to sail)
Jun 19 - Jun 30: (Bintang) 12 spots *$2100pp 11 night trip / $2290pp 12 night trip (6 minimum to sail)
Jun 23 - Jul 04: (Nusantara) 6 spots *$2800pp (Guaranteed to sail)

Jun 27 - Jul 09 (Addiction) 6 spots * Discounted

Jul 21 - Aug 01: (Nusantara) 10 spots *$2800pp

Jul 17 - Jul 28: (Bintang) 12 spots *$2100pp 11 night trip / $2290pp 12 night trip (6 minimum to sail)

It looks like Navistar will guarantee sailing at half full and Nusantara will sail at 40% full. Addiction was not really discouting in February but they are now, and sail with 6 of 10 bunks filled. Two Navistar trips promoted in the earlier email have now booked out. Going beyond July, Bintang only has 4 of 11 peak season May-September trips booked, so they are clearly hurting. Bintang was saying minimun 6 surfers to sail in February but now they are saying minimum of 4, this on a large boat that holds 12 surfers.

Elsewhere, the ultra-luxe Midas has reduced peak season rates by 20% to get new bookings, and 6 of their 11 sailings for the May-Sept period are unbooked.

Indies Trader 4 "Off the Market", "quite busy"

2009-03-21T11:36:00.001-07:00

As I initially heard from Evan at SurfThereNow in this post and from reader Rick Cameron last fall that Indies Trader 4 was for sale, no doubt a sign of hard economic times and a plunging stock price for Quiksilver. Nicknamed "The Death Star" by envious boat captains and their guests, Indies 4 has been the most extravagant way to cruise for surf in Indonesia and the Marshall islands, with a high top speed, luxurious ensuite cabins, helipad, and rates rumored to be between $1200-2000/person/day. However, the "recession" circumstances reported on earlier may have changed for the better.

In an exchange with Indies Trader representative Anthony Marcotti, I asked about the status and availability of Indies Trader 4. He noted that "[Indies Trader 4 is] off the market and quite busy… it has 5 charters this summer in the Mentawais."

Perhaps the owners could not get the price they wanted in the off season and decided to bite the bullet and run another season in the perfect waves off Sumatra.

New Telo Islands Surf Camp - "Resort Latitude Zero"

2009-03-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

Looks like our former Panaitan Island guide, Todd Roesler is teaming up with one of the most respected Mentawai / Sumatra skippers, Matt Cruden for a new surf camp/resort in the Telo Islands. Matt was recently featured guiding WCT pros on his boat Mangalui Ndulu in the DVD's "Fitty Fitty" and "Somewhere". This resort also has the advantage of being serviced by Todd's boat, Nomad. The resort's website is here.

The site doesn't mention anything about the camp's location within the Batu / Telo island group, though likely it is in the northern Telos near the major village/port.

There is some land-based competition already in the Telos: A brazilian-operated camp in the southern Telos, and the Telo Island Lodge in the northern Telos. The Telo Island Lodge does as good a job of documenting the northern Telos spots as anyone

http://www.teloislandlodge.com/surf.asp

Having spent a couple days in that area when conditions were less than epic, it's unclear to me how many of the spots they name actually work consistently versus those that are fickle about wind, swell, tide, etc.

In my experience the Telos deserve their reputation for low crowds and good surf. The 5-star spots may not be happening every day, but the most consistent spots can still be a lot of fun. In practice the Telos feature clusters of surf spots that tend to spread out the crowds in a given area and offer variety between heavy hollow waves and more rippable performance waves.

Global wind map points the way to good surf conditions

2008-07-10T15:02:00.000-07:00

I saw this image on a Clean Tech blog about the potential of offshore wind farms. As we all know, more wind = more swell and less coastal wind = more glassy conditions.

A few points to make:

1) Check out the southern Indian Ocean vs. the southern Pacific Ocean in the bottom "Northern Summer" image. Higher wind intensity in the southern Indian Ocean = relatively more swell for Indo and West Oz.

2) Check out how dead the North Pacific is in Northern Summer and how the Southern Hemisphere is still pretty lively during Northern Winter. This is why the North Shore is dead flat in summer but exposed places in Chile, Peru, Oz, South Africa, and Indo have surf year round.

3) Check out how calm the wind is off Angola in Northern Summer. It's one of the biggest purple spots on the map and would be receiving significant southern hemi swell at that time of year.

4) Check out the crazy intense wind off the horn of Africa in Northern Summer - Wow, what the hell?

Photos from my Northern Sumatra boat trip

2008-06-03T15:53:00.001-07:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/mikumba2008

This was my sixth trip to Indonesia and third boat trip surfing the islands off Sumatra. The photos are of spots in the Telos, Nias, and the Banyaks north of Nias. It was awesome - much more commentary coming soon after I shake off jet lag and a serious work backlog.

Surf Travel Blog www.surftherenow.com Notes "Royal Pelagic" for sale - are Mexico boat trips unviable?

2008-03-26T19:49:00.000-07:00

My friend Evan started a new surf travel blog recently. He's got a lot of good news and info up there, with frequent updates.

http://www.surftherenow.com/

I was just reading it and learned the Royal Pelagic is for sale. http://surftherenow.com/?p=49

This is the super-luxe fishing boat conversion that was recently doing charters to SE Mainland Mex around Huatulco and Salina Cruz. That area of Mexico benefits from frequent all-day offshore wind, numerous quality right points, and limited land access and facilities. I'm hoping that the charter operation was successful and the current owner is selling for other reasons, because I'd consider a boat trip to Mex if I don't have 2 weeks to do Indo properly.

[UPDATE 4/7] I emailed a reader who knows this owner of Royal Pelagic, she notes that they couldn't find people who wanted to pay this much to boat around Mexico. RP was maybe a little ahead of its time, but I think luxury surf travel has a strong future.

Avoiding seasickness on your Mentawai boat trip

2008-02-18T19:32:00.000-08:00

If you get seasick sometimes but really want to do the Mentawais or Northern Sumatra the right way - a.k.a. on a boat, then you're in the right place. If you always get seasick and you really dread it, then you should probably stay at a camp, specifically one you can fly to on Sipora, Nias, or Simeulue. Anyway, if you feel like taking your chances, here's how to plan your trip:

1) Pick your boat

2) Pick your destination

3) Choose your medications

4) Choose your sleeping arrangement

5) All else fails: Puke with a buddy

1) Picking your boat:

Generally the boat solution is a catamaran, but there are definitely cost or space tradeoffs. Wide catamarans roll even less. Catamarans are also faster than monohulls of similar size and power (sail or motor). Sailboat catamarans are the most reasonably priced catamarans, but can be quite tight on space. So if you expect to be able to sit and edit video or have the loud TV-watching beer drinkers not disrupt your afternoon nap, then you may want to pay up for a power catamaran. The Freedom 2 and 3 boats and Addiction seem to be the nicest large power cats right now. A smaller but quite nice choice is Tengirri. An older but still fast power cat is Nusantara. Remember that going fast costs the captain money - just because the boat can go fast doesn't mean it will.

On the list of boats to avoid, I'd put Indies Trader 2 near the top. That boat pitches, bobs, and rolls like a cork. I sat on the back deck of Budyadahri one afternoon at Lance's Left and watched the Indies Trader 2 at anchor roll around like crazy. There's a head-on shot of the boat on the Indies Trader website that shows these frame buoy hangers off the side of the boat. If you hadn't seen them in action you would think they are for fishing or something, but the truth is they are an attempt at dampening the boat's roll with buoys. The Indies 3 and 4 didn't exhibit much roll when I saw them, but they are considerably more money.

2) Pick your Destination

You will be most exposed to seasickness during the long crossings from Sumatra to the islands because you are spending the longest time in potentially the roughest water with no place to hide and no time to stop. Consider a boat trip that lets you fly to Nias/Sipora/Telos and pick up the boat there to eliminate the crossing. Indo airlines are sketch and this may cause more wasted time in Padang, but the options are out there. Trips that take the longest crossings such as Padang-Telos are probably the riskiest for seasickness.

3) Choose your medications

I like Bonine or it's generic, chewable equivalent. Get the pills stored in punch-out sheets so you can keep them in your pocket for the crossing or squall and they will stay dry even if you get rained on while puking over the rail. That way if you fumble and drop one you haven't spilled a whole bottle. If you don't need them by the end of the trip then leave them on the boat for some poor sap who didn't read this.

4) Choose your sleeping arrangement

Avoid the far front of the boat. Avoid the top bunk. The exact middle of the boat is the part that pitches least. If you weren't smart enough to be first down the steps to throw your bags on the optimal bunk, then explain your condition to those in place with more flexibility. Promising bribes of duty free booze, GU, powerbars, or beef jerky couldn't hurt as those things can be pretty useful in the islands.

5) Puke with a buddy

The single worst thing that could happen to you on a boat trip is to fall overboard at night, alone, while the boat is underway. You will be gone, nobody will know, and when they realize you are gone they will not be able to find you, and that will be end for you. So if you are going to puke over the rail and the boat is underway and pitching all over the place, then brace yourself, hold on tight, and make sure someone always knows you are out there. Even if you have to keep one of the crew up all night, give him an extra $20 tip when it's over just DON'T FALL OVERBOARD AT NIGHT WHILE UNDERWAY.

My surf travel blog's new home - MorningGlass.com

2008-02-18T19:17:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my friend Bill for letting me use his catchy and otherwise unused domain - http://www.morningglass.com/ for my surf travel blog. I'll get my post archives migrated over soon.

Has " Indies Explorer " left the Mentawai charter scene for good?

2008-02-01T17:42:00.000-08:00

Indies Explorer boat first caught my eye when featured in a surf video a while back. It's one of the largest and most recognizable charter boats in Indonesia, a Pinissi schooner over 100 feet long, bright white with two tall sailing masts. I saw this iconic boat at Thunders in August 2006. It was a small day of forgettable surf and 40 people were in the water groveling for some chest-high sets. Indies Trader 4 was also there, so we felt pretty smart that our groveling session didn't cost $1200/person/day.

About Indies Explorer, when I was looking for a Mentawais charter boat I was intrigued by the large size and relatively low per-day cost, but the boat holds 12 guests which was sort of a turn-off and the schedule didn't work out for the dates I had available. That day at Thunders I felt fortunate to have skipped since it looked like the boat didn't have much shaded common space with a view of the surf (always a precious commodity on surf trips). The sleeping cabins below decks all had ventiliation hatches in the middle of the main deck and the deck sloped up forward and aft, basically killing the most logical place for a picnic table, hammocks, etc. When we drove by in our dinghy there were also bits around the stern that looked kind of beat up and run-down. I scrutinized the other boats we came across as much as possible - there are only so many boats over there and I wanted to see what kind of shape they were in, did they pitch and roll a lot when anchored, etc. The truth is that some boats just look better on the internet and Indies Explorer is probably one of them. Using 6-year-old photos on the booking web site is one slightly deceptive practice - recent boat photos are always a good thing to ask for.

Anyway to make a long story short, I was thinking about all this because I recently learned that an overnight storm washed "a big white wooden sailboat" up on the beach in Padang. I don't think there are many other such craft near Padang besides Indies Explorer. For all the things that looked impractical about it you can'd deny the boat has soul. If anyone is thinking about going on Indies Explorer in 2008 or knows if it did in fact hit the beach drop me a line.

DVD Review: New Emissions of Light and Sound

2008-01-29T18:01:00.001-08:00

This is the best use of leftover footage I've ever seen. Take leftover footage of the Hobgoods, Taj Burrow, and Yadin Nicol (w/crazy haircut) from Secret Machine (same photogs, same trips), mix with a well paced and synchronized Sasha soundtrack, blend in artsy underwater shots, behind the wave shots, good editing, scenery shots and BAM! you have this DVD. I have a strong affinity for surf movies with great music & great waves. This one has both. I wish my trips to indo had this Sasha soundtrack playing while I was there.

If you really hate electronic music you should probably give this a miss. If you can tolerate or enjoy electronica then this is very well done and you will find it highly re-watchable.. If you had a big TV and a good sound system you could put this DVD on as background at a party and be psyched. The disc automatically starts playing about 20 seconds after you stick it in (more like a CD than a DVD) and automatically loops back to the beginning when it's done.

Mentawai Boat trip bookings bouncing back after slow 2007

2008-01-29T17:58:00.000-08:00

It's the beginning of what the cruise industry calls "Wave Season", the first 5 months of the year when the majority of cruises, the majority of leisure travel, and the great majority of indo boat trips get booked. From what I've been hearing Mentawai bookings for the 2008 season have been pretty strong. The 2007 season had slow bookings because of the strong, consistent SE winds in the Ments during July-Aug-September of 2006.

These winds didn't really affect Northern Sumatra but they caused bad word of mouth for the whole area. It's not hard to imagine why - with strong SE wind you blow out all the rights that typically need some combo of N or W wind. When most surfers are regularfoot and HT's, Bank Vaults, and Rifles are blown out for the better part of 3 months, you're going to have mostly dissatisfied guests. If they wanted windy lefts they would have gone to Fiji.

The bottom line is if you've been thinking about a boat trip this year you should book early, especially if you want a specific boat, need specific dates, or want to go off the beaten path. Many of the most popular boats/guides are booked out a year or more in advance by repeat customers. Boats going to more obscure areas like Northern Sumatra or the southern Ments need longer trips, which means fewer total trips to choose from on top of fewer boats that run those routes.

Waimea shorebreak now a beachbreak

2007-12-18T18:02:00.000-08:00

I went to the North Shore weekend before last in hopes of catching the pipe masters and getting a few waves. Instead the North Shore was plagued by kona winds and I aggravated a knee injury so I caught an earlier flight home.

Anyway, regarding Waimea: the shorebreak has been a key place for me to get tons of barrels and escape the crowds between OTW and Rocky's on my past North Shore trips. However this year after they opened up the rivermouth a strange sandbar formed out in the middle of the bay. Conceivably it might have been pretty good with non-kona conditions and a bigger swell, but the dependably hollow waimea shorey body whompers were basically gone. It was literally about 30-40% surfers out there with only a dozen or so bodyboarders/bodysurfers at noon on a Saturday. Pretty unheard of.

Moral of the story - opening the rivermouth can ruin the shorebreak. Turns out that just like the OTW-Pipe stretch, sand flow is also a big factor at Waimea. Learn something new every time.

Luckily the swell had some north in it and the kona winds meant it was just beautiful hot and sunny at Pounders over in Laie. We duly got pounded with only a handful of kids in the water and had it to ourselves on Sunday. The Kahuku grilled shrimp never tasted so good.

Going back to Northern Sumatra - 5 month countdown

2007-12-04T18:04:00.000-08:00

I've started to plan my return surf trip to Northen Sumatra in May. I've already been there once.

Why am I going back?

I've seen how consistent the swell is on Surfline (even though it was sort of small last time)
I know there are a lot of world class spots up there
There still aren't very many boats operating up that way
No effects from the recent Mentawai earthquakes

What's different about this trip?

Boat leaving out of Padang, not Sibolga, Simeulue, or Nias
A day longer on the boat
More efficient flights meaning less time off work and more surf time
Half the guys from last time have had kids and can't go back

Why May?

Memorial day weekend gets me an additional day for free
Historically a very consistent month for swell
technically peak season but possibly a bit less busy than June/July/Aug

"Secret Machine" - my new favorite DVD

2007-11-30T18:07:00.000-08:00

I don't know what took me so long to see it. The music is fantastic, 90% of the surfing is in great waves, typical ripping from Taj and the Hobgoods. The artsiness of it makes a statement. This aspect of the editing/music really took me by surprise given the schlocky-looking trailers with the Hobgoods wearing collanders on their heads. The gimmick kept me from this one for too long.

I'd rate the re-watchability right up there with September Sessions. Easily worth every cent.

Surf video reviews: Young Guns 3, Absolute Mexico, Aquatic Dreams

2007-10-08T18:08:00.000-07:00

Since the great majority of surf videos are not sold or reviewed by mainstream media companies I thought after I bought a handful of them I'd post my thoughts. Here's what I care about in a surf movie, in the following order:

great waves
great music
cinematography/photography/aesthetics
great surfing with a healthy mix of maneuvers

Young Guns 3 disappointed after YG2 had set the bar so high ON MY CRITERIA. I acknowledge that the younger Quik guys are growing up and pushing the limits more and more. The aerial maneuvering is mind blowing. Having said that, probably 20-25% of the DVD is 1-2 maneuver waves at a wedgy closeout beachbreak left. A long long way from the 4-6 maneuver linkages at Maccas or Rifles in YG2, each shot from shot from 3 or 4 different angles and accompanied by a fantastic soundtrack. I liked the fact that G-Land had its own section in YG3 and it's about time someone went back there and shot the new school on that wave. It takes a lot of water photogs/boats/skis to get the shots at G-Land because of the huge playing field, tide changes, currents, etc, and they got the shots. As a surfer who likes going left and getting shacked G-Land is the end-all, be-all wave. As a photographer it's a pain in the ass. Front-lit morning G-Land is onshore, rarely glassy or offshore, and by the time the 10am offshores pick up the harsh midday light or sponsor-unfriendly back lighting is a factor. Never mind the other hassles of currents, distance from shore, and lineup size. Safe to say it ain't HT's.
Absolute Mexico looks great, the surfing is much more on the WCT guys at La Jolla with only a smattering of big-wave Puerto Escondido. It is a great companion to "A Fistful of Barrels", which I also recommend. The music is latin but lively, and thoughtfully selected. You also get a healthy sense for what's IMperfect about the wave at La Jolla when pros are complaining about the swift current and the heavy drops.

Aquatic Dreams looks low-budget but delivers a pretty high action quotient. It's not groundbreaking in any way. The WA barrelling right sequence gets repetitive (Gas Bay?) but the waves are sick and it's not the Box. Expectations were fairly modest for this one and in my opinion it over-delivered.