Around The World In 80 Waves

Thanks for all the kind messages from everyone. Think it is probably the first time people have been feeling sorry for me all year!

Antibiotics have worked their magic. Well it is either that or the witch doctor I visited in my dreams last night. He was a voodoo surf practitioner who told me to take two waves and call him if there was no improvement!

Following his advice I caked my leg wounds in Sudocreme and got back in the water this morning as a result. The swell has dropped so after a boat safari we decided to get back in at Icelands again.

Mellow take offs and cruisey lefts were on offer, although I hadn’t realised how shallow it was until I bailed out at the end of one wave. I soon discovered I was tickling the reef every time I stuck my arms in the water to paddle.

I caught four or five lovely rides though and was stoked to be back in the water, especially because there were no fresh dings for me or my board which like its owner is sporting a few new scars as souvenirs of its time at telescopes.

We are all too tired to take on Telescopes again so opted for a more mellow break that is adjacent to our resort. The waves were about shoulder high on the sets but where the waves would break was unpredictable, which made catching the ones you wanted a tad frustrating.

The current swell is supposed to be peaking tomorrow and everybody knows they will need their energy to make the most of it so we didn’t stay in longer than two hours, preferring to hold back whatever reserves are left for what will most likely be the biggest waves of our stay here.

Ordinarily I would be wanting to find a new break on this trip but the waves are so good at Telescopes and the water so unusually crowd free that we can’t resist going back for more. This wave will not be breaking at all next week so we are making hay while the sun shines.

I lost count of how many gorgeous peeling lefts I bagged today. The water is so glassy that the take-off, the wave itself and indeed the paddle back out afterwards are a delight. The ride was so smooth and went on for ages across the reef.

There was just our boat visiting the break this morning meaning there were only six people playing in the head high waves, when during peak season that number is more likely to be closer to fifty. As a result nobody wanted to get out. I only threw in the towel in the end because I could barely lift my arms out of the water from three and a half hours of paddling.

Have been surfing my socks off, enjoying fantastic food at the resort and a Bintang or six.

We keep going back to telescopes because the wave is so good. I caught two absolute screamers this morning with the crew from Aloita whooping and hollering as I charged the liquid monsters for Halloween. I have been flying across the top of the reef along well overhead walls all morning.

The motto of the day is fall shallow!

You should be advised reports are likely to be similar to this for another ten days. I’m loving it here and reminding myself that this was always a surf trip.

Hope all is good in your worlds.

The swell has picked up and we made an early start in the boat over to this break.

Diving over the side I was expecting amazing things from this perfect left breaking wave.

My enthusiasm was somewhat dampened at first however when my surfboard’s leash got ripped off my leg and I had to swim over the reef and nearly to the shore before I caught up with it. One marathon paddle back out to the line up later the same thing happened on my next wave. Not happy!

However after another flogging on the inside and long paddle back I decided to charge the break and at least go down swinging. It seemed to do the trick and I caught a hat full of perfect lefts.

The long paddles had somewhat worn me out so after two and a half hours in the water I decided to catch one more before getting out. It was another great ride but when wiping out I got slammed on the reef leaving a considerable chunk of my shin attached to it. It will be my first Mentawai tattoo! There was quite a bit of claret but I cleaned it up with a chunk of fresh lime so I am good to go back for more of the same thing this afternoon.

There is an enormous swell on the way but we thought we would sneak a mellow session in before it arrived. The wind was on the waves but as the sets rolled through it cleaned up.

The whole posse in the water got taken out by one set which suggested the swell has arrived.

The wave is a right and I finally bagged a few on my forehand including one delightful ride which went on so long everybody thought I was surfing back to our island. Loads of fun before getting out under a gorgeous sunset. Great end to a great day.

We surf here on successive days. The first session was mostly ruined by the wind cutting up the swell, but the second was four five feet of beautifully peeling lefts over the reef.

At times it is very shallow and because the water is so clear you can see the rocks sand and fish you are surfing over.

Lots of fun in the baking sun. My tan wont need much topping up after my stay here, that is if I haven’t turned into a strip of crispy bacon by the time I leave!

The surfers on the island have been split into two groups and mine consists of a Chilean guy called Jo, an Australian girl called Andrea, three Germans called Carla, Nico and Lucas as well as my good self.

After breakfast we have so much fun at this break. Despite my painful derriere I am on fire and tear down the line all morning.

I had forgotten how close to the equator we are and got a tad scorched in the morning sun. The left side of my face is a tad raw and I will look more like Casper the friendly ghost for the next couple of days as a consequence due to all the zinc I will now have to wear!

I don’t mind though because I caught so many great waves.

As soon as the fast boat had made the journey from Sumatra to our island we had breakfast and were then taken straight out to this break whose name translates to the sleeping wave.

Things were a bit manic as everybody piled over the side and was desperate to bag their first wave here.

I did bag one that somebody blatantly dropped in on me and then spent most of the rest of the session going over the falls. Twice landing butt first on my fins nearly creating a new crack in my backside! That I didn’t damage the fins was a miracle.

I got out tired and more than a tad tender, and then spent most of the rest of the day kipping in my little bungalow.

The Mentawai Islands are a chain of approximately seventy islands and islets off the western coast of Sumatra in Indonesia.

I am going to be staying on one of those islands, which is actually too small to fit on this map, but is actually located between Sipura and Pagai North.

I have given myself more than a week here and may well stay longer than that if I like it.

The reason for that is of course the waves that are available here. Warm water, clean perfectly peeling waves and blue skies near the equator. What more could a surfer ask for?

It has been weeks since I last surfed in Japan so I am chomping at the bit at the moment just to get my board in the water again. I am now just hoping that the airlines have not put too many holes in my stick during all the flights since then!