One girl's boat trip surfing the Mentawai Islands, Indonesia

by Ladine Clarke

sourced from www.tassiesurfsisters.com.au

The chilly New Zealand Ocean has returned like water to an ice cube, the Steamer is serving its duty, the window of opportunity of surf day light is reminiscent of a mid-winters day in the Antarctic. The new moves and confidence I gained in summer after endless hours of surfing with my mates are just a memory and I’m convinced by the next time summer rolls around, my strength, ability and performance will diminish by the usual 20%. As I’m forced to accept the bleakness of winter surfing, my mind takes me to a tropical place of warm air, crystal clear water, hot sun, brown skin and perfect waves, resembling a classic scene off Blue Crush.

It’s November 1st 2005, the day before the start of the best 10 days surfing of my life. With eyes squinted, the sharp prick of the needle penetrates my skin like a nail piercing wood. The nurse assured me it won’t hurt, but it did! Immediately I regret not bringing my E.T. for moral support, I had better toughen up though because the next 3 weeks I’ll have to be on my game, possibly much worse things will transpire than a measly Hepatitis A, B, Typhoid and Tetanus shot.

A relatively new surfing location, the Mentawai Islands have been surfed since the early 1990’s, situated roughly 100km off the West Coast of Sumatra in Indonesia, the island chain consist(s) of four main Islands with smaller atolls peppered in between. More than a dozen world class waves exist in the area including Macaronis, HT’s and Lance’s Left. By far the best way to access the surf is by charter boat and (so) that’s what we did and here’s my story.

Mentawais Sunset

Local Fisherman

Sunset over the surf break

We all meet at Auckland Airport, my fiancé AJ and 7 mates Loui, Sif, Dino, Mitchy, Les, Brentos, Rico and me the only girl. Eagerly awaiting our departure we begin to trade Indo stories, not one of our crew have been to the Mentawais so like a kid lining up for his first roller coaster ride, we are charged on the excitement of the unknown. We fly direct from Auckland to Denpasar, where we plan to get our Indo surf legs in Bali for 3 days before heading north.

The concoction of humidity, smoking rubbish and inscents fill my lungs as we step foot onto the hot dirty tarmac and head to the terminal, in the back of my mind the recent events of Schappel Corby and the Bali 9 make me feel uneasy and nervous, surprisingly the security and authorities are relaxed, helpful and friendly. We are welcomed and understandably as the countries tourism has been hard hit with drug smuggling episodes along with an earthquake and tsunami that killed over 100,000 Indonesians. Passports stamped, we are out of the terminal, in our over expensive bima and arrive at our hotel, the Barong.

The next 2 days surfing in Bali were perfect warm-ups for body and mind for what’s to come, day 4 is taken up of endless waits in airports and trying to palm off dodgy Indonesians waiting to prey on security careless tourists. We trip from Denpasar to Jakarta to Padang. We are greeted by Italian boat owner Sebastiano who rescues us from leeching bag porters, we are driven like cargo to meet our Aussie Skipper Tom at his surf shop were we stock up on last minute supplies then set off to our boat, the Naga Laut.

Ladine

Ladine

The Naga Laut is among only several boats that are licensed to charter these waters after October, hence less predictable swells and winds, however avoiding fleets of boats you see in magazines that only a roster system could control.

We board our new home for the next 12 days, meet the crew and checkout our rooms, 2 single bunks in each room, 2 shower/toilets, a kitchen, inside dining and outside seating, Aj and I are shown to the Honeymoon suite in the boats bow, a double bed and two singles for my “Scar Tissue” and “Indonesian Phrase” books and E.T. The engines start, beers are cracked and Dino pulls out his click click click of his fingers and wrist thingy, a “Yiew Yiew Yiew” erupts and we cruise out into dark open water.

A French girl Liz hitches a ride with us to one of the main Islands where she lives. She works for Surf Aid International, a non profit Mentawais health care and educational program founded by New Zealand doctors to help the local people. She’s been living there for 10 months. It’s great to have another girl to surf with for a day and she gives me some useful tips on the surf breaks.

It was a long rough night that night passing through the deepest waters of the trip. The arduous night is immediately erased as we wake to a surreal setting, see through water, light blue skies, no wind, warm air, tropical little white islands with a million tall coconut trees on them, waves to our left and waves to our right, this has already exceeded my expectations and I have not even hit the water yet! This is paradise!

We have a designated Dingy man we called “Slowly” because whenever we stepped onto the dingy, he would say “slowwwwly, slowwwwly”, so we wouldn’t fall over, it was a real classic, Slowly drops us out to John Candies, a fun peeling left and right peak. Ohhhh, it feels so good to paddle in boardies, we all had a super fun session. Back to the mother ship for breakfast where our cook “Boy” has prepared fresh fruit salad, scrambled eggs and toast. Refueled and satisfied we cruise to check out Bank Volts, like its namesake the reef looks dry and the waves are shutting down, Tom takes us to Nga Pussis, a 4ft right fun right hander that breaks on to a beach, a real treat for the 7 natural footers on the boat. We camp up in calm waters and view our nightly ritual photo and video sessions of the days surfing as we establish that nobody has had a barrel yet, the race for the crown is on.

Day 2, we wake to 4-5 ft Scarecrows, by now we have found out the room with the best view is the loo. A pleasant experience for those in the toilet but we discovered not very pleasant for those on the top deck seeing what you had for dinner as it pours out a small hole on the side of the boat. The endless supply of 100m rides at Scarecrows was very wackable and fun.

After lunch we headed to Telescopes, a 2-4ft fast powerful left hander that reeled forever, the 300m rides were the best waves we’d had so far. I’m in the first of 2 shifts, I take off on a perfect one, drive off the bottom and I hook up under the lip into a glorious barrel, through the silence I can hear the hoots and whistles from the boys on the boat, with reef passing below I shoot out of the barrel and ride the wave to the end. With the hugest smile on my face, I paddle back to the line-up hungry for more of those. I managed to score another good barrel that session, being the first to get a barrel and the first to rub it in to the boys = Barrel Count Girls 2, Boys 0

Ladine

Ladine

Day 3, no injuries and enough waves under our belt to fit a fat man, we head south to the infamous HT, also know as Hollow Trees and Lances Right. We park up in the channel looking directly into the barrel, wow what a sight, with only logs the size of crocodiles in the line up it’s hard to see exactly how big it is. The hollow waves march in like a slow hungry hungry hippo game, the sound of the lip driving in to the reef is both chilling and exciting, the dreaded surgeons table is an intimidating evil sight; a dry coral shelf at the end of the wave that the water washes over before reaching the channel. Tom, man of few words advises us to wear our booties and if we want to avoid the surgeons table, go straight if we get caught on the inside.

Tom’s the first to paddles out, he sits way deeper than I was going anywhere near, the rest of the boys paddle out also, the sets are marching in, and Tom paddles into this monster, gets to his feet, pulls in and gets engulfed by the beast…. Ahhrr, how am I going to take off on one of those? I knew if I didn’t go out though I would regret it forever, so I slip on the bikini, boardies, sunscreen, zink and booties and away I go. I sat much wider than the boys in awe of these 6 to 8 foot slabs they were charging

Happily sitting wide watching I built up the courage to face my fears, I knew the longer I sat waiting the more psyched out I’d get, I dig deep and stroke into my first wave, heart pumping in my throat and back to the wave I take the drop and the think if I were to hit the reef, I would be face first now, I do a bottom turn and look to the shoulder, a few safety turns later I make it to the end of the wave, only meters away from the surgeons table, looking out the back I see an armada of sets sailing in, I ignore the boys charging the beasts, all that’s on my mind is to paddle fast and wide, just making it over the monsters, I make it out alive. That was by far the most intimidating wave I’d ever caught in my life, although it did bring my courage meter up a notch. I ended up catching two more waves before seeking safety of the boat. Man I give it to those girls who charge 15ft+ Pipe and Teahupoo, they’re my heroes.

Later that day we see for the first time another boat, the skipper boards our boat and is very anxious to find Tom, he has a casualty that hit the reef face first at Lances Left, Tom leaves with him and return by dingy 4 hours later with his patient, no aesthetic, only French whisky consumed, the guys face is stitched like a horseshoe from one eyebrow to scalp, to the other eyebrow. If HT’s wasn’t intimidating enough, Lances Left was our next stop!

The next morning we wake to 2-4ft Lances Left, it didn’t look like the scalp hungry reef I dreamt about last night, contradictory it was the most enjoyable surf I’d had so far, quite ledgey and fast . With the courage gained from HT’s, I stayed out for hours and did not want to leave. After lunch we headed to Macaronis, it was 2-3ft and almost as fun as Lances, with the swell’s predicted to pick up tomorrow we contently camp up in calm waters at Maccas as oour first day’s sessions are celebrated by Bintangs and more great food.

Day 4 arrives and we wake to 3-6ft Maccas absolutely firing, chunky perfect barrels and still no other boats to be seen, all on deck are fizzing and we all end up scoring our best waves so far. The natural footers were charging and getting their pig dogging down pat. Brentos, Tom & I are the only goofy footers and are in absolute heaven. Brentos and Tom both got the deepest widest barrels I’d ever witnessed, I hooted so loud for them. The waves were so mechanical and predictable, I never want to leave this place. Mitchell takes a beating and comes up with the top of his head scraped from the reef, the first rub of the trip but nothing a number one and Chinese Medicine couldn’t fix. We surfed for over 7 hours that day and stayed at Maccas that night and woke to once again perfect 3-5ft heaven. Still no other boats, we surf all day with loads of barrels had by all. The evening antics continue as Les teabags Brentos, it’s a far cry from what girls do for entertainment, but it was a funny sight and made hilarious photos, which were quickly destroyed the next morning.

Day 7 is 3-5ft Thunders, a peeling left hander that’s not as predictable and keeps us on our toes, it has nothing on Maccas but it’s actually nice for a change. The natural footers have had a guts-full of lefts so Slowly cruises with a few of the boys over the bay to Rags Rights, hours later they return fizzing, AJ said he got his best forehand barrel ever.

Day 8 and back to Maccas, it’s a lot smaller at 2-3ft but so transparently glassy, we all have a playful surf. For the first time we share our session with an American crew, they’re all pretty friendly and it’s actually nice to see a few new faces in the line-up. Still no other girls seen in the surf, but I do meet the wife of the skipper on their boat. She’s real hospitable and shows me around, she’s lived on the boat for 7 months and makes extra cash by selling photos she takes of the surfers, what a life.

Perfection

The Boat - Naga Laut

Day 9 and getting very close to the end of our trip, back to HT’s at a less intimidating 4-5ft. For the first time of the trip we encounter onshore surf but Tom assures us the wind will swing which it did. There’s another boat camped up in the channel and the most dumbfounding sight, I see this girl swim over from her boat, pushing an inflatable car with her 8 month old baby in it, only 20 meters from the surgeons table, they cruise over to say hi to Tom. She’s the wife of the skipper on the other boat. I’m completely in awe of her and her little bub, so life doesn’t have to end when you have kids, it was just awesome. HT’s ends up cleaning up and Mitchell and AJ have the magazine cover barrels and snaps wired, what a buzz.

The final day has arrived of our life in the Mentawais. We surf 4-6ft Iceland’s , a heavy left hander with a long take off and bucket loads of water in the wave, it’s the first break we can’t actually see the bottom. A monster set comes through and cleans everyone up, a few of the boys were hung over and paddled back to the boat to re-gun. It was a fun last session of our trip. Completely surfed out, see legged up and saw as muscles, we depart with the best memories of our lives, leaving millions of perfect unridden waves waiting for our return some day, we cruise 12 rocky hours over night through the pass back to Padang.

Back to civilization the next day, on the biggest high, the last 10 days almost feels like a dream, we stay back in Bali for another 8 days, the Balinese waves have nothing on the Mentawais, as we get a lot of shopping and relaxing in. AJ and ended up getting kidnapped for a whole day by a cunning Balinese who roped us in to looking at resort apartments for sale, absolutely punked, the other boys thought we were shopping all day.

Mentawai Islands, I’ll be back to see you one day, if it’s not in this lifetime, it’s what my heaven is going to be like anyway. Girls, I hope you too can experience this magical place as life is not measured by how long we live but how well we live it.

Ladine Clarke. Ocean Beach, Whangarei. New Zealand.

TRAVEL TIPS FOR A GIRLS FIRST TIME TO THE MENTAWAIS

1. Talk with people who have been there before and if possible go with someone who’s already been.
2. If it’s your first time to Indonesia, stay in Bali first to get a feel for the waves
3. See your doctor up to 6 months prior for Hepatitis A, B, Tetanus and Typhoid shots.
4. Book your charter from NZ, most charters are booked up prior and you don’t want to end up with some dodgy Indo who says he can take you there in his little outrigger
5. Take loads of good sunscreen, Zink and a hat you can wear in the surf
6. Take 2 boards (longer is better), a camera and a fat first aid kit complete with sickness tabs, diarrhoea tabs, Betadine, antiinflammatories & Panadol
7. Take minimal clothes and travel light, whatever you forget, you can buy cheap
8. Cost for 3 weeks including airfares, accommodation, food and beers on the boat $4000, so start saving it will be the best $4000 you’ll EVER spend