10 Indo waves to surf before you die
Indo means a lot of things to a lot of people. For some, it’s simply your best bet of scoring perfect waves. For others, it’s where their mates are going. For others still, it’s simply cheap, warm, exotic and massagey. But whatever your reason to go to Indo, it’s a good one. Coz everyone needs more Indo in their lives. With it being the season n’ that, we sat down and thought about the Ten Best Indo Waves To Surf Before You Die.
Lance’s Right
(HT’S IN AMERICAN BRO)
Frieden/A-Frame
Description:
The wave natural footers would give their left gonad too. A picture perfect six second tube, usually bathed in a golden glow and wrapping into a tranquil bay.
History:
Australian Lance Knight stayed on the island for a weeks in the early ‘90s found the wave, just prior to Martin Daley and the Indies Trader rocking up. When the Mentawais went viral a few years later, Lance’s Right was at the centre of it all.
Death factor:
The end section is not called The Surgeon’s Table for nothing, and above six foot a heavy double up comes into play, but at four to six foot, this is as much fun as Indo tubes get.
Why you must surf it?
How many photos do you need to drool over?
Logistics:
A number of land camps have sprung up, making Lance’s camping look primitive, although you can still stay in homestays with the friendly local villages. The boat trip option is the other way. Crowds exist, but Lance’s Right has a few moods and it’s possible to get early and late sessions to yourself, especially out of peak season.
Performers:
Slater and Dorian have had some epic duels here, but like Maccas, every pro surfer over the last 20 years has scored here. And with such a ridiculously easy tube, even the kooks can come out claiming.
Season/Swell
Peak season, May to October, is the most consistent, but the light winds in the off season can provide epic days. It needs winds from the north, but if it swings, Lance’s Lefts on the other side of the island ain’t bad either.
G-Land
camps
Description:
A mile long swathe of reef that offers more than half a dozen different sections, the easiest being Kongs at the top, the best being Speedies at the very end. When they link, paradise is found.
History:
Spotted by Mike Boyum from a plane, he and his brother surfed it first in the ‘70s, then set up the world’s first camp, ‘Bobby’s’ which exists to this day.
Death factor:
No one has died, but plenty have come real close. Extraordinary power combined with a shallow reef and extreme remoteness make a heavy combo.
Logistics:
A white knuckle 8-hour night bus and boat ride from Bali has been superseded by an hour speed boat or even chopper. Stay at one of two camps where you’ll lead the ultimate surfer’s existence.
Why you need to surf it?
As a pure surfing experience it is hard to beat and Speedies remains one of the most flawless waves on the planet.
Stand out performers:
Gerry Lopez (in Speedos) was legendary in the ‘70s, Tom Carroll in the ‘80s, while the Quik Pro saw Kelly and Luke Egan dominate. Kong has a section named after him while guides like Camel and Dave Scard have clocked up the most tube time.
Season:
June through to September provided clockwork offshores (usually around the stroke of 10) with consistent swells.
Expense:
Pound for pound one of the best surfing trips you can do, with no distractions, hookers, clubs, or girls.
Keramas
Shield/A-Frame
KicKing the Bukit Habit
Description:
Super fun right that walls up from four feet, then starts draining heavily above six. Ideally you power out of a big barrel before being faced with a big dark green wall to unleash your speed.
History:
It’s one of surfing’s modern miracles that Keramas was kept so quite for so long. For over 30 years surfers had visited Bali, often pining and dreaming for a right hander that handled the Bukit onshores. And yet there it was, spinning and tubing half hour drive away. Whispers in the late 90s, led to photos in the 2000s, which led to it now being a secret no more.
Death factor:
This packs real punch, and while not in the super shallow skull scalping realm, if you fuck up on a six footer and you’ll know about it.
Stand out performers:
Taj, Andy and Bruce have gone alright out here, but it is the locals like Lee Wilson and Marlon Gerber, that rule at Keramas.
Why you need to surf it:
As it’s the best right on Bali.
Logistics:
A 45 minute drive from the hub of Kuta, and 20 from Sanur, plus more and more options in front of the wave. It’s become a new hub and another reason to go to Bali.
Season/swell:
Local winds are the major problem, making Keramas a dawn patrol special. The winter swells are still the most consistent, however the non trade north-west winds you need happen more often in the off season.
Expense:
Cheap accommodation is plentiful as is food. If you stay out of the discos (and you need to surf it early) this is as cheap and cheerful as surfing gets.
Rifles
Firing Brah!
Description:
One of the Mentawais’ longest, best and meanest righthanders, with a 500 yard rollercoaster ride of long tubes section, spliced with whackable walls and super shallow sectiony dry bits.
History:
Rifles was originally kept quite and had a mythical reputation. The area is now dotted with landcamps, but at least the reality has matched the myth. Definitely one of the best rights in all of Indonesia.
Death Factor:
It’s a fairly heavy wave as it needs a really solid swell and only starts to show true form at six feet plus. Coming out of deep water and exploding with huge power on a ever shallowing reef this is serious wave for serious surfers only.
Why you must surf it?
What part of the “the best right in Indonesia” didn’t you understand?
Logistics:
The Kanduis land camp is on the pristine island, while other camps now dot the area adding the boat crowds. However the long line-up, sectiony nature and power means crowds aren’t too huge a factor.
Performers:
Shane Dorian spends a fair bit of time here and goes alright in the tube, while last year Mark Mathews scored the barrel of the season.
Season/swell:
Lights up in big winter south swells and light north winds.
Expense:
The No Kanduis landcamp aint cheap, but its position is ridiculous. Rifles on one side, No Kanduis on the other, a beautiful white beach lagoon and numerous other waves within a short boat ride.
No Kanduis
Description oF the wave:
Almost a mirror image of Rifles, which breaks on the other side of the island, but maybe even hollower and faster. The holds left hold ten feet and throws up 10 second barrels or the beating of your life.
Death Factor:
You tend to get locked into No Kanduis and the consequences can be the tube of your life or a strafing across live coral followed by never ending sets on the head.
History:
Always a stand out wave in the Playground area, but usually reserved for pros and Indo tube masters only. There’s been some signature sessions in videos which has added to its must surf category.
Stand out performers:
The OP Pro, an invitational event held in 2001, featured Bruce Irons, Andy and Shane Dorian scoring ridiculous backside tubes. And google Ozzie Wright and Kanduis and you’ll find a you tube clip of Ozzie in a 20 second tube.
Logistics:
See Rifles, above.
Season/swell:
Again, needs a fairly solid swell to light up but breaks with more frequency than its island pal Rifles. Swell direction is important though, as the inside section on the wrong angle breaks boards and bones.
Expense:
What price can you put on a 15 second tube?
Apocalypse
Description:
In a word, a close-out. Just one that runs for 300 yards at warp speed over almost dry fire coral. The best close out in the world then.
History:
Surfers had watched the wave across the bay from One Palm Point for 20 years deeming it unrideable. They were right, kind of. Guys like Dylan Longbotton, Mikala Jones and Timmy Turner however took it on in the early 2000s, the results blowing minds.
Death Factor:
11 out of 10. Doesn’t break till its six to eight feet, and slabs heavily across a shallow ledge with no exit. You literally get locked into a freight train ride that 9 times out of 10 ends in disaster.
Logistics:
Still as difficult as anywhere to get to, Panaitian Island is a throw back to the good old days of Indo exploration. Get to Jakarta, then slowly and painfully crawl to a shitty boat to the island. Eat rice. Get tubed. Survive, just.
Why you must surf it?
You don’t, it’s for the insane only.
Season:
It needs a super solid swell to march into the Bay and so winter is the best time to catch this rare beast.
Expense:
The price is low, but the cost can be high. Dengue fever and malaria are just two of the concerns, before you even worry about the wave and the reef.
Padang Padang
named it twice
Description:
The hollowest and best tube on Bali. Doesn’t start breaking till it is 4 foot, and only gets proper at 6-8. Intense crowd, intense tube and a scary end section that gets shallower as you go along.
History:
It was Australian’s Steve Cooney plus American Rusty Miller who first surfed Ulus back in 1971. It didn’t take long to work out the next cove down offered a rarer, but more perfect barrel. The wave has been a surfing icon ever since.
Death factor:
Only breaking in serious winter swells, and best above six foot on the the big low tides. Add a heavy crowd and this wave scares this shit of most mortals.
Why you need to surf it?
One Padang barrel is worth ten at Bingin, and the sheer green perfection must be surfed to be believed.
Logistics:
Stay in Kuta, or at the ever increasing range of luxury hotels above the break. The beach is beautiful and usually packed with brown skinned beauties.
Standout performers:
In the ’80s Jim Banks was the best surfer here by far. Jamie O’Brien provided a signature performance in the Rip Curl event in 2009, as did Kelly in a Search WT event in 2008 (with switchfoot) but local legend Wayan Gobleg and Rizal Tagung have notched up the most tube time.
Season/swell:
May to September and hope the biggest swell coincides with the biggest tides.
Expense:
Choose between half a star nasi goreng or cocktails by the infinity pool.
Hour-long rides anyone?
Description:
Not the self-aggrandising pop penis smoker, but the tidal bore on the Kampar River in Sumatra. The breaks daily for up to four hours offering 50 kay rides with the record time for a single wave is just over an hour. Lets not talk about the paddle back.
History:
First surfed by photog Anthony “Yep” Colas and his bro in 2010 and made famous when Rip Curl took Tom Curren and others to surf it in 2011.
Death Factor:
The plentiful crocs and snakes that live in the river, we are told, are scared by the Bono and stay well away which is reassuring.
Standout performers:
It has to be Tom Curren getting shacked backside and coming out, adding a whole new dimension to the whole tidal bore movement.
Logistics:
Substantial. Yep Colas can get you there, with all the jetskis and boats you need to tame the beast. His website www.bonosurf.com boasts of daily waves that “reach barreling momentum for 10-15 minutes, the main course is probably 2-5ft soft peeling waves, allowing dozens of round-house cutbacks, probably best suited for longboarders, paddlesurfers, intermediates surfers and even beginners.” What more do you want?
Season:
Year round, with the bigger the tides, the bigger the Bono.
Expense:
Substantial, but with guaranteed waves, who cares?
Nias
Description:
One described as the best seven seconds in surfing, Nias was probably the only wave that improved following the Nias earthquake in 2009. The previous deep water barrel that needed a six foot swell to break, turned into a more slabby right that started tubing at four.
History:
Australian adventurer Peter Troy is credited surfing Nias first in the mid ‘70s, and by the early ‘80s it was one of the classic surfing pilgrimages. That hasn’t changed.
Death Factor:
The new shallow ledge has upped the anti, with a solid swell now needing big balls and real technique. The dry hair paddle out and big channel however means safety is always available.
Standout performers:
Thornton Fallander, an Aussie surfer/shaper made a name for himself here in the movie Storm Riders, while post-Tsunami Jamie O’Brien’s efforts in 10 foot death kegs in his movie ‘Who Is JOB?’ reignited a whole new interest.
Logistics:
Local families and their losmens have lined the point since the early 80s, offering shelter, beer, fruit and rice to the traveling hordes.
Season/Swell:
At the risk of repeating ourselves, the Indo winter is the time for swells and trade winds. Lagundri needs a little more swell than other breaks and most veterans will tell stories of two week flat spells that can send you mad.
Expense:
Nias is still a long, long way from anywhere and takes loads of planes, boats and buses to get there. It’s a place for people with more time than money. This joint needs patience, not wads of cash.
Macaronis
Description:
Trademarked as the funnest left on the planet, Macaronis has a fairly steep takeoff, that leads straight into a perfect tube. It then winds down the reef for 250 yards, at speed and pitch that is absolutely perfect for performance surfing.
Death factor:
Heavier than it looks in the videos, but not enough to warrant donning the brown boardshorts. Above five foot it doesn’t get bigger, just thicker and has enough power to treat it with respect.
History:
Legend that land campers first discovered the wave and named it after the diet they had been subsisting on for months. The first boats arrived in the early 90s and since then its been a staple for every Mentawai trip ever since.
Standout performers:
Every single pro surfer over the last 20 years, from single stickered wannabes to world champions have surfed and ripped this wave. It’s impossible to pick an individual, the wave is the real star.
Logistics:
Choose between the land camp Macaronis Resort or the boat trip option. Or for the mad, a brutal and harsh tent and rice (and pasta of course) DIY experience.
Why you need to surf it?
It’s a wave that fits 99 per cent of surfers idea of perfection. It has tubes, walls, and everything in between.
Season/sweLL:
Breaks from 2 to 8 feet, through the tides and maintains its form even when onshore.
Expense:
You gotta drop two grand to surf it, no matter how you skin it. And you won’t be surfing alone, boats are now fighting for the limited anchorages. But if there is swell and you are patient, the emotional and financial investment will be rewarded.
So how’d you go?
OK, before you call bollocks on our list there’s a couple we left out, like Desert’s and Greenbush because, well, we just did. But the question you should be asking yourself is “Of these ten, how many have you surfed?” We reckon 5 out of 10 is an ok effort, less than three is a ‘must try harder’ and six or more is mighty fine work. If you have surfed all ten and have never been in the pay of a surf brand, contact us now for a free subscription/hug.
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