15/03: Open Season
The surf season in Indonesia starts around March to May, when the wind switches from the predominant SW direction to SE and the strong ground swells produced by storms crossing the roaring 40s of the Southern Indian ocean begin to make their way up to Indonesia.
This year the season has arrived early, it was only March 12th when we saw our first puffs of east wind combined with the arrival of a strong ground swell reporting at 7' every 16 seconds. This means that the West Coast of the Bukit Peninsula comes alive, namely Uluwatu and Padang Padang surf spots. 2 very special breaks in the annals of surfing history, Ulus and Padang are on nearly every surfers list of search and ride locales. They were certainly on mine. Ulus being held so sacred that Samantha had to nearly drag me out there the first time we surfed it because it was too early in the season and it was not yet "perfect", and i wanted the first time i surfed Ulus to be special, to be "perfect". But i went out anyway and battled the crowd for 3-4' fun, peaky waves.
The 12th of March things had changed. The groundswell was just filling in at 5' every 16 seconds and there were solid 3-5' waves coming off of the "inside corner" of Ulus and peeling fast through the "racetrack". It was going off. It was too small to scare most people from the water so it was pretty crowded too. Having just spent 2 weeks in the Mentawais islands on a boat trip trading waves with maximum 10 surfers, i was content to just wait my turn in the crowd with confidence that a wave or 2 would eventually come my way. And they did. My first wave was my best of the day, a screamer, rolling down the line with the power and surge of a new swell, the wave was constantly bowling in front of me inspiring me to pump and race to keep up with the peeling lip. Too scared to slow myself into the barrel, i just raced the sections to the end, probably about 200 meters from where i had started.
The 13th of March was the real deal. Pumping. 7' at 16 seconds means that Ulus was no longer "inside corner" but rather breaking on what we call "outside corner", 50 meters farther offshore and peaking in huge double overhead lumps, some sets lumbering in even larger than that on the face. When UIus is this size the number of willing surfers is greatly diminished. Whereas the day before had around 35 surfers in the lineup, this day i was sharing the waves with 4 others. Granted the tide was still a little high and the waves a little fat, i knew that as the tide drained out, more would come, so i got out early to get a headstart on the crowd.
I was right, the waves were a little fat, but lining up for an 8' shifting peak is a thrill, even if the wave isn't walling up for speed after the drop. But after an hour of doing laps, catching set waves and paddling back out, the tide was dropping, the waves were walling up harder and faster, and it was beginning to really pump. Simultaneously, a group of about 15 surfers paddled out at around the same time, arriving on our little party like a SWAT team...the fun was over and the business was about to begin. I was still able to get a few more waves before the exhaustion overcame my desire to deal with a crowd of 20 guys jockeying for big waves and i came in to enjoy the sunset.
Samantha had not wanted to come out with me, big waves on a boogy board can just be bouncy and difficult, and she prefers the more steep and barrelling waves. She had run into a friend on the cliff who invited her to go to Padang Padang. Farther down the cliff from Uluwatu and a little protected from the bulk of the swell, Padang is a wave that comes alive with a low tide and spins off reeling left hand tubes. When i got to the cliff and took a bucket shower at Ibu Made's cafe, all the local ibus (ibu means mother in Indo) were laughing at me telling me that my girlfriend had left me, gone back to Brazil. I didn't believe them, I was joking that if she did leave i was going to be "marah marah" or real angry... Then Made came to tell me that Samantha had left with a friend for Padang Padang and that i was supposed to take the moto bike there to meet her.
So after eating an icecream and sucking down 2 banana strawberry milkshakes from Made, i grabbed our stuff and headed to Padang Padang. When i pulled up on the cliff i saw that it was pumping. 6' reeling tubes that reminded so much of The Bluff that i had surfed for 2 months in Western Australia. I was amped that Sam was out there. I went down to the beach and walked out the point watching surfers and boogers get shacked in much hollower waves than i was seeing out at Ulus, though it was smaller, it was a much more technical wave.
I didn't see Sam get any waves, but she had gotten one earlier, a really nice barrell and she was amped on her session. I was still satisfied with my session too, but seeing Padang going off like that with only a dozen people in the water and me being too tired and too late to get any of it had me feeling a little like i had missed my best opportunity to surf this legendary wave. The surf was going to bew smaller tomorrow and i may have missed my chance.
The next day the surf had dropped, but there was still swell in the water. Sam and i had slept in and missed the low tide in the morning, but the morning was not quite right anyhow, the water had what we call morning sickness, just a light bump and funk to the surface texture. The waves in this area are proned to this illness and generally the best sessions are in the afternoon. So we went for lunch and did some internet work to nail down our next move and visa runs.
At about 4:30 we returned to check in on Padang Padang and i couldn't believe it, but it was working again, and yet again there was only about a dozen people surfing it. We watched it for a few minutes and i realized that almost all the people out there were boogy boarders. In the hierarchy of surfing, boogies are below surfers and i knew that if i paddled out there i would certainly be able to work my way into the lineup and get my share of waves at one of the most premier spots in Bali, so i poked Sam and said,"we're out there."
We paddled out and it was indeed all boogies and breaking at about 3-4' with the very occassional 5'er rolling through. I worked my way quickly to the top of the lineup through 10 boogy boarders, mostly french, who did not even let out a peep to challenge my paddling past them to the top of the wave, and rightly so as they were sitting about 10m inside from the real takeoff spot. I waited about 15 minutes for a good set and then in it came, looming and shifting deep onto the takeoff. I paddled hard and slid into a surprisingly easy takeoff, bottom turned and saw the glory, a 10m section sucking off the reef and pitting me into a heavy backside barrel section. I didn't make it out, but i did have an amazing view out of what we call the "almond eye" of the tube looking out at the shoulder until the wave collapsed on me and i had to dive off my board and out the back of the wave.
Amped, i quickly paddled back out to the top. After letting the boogies have at one more set, i again moved myself into postition at the top of the wave. A really solid set came in and i raced out to meet it, paddling a bit too far in my excitement and had to let the wave go by, giving it to one of the French boogies, but at the same time learning an important lesson, even if the set is big, it still moves in deep and breaks in roughly the same location as the smaller ones, just barrelling a little harder making it easier to make it out of the tube. So on the next set i held my ground, paddled in deep and took off on the bowl. This one was sucking off the reef hard, the drop was steep, and after cranking a bottom turn i was immediately shacked into a gaping barrel. I crouched down, reaching back into the wave with my left hand and thrusting my right shoulder forward, grabbing the outside rail of my board with my right hand and speeding through the tube with as much speed and determination as i could muster. I drew close to the almond eye and as i released the rail of my board and stood up tall on my board to exit the barrel, the last section warbled a little and a small bucket of water from the lip hit me on the back of the head. I was able to keep to my feet but it was the waves way of saying, "hey watch it kid, i will take you out if i want to."
It was my best wave of the day and Samantha was sitting in the channel watching the whole thing go down, so i kicked out of the wave and paddled back to the top with my baby, just glowing with adrenaline, joy, and exitement. Back to the top where i was able to get another 10 waves or so before the sun set, and though there were some sick and warping barrels that gave me an amazing view, none let me out of them standing.
As the sun set on the horizon there was not a cloud there to block the view of the sun. All the boogy boarders had gone in and it was just Sam and i sitting out the back of low tide 3-4' Padang Padang. I was just in awe of our situation. I grabbed another set wave, ducked into a small cover up and was able to make a turn on this reeling beast of a wave, i was stoked. As i was paddling back out and just marvelling in the moment, watching the sun set, i thought that this was the kind of sunset that gives a green flash, quickly thinking to myslef that i had never seen a green flash from the water before, and that it must be impossible, cause you would have to be on the crest of a wave with a full view of the horizon just as the sun was setting into the horizon AND there would actually have to BE a green flash, of which i have seen about 15 in my life.
But there i was, paddling back out to my baby sitting at the top of the wave, looking directly past her into the sunset when on the crest of a rising wave i saw the sun sink into the horizon and blaze fluorescent green and then dissappear. I was shocked, stunned, stupefied...could it be this perfect...
It was...open season.
This year the season has arrived early, it was only March 12th when we saw our first puffs of east wind combined with the arrival of a strong ground swell reporting at 7' every 16 seconds. This means that the West Coast of the Bukit Peninsula comes alive, namely Uluwatu and Padang Padang surf spots. 2 very special breaks in the annals of surfing history, Ulus and Padang are on nearly every surfers list of search and ride locales. They were certainly on mine. Ulus being held so sacred that Samantha had to nearly drag me out there the first time we surfed it because it was too early in the season and it was not yet "perfect", and i wanted the first time i surfed Ulus to be special, to be "perfect". But i went out anyway and battled the crowd for 3-4' fun, peaky waves.
The 12th of March things had changed. The groundswell was just filling in at 5' every 16 seconds and there were solid 3-5' waves coming off of the "inside corner" of Ulus and peeling fast through the "racetrack". It was going off. It was too small to scare most people from the water so it was pretty crowded too. Having just spent 2 weeks in the Mentawais islands on a boat trip trading waves with maximum 10 surfers, i was content to just wait my turn in the crowd with confidence that a wave or 2 would eventually come my way. And they did. My first wave was my best of the day, a screamer, rolling down the line with the power and surge of a new swell, the wave was constantly bowling in front of me inspiring me to pump and race to keep up with the peeling lip. Too scared to slow myself into the barrel, i just raced the sections to the end, probably about 200 meters from where i had started.
The 13th of March was the real deal. Pumping. 7' at 16 seconds means that Ulus was no longer "inside corner" but rather breaking on what we call "outside corner", 50 meters farther offshore and peaking in huge double overhead lumps, some sets lumbering in even larger than that on the face. When UIus is this size the number of willing surfers is greatly diminished. Whereas the day before had around 35 surfers in the lineup, this day i was sharing the waves with 4 others. Granted the tide was still a little high and the waves a little fat, i knew that as the tide drained out, more would come, so i got out early to get a headstart on the crowd.
I was right, the waves were a little fat, but lining up for an 8' shifting peak is a thrill, even if the wave isn't walling up for speed after the drop. But after an hour of doing laps, catching set waves and paddling back out, the tide was dropping, the waves were walling up harder and faster, and it was beginning to really pump. Simultaneously, a group of about 15 surfers paddled out at around the same time, arriving on our little party like a SWAT team...the fun was over and the business was about to begin. I was still able to get a few more waves before the exhaustion overcame my desire to deal with a crowd of 20 guys jockeying for big waves and i came in to enjoy the sunset.
Samantha had not wanted to come out with me, big waves on a boogy board can just be bouncy and difficult, and she prefers the more steep and barrelling waves. She had run into a friend on the cliff who invited her to go to Padang Padang. Farther down the cliff from Uluwatu and a little protected from the bulk of the swell, Padang is a wave that comes alive with a low tide and spins off reeling left hand tubes. When i got to the cliff and took a bucket shower at Ibu Made's cafe, all the local ibus (ibu means mother in Indo) were laughing at me telling me that my girlfriend had left me, gone back to Brazil. I didn't believe them, I was joking that if she did leave i was going to be "marah marah" or real angry... Then Made came to tell me that Samantha had left with a friend for Padang Padang and that i was supposed to take the moto bike there to meet her.
So after eating an icecream and sucking down 2 banana strawberry milkshakes from Made, i grabbed our stuff and headed to Padang Padang. When i pulled up on the cliff i saw that it was pumping. 6' reeling tubes that reminded so much of The Bluff that i had surfed for 2 months in Western Australia. I was amped that Sam was out there. I went down to the beach and walked out the point watching surfers and boogers get shacked in much hollower waves than i was seeing out at Ulus, though it was smaller, it was a much more technical wave.
I didn't see Sam get any waves, but she had gotten one earlier, a really nice barrell and she was amped on her session. I was still satisfied with my session too, but seeing Padang going off like that with only a dozen people in the water and me being too tired and too late to get any of it had me feeling a little like i had missed my best opportunity to surf this legendary wave. The surf was going to bew smaller tomorrow and i may have missed my chance.
The next day the surf had dropped, but there was still swell in the water. Sam and i had slept in and missed the low tide in the morning, but the morning was not quite right anyhow, the water had what we call morning sickness, just a light bump and funk to the surface texture. The waves in this area are proned to this illness and generally the best sessions are in the afternoon. So we went for lunch and did some internet work to nail down our next move and visa runs.
At about 4:30 we returned to check in on Padang Padang and i couldn't believe it, but it was working again, and yet again there was only about a dozen people surfing it. We watched it for a few minutes and i realized that almost all the people out there were boogy boarders. In the hierarchy of surfing, boogies are below surfers and i knew that if i paddled out there i would certainly be able to work my way into the lineup and get my share of waves at one of the most premier spots in Bali, so i poked Sam and said,"we're out there."
We paddled out and it was indeed all boogies and breaking at about 3-4' with the very occassional 5'er rolling through. I worked my way quickly to the top of the lineup through 10 boogy boarders, mostly french, who did not even let out a peep to challenge my paddling past them to the top of the wave, and rightly so as they were sitting about 10m inside from the real takeoff spot. I waited about 15 minutes for a good set and then in it came, looming and shifting deep onto the takeoff. I paddled hard and slid into a surprisingly easy takeoff, bottom turned and saw the glory, a 10m section sucking off the reef and pitting me into a heavy backside barrel section. I didn't make it out, but i did have an amazing view out of what we call the "almond eye" of the tube looking out at the shoulder until the wave collapsed on me and i had to dive off my board and out the back of the wave.
Amped, i quickly paddled back out to the top. After letting the boogies have at one more set, i again moved myself into postition at the top of the wave. A really solid set came in and i raced out to meet it, paddling a bit too far in my excitement and had to let the wave go by, giving it to one of the French boogies, but at the same time learning an important lesson, even if the set is big, it still moves in deep and breaks in roughly the same location as the smaller ones, just barrelling a little harder making it easier to make it out of the tube. So on the next set i held my ground, paddled in deep and took off on the bowl. This one was sucking off the reef hard, the drop was steep, and after cranking a bottom turn i was immediately shacked into a gaping barrel. I crouched down, reaching back into the wave with my left hand and thrusting my right shoulder forward, grabbing the outside rail of my board with my right hand and speeding through the tube with as much speed and determination as i could muster. I drew close to the almond eye and as i released the rail of my board and stood up tall on my board to exit the barrel, the last section warbled a little and a small bucket of water from the lip hit me on the back of the head. I was able to keep to my feet but it was the waves way of saying, "hey watch it kid, i will take you out if i want to."
It was my best wave of the day and Samantha was sitting in the channel watching the whole thing go down, so i kicked out of the wave and paddled back to the top with my baby, just glowing with adrenaline, joy, and exitement. Back to the top where i was able to get another 10 waves or so before the sun set, and though there were some sick and warping barrels that gave me an amazing view, none let me out of them standing.
As the sun set on the horizon there was not a cloud there to block the view of the sun. All the boogy boarders had gone in and it was just Sam and i sitting out the back of low tide 3-4' Padang Padang. I was just in awe of our situation. I grabbed another set wave, ducked into a small cover up and was able to make a turn on this reeling beast of a wave, i was stoked. As i was paddling back out and just marvelling in the moment, watching the sun set, i thought that this was the kind of sunset that gives a green flash, quickly thinking to myslef that i had never seen a green flash from the water before, and that it must be impossible, cause you would have to be on the crest of a wave with a full view of the horizon just as the sun was setting into the horizon AND there would actually have to BE a green flash, of which i have seen about 15 in my life.
But there i was, paddling back out to my baby sitting at the top of the wave, looking directly past her into the sunset when on the crest of a rising wave i saw the sun sink into the horizon and blaze fluorescent green and then dissappear. I was shocked, stunned, stupefied...could it be this perfect...
It was...open season.
