Back From South Sumatra

[Slybacon]

Just got back from a three week trip to Sumatra. We were to stay at a small losman near Krui in the far south coast of Sumatra. We flew from sydney to Jakarta the capitol of Java and stayed for one night in a crappy little hotel near the airport. The airport wasn't as crazy as i had imagined and we were wisked off in a nice air conditioned car through some of the most hectic traffic Ive ever seen. Once at the hotel we headed out for some dinner and a look at the town. Lots of beggers and dirty little streets. Food was cheap but tasty and we decided not to spend to much time as we were told it wasn't to safe after dark.

We awoke early to make the journey back to the airport and a quick 45min flight to Bandar Lampung. The local airline scared the shit out me, missing paint crazy fast landings no space between seats and a serious shortage of life jackets. We touched down safely and made our way to the 2 4x4 that were to be our transport for the next 6 hours through the small towns and jungle. Right after we loaded our boards and bags down came the rain, so much for dry season!. It bucketed the whole way and we were soaked as the car wasn't totally water proof. We headed through the jungle and it became apparent how lush the growth is here. So many plant species all together. The under growth is so thick in parts it would be impossible to make your way through it at any constructive speed. As we headed past small jungle communities the children would spot our boards and all come running to the road side to wave and yell "hello mister"..... was fun at first but by the end of 5 million hello misters it kinda wore thin. We finally cleared the jungle and hit the coast for our first glimpse of the grinding waves.

6-8 ft offshore screamers had me a little nervous but luckily the next day was a little tamer and we paddled out the front of our losman at a wave called Ujung Bacur and scored a nice 3 hour session in clean glassy 3-5ft with only 6 or 7 guys out. The wave normally runs for about 300M but the swell direction was not right and there were maybe 3 or 4 different takeoff points offering different sections on the reef.

(To be continued with photos........)

[C_T]

sounds great! can't wait for piccies.

glad you made it there and back in 1 piece

[bℓσωηG]

hey slybacon, im fresh back from sumbawa.... i wish i had gone to where you went, but without the scary plane trip lol....

[mutant]

hey did you bring back that sumatran monkey?

you got.... the bite....... say hello to this scratched hand!!!

[Evil Genius]

oh no, he got the bite....

[Slybacon]

Been trying to upload some photos but the server is having problems.... maybe later tonight?

[Slybacon]

Part 2-

So our first week in sumatra had a mix of swell with very large 10ft+ right down to nearly flat .5ft. I got my first day of waves in and then managed to catch somesort of cold. I had to rest the next two days and drink very strong ginger garlic chili and lemon teas which thankfully kickstarted my recovery. That and the incredibly strong stop cold tablets they sell at the local chemist. Right when i felt well enough to surf again up came the swell and we had to travel north to find a smaller wave at krui that more suited our ability. We got some good waves in at a beach break called mandiri that afternoon and then 2 days of little to no swell after that. It had been raining every afternoon which was unexpected for the dry season. I asked around alot for Kratom but none of the locals had any idea what i was on about and instead offered us mushrooms which we refused. Heres some photos I'll continue the story in part 3..........

This beach was located about 1Klm south of Krui, the main town in the area.

This is the main beach and headland at Krui. There is a Reef Left and Beach right hander. When its huge everywhere else its on at Krui.

Ujung Bocur

This is the left hander out the front of Ombah Indah Losman. This was one of the bigger days and there was about 5 snapped boards and a host of snapped leashes.

Another Shot of Ujung Bocur doing its thing.

Anoth shot of a set wave coming through at Ujung Bocur

Edited July 14, 2010 by Slybacon

[bℓσωηG]

Ujung Bocur

This is the right hander out the front of Ombah Indah Losman. This was one of the bigger days and there was about 5 snapped boards and a host of snapped leashes.

looks like a left to me lol....good to see it barrelling ,all the pics i had seen looked fat as... did you go with freeline? the plane i had through them from java to sumatra was the scariest plane ride i have ever been on also.

[paradox]

fuck yeah man!!!!!!

[Slybacon]

looks like a left to me lol....good to see it barrelling ,all the pics i had seen looked fat as... did you go with freeline? the plane i had through them from java to sumatra was the scariest plane ride i have ever been on also.

 

whoops! left, like 90% of breaks in the area. Yeah bookd with freeline. To be honest Id probobly plan it myself next time tho and save about 1000

Out the front was barreling but no one was making them. Some horrific clean up sets would come through out of no where and everyone would get stuck in side for sets of upto 25 waves!!!! Had to be super fit to make the most of it, definately gonna train some more before the next trip ;)

Edited July 14, 2010 by Slybacon

[Slybacon]

Ricardo's my favorite wave in Sth Sumatra. Lots of time in the green room here....

Edited July 14, 2010 by Slybacon

[bℓσωηG]

that IS nice slybacon, looking real fun there... did you have to travel far to get to it? on the back of a moped ? funny how an argentenian first surfed it

[Slybacon]

Its located about 500m further up the reef from Krui Lefts. We didn't to travel by moped as we had two cars with drivers and indo surf guides included in our package ....

Was an interesting story about the Argentinian, he actually lives right out the front of the break with an indonesian family. We were calling the break "Killah Krui" but then we met him out in the lineup. Really nice guy, offered us use of his shower after the wave. He took off so far up the reef I never thought he would come out but he cleared every single wave then would sit inside us untill we got a wave each then paddle up the reef again to get in nice and deep. Not once did he snake us even tho his ability was far beyond our own. If you ever go there his is the bright blue roof visable from the lineup.

[Chiral]

waves look choice man, nice, clean and fun looking rides...what about ethno's anything on the interesting front you can tell us about...?

[Slybacon]

I searched for Kratom but couldn't find any. Ive been told the best stuff comes from south Sumatra but you must need to know the local brew. The only legal drug there that anyone knows about is mushrooms but I wasn't to keen to try them. I wish i had taken snu's book as there was sooooo many different plant species. It truely does look like an ethno heads dream. Im sure there is lots of stuff amongst the jungle that is yet to be discovered.