SURF! Forget the snow, its all gone.

[damian 0]

Indo - I would certainly recommend it as a fantastic location for the all round experience. Incredible reef and lagoon snorkelling, amazing beaches, isolated, super convenient surf at the main break etc etc. Heaps of surfers bought their girlfriends or wives and they all loved the place. Just being there is fulfilling. The downside is that the main break (King Kong left) isn't nearly world class. It is just a short punchy reef break, not a reef pass or Indonesian peeler. To be honest, the surf on its own isn't worth the effort and money. You go for the all round experience in a great place with your wife. In Fiji the best way to get good surf is to stay at Namoto or Tavarua. Both cost big, but you get all out access to fantastic waves... assuming that there is swell.

 

King Kong left is a very short wave but with out doubt, very very powerful. It has tons of energy and dishes out really long hold downs. It is also quite easy to end up on the reef (I took a walk on the reef on knee deep water after the above wipeout). A good super punchy wave, but really short. There are other waves in the area but don't count on them.

 

If you are tired of doing Indonesia and want a change of scenery with good waves and a perfect environment then Nagigia is a top place to go with your girl, but probably not so good for very young children (it would depend on their behaviour). Go if you are content with a trip that is not 100% surf.

 

The fishing is very good. I caught plenty of fish each night spinning off the rocks, even had a shark swim by under my feet to say hello each evening. I took super light weight gear and used 4 pound line, so landing some fish was a big challenge and great fun.

[Dims 0]

Hey deebs, sorry I missed this post earlier, haven't been in here for a while.

 

I have to say you gave me a laugh with the wipeout on that second wave. That showed some commitment with the late takeoff there. No need to convince me with the heaviness of that wave, it looks pretty hairy all round, solid ledges and crushers by the looks. Really humbles you when you get in surf like that hey? And I know what you mean about the reef optical effect.

 

Hahaha just watched it again, god you must have got caned!!!!! Mr potato gets peeled.

[slow 0]

Seems like Gerry Lopez is in town this week.

[Yuki's Passion 1]

really? Whats he doing here slow?

[indosnm 0]

He comes to shape here several times a year and do other PR stuff.

[slow 0]

I'm not sure. I found his name on the schedule of our president(he is a surfer). Probably he was invited to a private party or something.

[woywoy 0]

What is the name of the company you work for SLOW? I know that Gerry Lopez comes to Japan a few times a year as well. He is now employed as a "Patagonia ambassador" meaning that he does store visits and that sort of thing occasionally, as well as featuring in their ads in mags etc. Sweet gig if you can ride the lines he does/did in the tube at Pipe. THE STYLE MASSSTTTEERRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!

[slow 0]

So, he enjoys snowboarding, too.

 Quote:

The Last Laugh

by Gerry Lopez

Featured in our Fall 2005 catalog

 

A two-week surf trip to Tavarua, Fiji, is always an exciting event. We had a good group. Laird was there, and Darrick, plus two friends from Canada. Ken and Don were terrific snowboarders who only recently had discovered surfing. They had tried it enough times to begin the love affair. This trip would be their best opportunity to learn some subtleties, because they had all of us lifers around to offer helpful tips.

 

After a few days of practice in smaller waves, we thought they were ready to try the real waves of Cloudbreak. The surf was little by our standards, certainly nothing life-threatening. Even small Cloudbreak, however, is still a powerful wave breaking over a very shallow and sharp reef. After riding a few insiders, Ken wanted to know how big the waves were.

 

“There aren’t any waves out here today that are over four feet,” said Laird. He chuckled. The rest of us exchanged knowing looks.

 

“Well, four feet is only this big,” said Ken. He spread his hands apart to demonstrate the measurement. “You’re telling me that wave wasn’t taller than this? Do you guys measure from the back or what?”

 

“Don’t be an idiot, nobody measures waves from the back,” replied Laird.

 

A few minutes later a nice set rolled in. Laird yelled for Ken to go for it. His arms were a blur as he paddled hard to get the wave that the great Laird Hamilton had personally selected for him.

 

“How big is it? How big is it?” Ken inquired over his shoulder. It was a nice wave and quite a bit larger than any that had come in so far that day – almost seven-foot by our standards. But Laird wasn’t going to tell him that.

 

“Its four feet, GO!”

 

The wave jacked up even more as we watched Ken, caught in the lip, get pitched headlong over the falls. He got clobbered, washing all the way in to the very shallow “Shish Kabob” section. Battered and beaten, tail between his legs, Ken went straight to the boat and would have no more of the waves that day.

 

Over dinner that evening, he kept asking us how his wave could have been four feet. Right before he got launched into space, he insisted politely, he was looking down 10 or 12 feet. We assured him that the wave was barely four feet, maybe only three. Ken shook his head, plainly troubled by the notion that a mere four-foot wave could give him such a beating.

 

Later that winter we met again at a place called Blue River in British Columbia. Mike Wiegele runs the finest helicopter skiing operation in the world there. All day long we raced down mountainsides on our snowboards. We wove in and out of the pine trees. We launched jumps made by fallen trees, wind cornices and sometimes even small cliffs. At one point, Ken stopped and yelled back uphill that there was a great jump right below him. From our position above, we could see the drop-off but not the bottom.

 

“Well, how big is it?” Laird asked.

 

Ken, getting his camera out, told us that it was only four feet so we should get all the speed we could, otherwise we wouldn’t even get off the ground.

 

“Come on,” he said, “I’ll count back from three. You guys all go together, okay?”

 

On the count of “one” we all took off. We went off the edge together and were equally shocked to find not a four-foot drop but at least a 20-foot one. And as one, we all realized that we were going way too fast to make the landing, and that we’d just been had by Ken.

 

After we dug ourselves out of the deep powder, Laird was a little pissed. He shouted back up to Ken: “Hey, I thought you said it was only four feet!”

 

We could hear Ken cracking up as he yelled back down, “We measure from the back here in Canada.”