Anyone that knows me well knows that I like to win. I tend to carry the same attitude when I go surfing. I like to get all the waves and be on the best waves of the day. However on this occasion I found joy in watching a friend get his stoke and actually let some great waves go by, instead opting to help my new friend Andrea get some of the best waves of his life.
My wife and i arrived at Balangan Beach, Bali to find some great people staying in the villa next door to us Andrea & Natalia & there beautiful daughter Erica hailing from Sardinia, Italy. Andrea was still learning to surf but we did have a couple of fun sessions together. He had hired a Surf guide to help find some breaks and also to direct him around the Surf break so I tagged along aswell.
After a few days we were off to Lembongan Island and we found out that they would also be there. Little did we know they would be staying in the place next door to us. We met up again after a few days and had a couple of small messy surfs together but still enjoyable with the locals mucking around and having fun watching Andrea trying to get some as he was still learning.
That night at the infamous Lemongrass restaurant on Lembongan Island i was trying to convince Andrea to come for a sunrise surf at Shipwrecks but he was taking some convincing. Mainly because he hadn’t surfed it before and the 3 days prior we had seen it jump from a nice gentle 2-3ft to a scary 6-8ft within 30 minutes catching everyone unaware! However after a few Bintangs I managed to lock him in for a sunrise session, which meant a 20 minute paddle out in the dark before first light. It would be our last chance to surf together so had to be done.
I’ve always got boat from other end of the island so this would be my first time paddling out from the front of the break. Not my first time surfing Shipwrecks by any means but I guess you could call it a virgin paddle. Normally I get the boat to the break and get the local to wait for me. You can also arrange for them to come back at a agreed time but you risk them forgetting or sleeping too long. So for the first time we began the long paddle out. The first issue was avoiding the early morning fishing boats heading out and it was still at dark. A long paddle but felt quite short paddling out together chatting, although we were struggling to see the line up in distance as still before first light and we had to make sure we were in the safety of the channel or risk being cleaned up by a wave or boat.
We arrived at the line up just as the sun started to rise from behind the mountains of Indonesia. A beautiful sight. Then I became a little concerned as Andrea’s first time Shipwrecks & to be honest probably a little out of his league. One of the main concerns is the sweep. There is an old rusty shipwreck on the inside and if you don’t keep aware the sweep will pull you right toward it into the impact zone. Not where you want to be! The other concern is the wide sets that come early 30 minutes or so that generally clean up the lineup. I told Andrea after getting a wave to make sure you paddled wide fast and if i screamed ‘set’ to paddle as wide as he could, as fast as he could. It was quite funny i must admit watching Andrea scramble and paddle as wide as he could every time I screamed set! I would generally spot the wave coming for him then yell to him to paddle & put him in the best position to score a great wave.
There were some gem bombs on the outside with only a coupe guys on it but I though best to stick to the inside with Andrea as safer but there also was no one else where we were and although a lot smaller still perfect and great for Andrea. The thing was normally I’d be itching to get out the back for the bombs but was quite content with where we were and getting so much joy watching Andrea getting some of the best waves he has ever had.
At one stage when we were watching the waves roll through out the back, the sun shinning through the face of the wave, the bright white spray blowing off the back of the waves with the light offshore breeze grooming the waves just perfectly, Andrea turned to me with a huge smile from ear to ear, looking very stoked and said ‘no wonder you like sunrise surfs Mike, thank you for this’.
My new found friend the pleasure is as all mine.
Anyone that knows me well knows that I like to win. I tend to carry the same attitude when I go surfing. I like to get all the waves and be on the best waves of the day. However on this occasion I found joy in watching a friend get his stoke and actually let some great waves go by, instead opting to help my new friend Andrea get some of the best waves of his life.
My wife and i arrived at Balangan Beach, Bali to find some great people staying in the villa next door to us Andrea & Natalia & there beautiful daughter Erica hailing from Sardinia, Italy. Andrea was still learning to surf but we did have a couple of fun sessions together. He had hired a Surf guide to help find some breaks and also to direct him around the Surf break so I tagged along aswell.
After a few days we were off to Lembongan Island and we found out that they would also be there. Little did we know they would be staying in the place next door to us. We met up again after a few days and had a couple of small messy surfs together but still enjoyable with the locals mucking around and having fun watching Andrea trying to get some as he was still learning.
That night at the infamous Lemongrass restaurant on Lembongan Island i was trying to convince Andrea to come for a sunrise surf at Shipwrecks but he was taking some convincing. Mainly because he hadn’t surfed it before and the 3 days prior we had seen it jump from a nice gentle 2-3ft to a scary 6-8ft within 30 minutes catching everyone unaware! However after a few Bintangs I managed to lock him in for a sunrise session, which meant a 20 minute paddle out in the dark before first light. It would be our last chance to surf together so had to be done.
I’ve always got boat from other end of the island so this would be my first time paddling out from the front of the break. Not my first time surfing Shipwrecks by any means but I guess you could call it a virgin paddle. Normally I get the boat to the break and get the local to wait for me. You can also arrange for them to come back at a agreed time but you risk them forgetting or sleeping too long. So for the first time we began the long paddle out. The first issue was avoiding the early morning fishing boats heading out and it was still at dark. A long paddle but felt quite short paddling out together chatting, although we were struggling to see the line up in distance as still before first light and we had to make sure we were in the safety of the channel or risk being cleaned up by a wave or boat.
We arrived at the line up just as the sun started to rise from behind the mountains of Indonesia. A beautiful sight. Then I became a little concerned as Andrea’s first time Shipwrecks & to be honest probably a little out of his league. One of the main concerns is the sweep. There is an old rusty shipwreck on the inside and if you don’t keep aware the sweep will pull you right toward it into the impact zone. Not where you want to be! The other concern is the wide sets that come early 30 minutes or so that generally clean up the lineup. I told Andrea after getting a wave to make sure you paddled wide fast and if i screamed ‘set’ to paddle as wide as he could, as fast as he could. It was quite funny i must admit watching Andrea scramble and paddle as wide as he could every time I screamed set! I would generally spot the wave coming for him then yell to him to paddle & put him in the best position to score a great wave.
There were some gem bombs on the outside with only a coupe guys on it but I though best to stick to the inside with Andrea as safer but there also was no one else where we were and although a lot smaller still perfect and great for Andrea. The thing was normally I’d be itching to get out the back for the bombs but was quite content with where we were and getting so much joy watching Andrea getting some of the best waves he has ever had.
At one stage when we were watching the waves roll through out the back, the sun shinning through the face of the wave, the bright white spray blowing off the back of the waves with the light offshore breeze grooming the waves just perfectly, Andrea turned to me with a huge smile from ear to ear, looking very stoked and said ‘no wonder you like sunrise surfs Mike, thank you for this’.
My new found friend the pleasure is as all mine.
Yeah baby