Prologue, July 2004
 With many of the lads mid way through their year out doing a round the world surfing and snowboarding trip it was decided that we (the working Dublin based few) should join up with them in Indonesia for a top class surf charter. Oran had been in contact with a guy called Seb who ran a Dive Charter turned Surf Charter out of Padang. It all sounded good, everyone got onboard for the trip, and through Oran’s contact we chose the Naga Laut, along with our Aussie Skipper Tom, and his merry crew Sumatran locals, the cook reportedly the best in the land.
Myself, and Oran set out from Dublin, through Frankfurt, Jakarta, and Padang with a ridiculous amount of US$ to pay the balance for the trip for all, before joining the lads already waiting in a hotel there. Soon, after a siwim in the pool, some lunch in a pretty strange little place (Col’s idea, I think), and some last minute supplies bought from (conveniently) Tom's surf shop, Substance.
The weather didn't cooperate the first morning but, eventually we left in the early hours of the next day after packing late at night and eating our fill in a local restaurant where we had been invited by the Skipper and the boss, Seb. So we set off, the Skipper, Tom, his crew: Oyon - Captain;Nasir - Mechanic;Boy - Cook;Zul - Guest Manager; Hamzah - Boatman, and ourselves: Cian, Oran, Eoin, Colin, Jonny, Shane, Zach, and Mark. The crossing from Padang to the islands was about 10 hours, and then it really began...Day 1, Sunday 4th July 2004 Arrived to the Islands in theafternoon 'bout 3.30pm. There were 5 boats and a lot of people surfing. We all got in at Napussi's and got a few waves.Amazing to chill on the boat after a session with everyone, first proper taste of the trip. Chilled with a few beers on deck till 10pm. Slept Well. Shane. Day 2, Monday 5th of July 6.44am - Breakfast over on the way to Burgerworld. Shane is particularly happy with the name of this place, hopefully we get some waves to ourselves after yesterday's six boat crowd at Napussi's. Cian. 12.05pm - 
Gasping for air, but nothing doing...helplessly falailing without breaking the surface - a never ending series of tumble turns and breatheless twist a body's not supposed to do...sweet relief in a short burst before more of the same - but worse. The sequel throws and rolls, smashes and scratches you across the now shallow reef, taking in everything, literally from head to toe. End result - half a board down, but a couple of Mentawai special tatoos up - welcome to Burgerworld on a small day - what am I thinking?!?P.S. First wave out out, almost felt the adrenaline buzz all get - stood up on a big one...but then got munched - the blood came later. Took most of the ocean in my nose. The avo sessions should be shallower! Mark. Evening (Sometime) - Went ashore looking for 2nd half of 'wee man's board...when swimming back, swam full speed into coral...nice scar! Oran 8.30pm - Surfed, ate, surfed, ate, surfed, coffee, surfed, now time for the scratcher! Eoin. Evening - Burgerworld, surfed four sessions. Mark snapped his board, I damaged two. The only hours out of the water were for breakfast and lunch, and were short! Good day. Shane Day 3, Tuesday 6th of July 5.49am - Engines on, the glow of the first full day of surf and equatorial sun on the shoulders and face. On the move now, not sure where...just passing Bang Bang's - small fun left hander we were going to surf yesterday, but didn't..think it's raining. It's dark. Cian 12.30pm - Didn't get in for the avo sessions after yesterday's setback, but Col let me use a board this morning at an uncrowded right with Shane and Oran. Sat on the shoulder, getting a proper feel for the water but didn't really go for anything as the reef was super shallow & sharp. i reckon understanding the waves etc. will be a large part of my progressio, as I think I'm coming to terms with the fundamentals of surfing......we'll see about that!! Mark. 
Afternoon - Pretty grey morning. Started off with a session at Napussi's. Really nice 3-4ft sets cominf through. Very hollow fast wave. Managed to snag a few. Oran snapped his leash and got run over by a fat Aussie bloke.As we travelled to the next spot had a Bintang and did some fishing behind the boat with Oran, caught nada! Surfed a really shallow sucky wave called Kandui Rights with Oran, got stacks of waves along with a few Aussies, got it to ourselves for a bit then the boys (Col, Eoin, Cian) joined us. Great little wave. Really enjoyable session. Shane. 2pm - Interesting day so far. Big fat Aussie prat decided to use the back of my leg as a braking device on the way out of a wave...then snapped leash and flapped around for a while until Eoin (a true gent) recovered my board from the beach. I've never surfed a wave that looks so shit from behind but was excellent fun. Head high sets breaking flawlessly across shallow coral. Lost my battle against the coral...ouch! Found a new type of coral aswell, it's called 'Fire Coral', great stuff altogether its really like hard nettles. Oran. Evening - Did a spot of fishing with Oran, the prick caught three fish and I caught jack shit - obviously beginners luck! We enjoyed a few beers etc while we sat there. All the lads joined us up front for a few. As usual the best part of the day came (DINNER!). It was good. Watched 'Ali G in da House - then crashed. Shane Evening - Great session at Kandui Rights, it makes so much of a difference to get waves to ourselves. Had a look around a nearby island later with Jonny and Mark. Caught a small Barracouda at dusk off the boat. Cian Day 4, Wednesday 7th of July 7.05am - Weather is like Connemara, looked like the winds were going to stay SE, changed to NW so three hour trip to HT's...thank God for DVDs! Oran. 
18.12 - Hollow Trees and the Kingdom of the Poo fish. Cian.19.15 - Awesome day at H.T.'s. Hollow waves all day, not too crowded. Nice and shallow on the inside, adds an extra element to the wave! Best day of surfing so far, keep 'em coming! Eoin. Evening - HT's all morning and avo. Really hollow and never found it so easy to get barrelled. i think most of us managed to find a barrel or two. Really enjoyable session but the inside was pretty shallow. Got to see the infamus 'Surgeon's Table' when the tide pulled off it. Got to do some snorkelling, saw lionfish, clown fish, banner fish, parrot fish and the breathtaking Poo fish. Great day for us all I think. Shane. Day 5, Thursday 8th of July 
10.50am - Rocky night last night, pretty exposed but don't think anyone had any problems sleeping. Woke to hoots out of the stern of the boat - big fish caught by Tom, not sure of the name. Wind's gone north west this morning, HT's onshore, but onto surf Lance's Left around the corner. Nice little session even though wind making it a bit bumpy from the side. On to Macaroni's now - next island south. Cian.7pm - Surfed Lances Left this morning at about 3-4ft. Wind was a bit cross but some nice waves had by the lads. Didn't get much myself. Made a crossing to Macaroni's in the afternoon. I can safely say it was one of the heaviest waves I've surfed. Zac took a frickin' huge set on the head...hilarious! Tom was getting barrelled off his nut. We all got good waves, some really meaty and steep drops made. Most surfers out there got barelled on almost every wave. Zac snapped a leash and went in to get the board getting Malaria in the process. Body is wrecked, great day! Shane. 7.05pm - Arms and neck so tired. Fricking intimidating wave, doubling up on the bigger sets and throwing out barrels the like of which I've never seen before. Started to catch a good few after a solid first hour of shitting myself!...Swell to grow overnight...ouch! Oran. Day 6, Friday 9th of July Dee six in da big bruva booat 
Afternoon - Macca's was awesome, Teah'opoo-like. Tom ripped it up as usual. Surfed Ministroni's with Jul, good fun. 6ft Macca's is heavy! Oran.Evening - Surfed Macca's again, another awesome day. Those set waves are something else, huge lips and big barrels. Managed to get a few nice waves. Glassy morning session, always the best part of the day. Shane. Day 7, Saturday 10th of July Afternoon - A lot of people surfed out by lunch time. Surfed Macca's in the morning and a great fun session at Ministrone's before lunch for a long time, 'till the sun started getting a bit much. Cian Late - Another enjoyable morning glass session. Other boats seemed to leave it to us for a while. Surfed two sessions before lunch, pretty wrecked by then. Everyone got good waves. Pulled anchor and headed to another anchorage for the night. We all enjoyed a few beers up on deck on the way. Ended up having made up for a couple of days not drinking our quota (I know Oran did anyway!). Shane. 9.20am - Up since 6am, moored in the Straits (Selat Sikakap) overnight. A few beers last night, a rest from surfing while we refill with fresh water at the local port - the straits are very 'Apocalypse Now'. Finished now after a brief walk on land. Back at sea, think it's back to Macaroni's again today. Cian. Afternoon - Surfed Rag's Left head high, a bit bigger on the sets. Damn that wave is shallow. Thunder's was savage at dusk when the wind dropped, didn't quite get the hang of it, but some of the guys were getting some great waves. Oran. Evening - Got to surf Rag's Left to ourselves, pretty shallow and inconsistant. When the sets came through it was nice. Eoin & Jonny got some sweet set waves. Then we upped anchor and headed for Thunders (left). Really nice wave. Got it to ourselves aswell. Good day for missing boats. Shane Later evening - Yep, all changed, moved south to Rag's Left - crappish first session but got a nice long one just as it started to get a bit shallow. On to Thunders, savage wave. Really classy glass. Cian. Day 9, Monday 12th of July 
7.38am - Thunders again this morning. Nice waves, 3ft but really powerful and very glassy. Got one pretty decent one and then got a nice big jellyfish sting all along the top of my ass. Nice. Schlapped on some vinegar, now hope for the best! Cian.Night - Switched boards for the afternoon session after having horrible morning session (abt. 40mins being dragged around inside - 3 seperate occasions!). Fatter board with bigger, thicker rails was great. Started catching some of the bigger sets, great session. Broke that board in the evening! Ah well!...As Tom says "aw mate...the dogs never break, eh?". Oran. Later night - Amazing waves in Thunders all day. All the guys were catching good waves, I was having a 'mare of a day. Reef wounds and a few waves but mostly beatings. Did some snorkelling with the lads, cool reef formation caves and all! Few beers as the sun set videoing the guys. Oh and Oran snapped mine and Tim's board! Another one bites the dust! Shane. Day 10, Tuesday 13th of July 8.11am - Some of the lads out for an early last session at Thunders, back in now. We're back to Macaroni's now, 5hrs-ish I think - it's getting busy here with a lot of boats that left Padang on Saturday night arriving at these more Southern spots now. Cian. 
Morning - Way more boats down in Thunders this morning. Shane, Zach, Eoin and I popped in for a morning session. Got a couple of nice ones and headed then for Macca's.Three boats in Macca's so heading to a right that Tom knows - I think he reckons we're pretty crazy leaving Macca's...we'll see. Oran. 17.22 - Did some snorkelling on the reef inside Thunders, great fish and coral to see. So, the slow trek begins Northward back to Padang, Macca's headhigh and ten people on it with maybe 25 waiting - the decision was made to head on North to a secret spot of Tom's called Robinson Crusoe's. A right hander breaking on a reef just off a tiny desert island just off the island of Pagai Utara. Before surfing we did a cliff jump nearby, the right breaks really fast on the lower tide, tide's rising at the moment - about 3 hrs to go. Great session, very long and lots of waves. Cian. Evening - Surfed Thuders in the morning, finally got it together, was surfing crap for the past few days. Then passed Macca's and there were 3 boats, so we moved on to a SECRET spot. On the way did a cool cliff jump. then surfed in Robinsons, had the most enjoyable surf of the trip for me. 3-4ft right hander, started on-shore and it glassed up and started kranking!!! So long and chilled. Everyone surfed really well and it was mellowacachabuzz. Had a 4 and a half hr session, was wrecked but grinning from ear to ear. Shane. Day 11, Wednesday, Bastille Day 
8.40am - Passed Lances Left earlier - 9/10 boats...moving on...at Scarecrows now. Left, head high, clean empty sets...out there now! Cian.10.34am - Elbow tendonitis...shite! Cian Day 12, Thursday 15th of July 9.53am - Telescopes. 50mg of Difene, 2hrs of great fun left handers, head high at best, until some Seppos turned up to crowd the party. Cracking morning though and pancakes for breakfast! Thank god after a week solid of scrambled eggs on toast. Some people were even starting to cluck. Cian. Afternoon - In Telescopes in the morning, great wave. Small but really wally and fast. Then lots of Sepos turned up so we moved on to Icelands. Pancakes for breakfast and we all know how much I like pancakes! Had a great snorkel with Col, saw bannerfish, poofish, sea snakes, and lots of other goodies. Really nice weather until my fricken video + digital cameras got ruined by the rain! Oh and lots of Rummikub played. Shane. Dee Thuhteen in da Big Brutha Booat, Friday 16th of july 
7.06am - Da boyz 'ave gut an eealy staat un da gayme av 'Rummikub'. Bin playin' seence aboot 6.05am.7.09am - Overcast and choppy this morning, went on to land somewhere(?) last night, just a quick wander while two of the lads (Bas, and Captain) picked up some fresh fruit and veg. Plans to dive this morning have been suddenly altered slightly, we're already on the way North across the straight from Sipura to Siberut to 'The Playgrounds'. There we should have a good spot to both dive and surf for the day. After lunch - Nice session at Four Bobs, dozen or so head high fast shallow waves until some Aussies turned up. Pizza for lunch. Cian 4pm - Surfed in Playgrounds at Four Bobs after an epic morning game of Rummikub. Then Zach and I surfed Rifles for an hour. Pretty fast, hollow and shallow. then had a rolling contest on our boards at Four Bobs in the avo. Good laugh!. Shane 6pm - Four Bobs for another half dozen waves, then left it to those Aussies...but not straight away...! Glassed off later, the lads surfed Kandui's, wanted to surf Four Bobs again, but too many out. Cian. Day 14, Saturday 17th of July 
15.08 - Very small and windy this morning so nothing doing surf wise. Moored at Hideaways (dive spot), swam to land (eoin, Mark, Shane, Oran, me, and Skip) - saw a local Losman, and also one work in progress.Moved to Napussi's then got a dozen or so really nice head high clean right handers there. Nice session for us all to end off the Mentawai tour with though! Just waiting for the 150km trip back to Padang to begin very soon now. 6.27pm - Well on the way now, Rocky enough! Just battened down all the relevant hatches, looks like some weather coming. Stemetil 5mg being handed about! Cian Day 15, Sunday 18th of july 6.55am - Padang. Packed. End Epilogue - Still July 2004 
Well not quite the end, there was still a night of 'clubbing' to be had at the infamous top Padang nightspot "Rocky's""! Oran, Colin and I headed off to Jakarta the next day on our slow trip home. Zach joined us for the first bit, and then headed to Bali. The rest...Eoin, Shane, Tim, Mark, Jonny, there was still more travelling to do for them...Bali, Oz, New Zealand...
 |