7-1-08
I smashed my custom Merrick single-fin @ Sewers during my final Santa Cruz session, my only casualty after an entire winter of surfing it leash-less; and then my power-steering gave out when I took Jenna up to SF for her 22nd birthday. Then after my mad-dash to SD to store my material life, I left on the Amtrak a day earlier than my scheduled flight from LAX, forcing me to take a $60 cab ride from Union Station to Mick Kelleher's place in Venice Beach. The next day, we went to the NHSSA finals / X-Games shop team trials at Red Bull HQ, where we drank beer and hit on teenage girls all day. When I finally got to the airport, I was tired, drunk, and famished. All the airport employees were stoked on my trip, even the TSA agent was a knee-boarder who had gone to Uluwatu, "when I was your age . . ." On my way to my gate I stole a $9 sandwich, putting it in my Mexican cowboy hat and wearing it, as I walked away smirking at my cleverness.
Padang Padang
Flight route: LAX -->13hrs --> Taipei -->5hrs-->Kuala Lumpur -->3hrs-->Denpasar.
Despite the sheer length of the travel time, it was a very enjoyable trip. On-demand movies, TV, and music, great food w/ complimentary wine, comfortable chairs with adequate leg room - everything an American airline is not. When I got to Bali I changed $100 into 900,000rp and was picked up by one of the resort drivers, Ketut, who was waving the broken nose of a surfboard with my name on it. The car ride was hectic, motorbikes all over the road, immense new buildings towered over half-built or half-broke shanties, sacred Hindu figures commoditized lined the road-side, keeping a silent vigil over the bustling night.
I was taken to the guide house, which is a three story building on a busy street, surrounded by massage parlors, markets, bars & restaurants, etc., not the secluded ocean-front palapa I was expecting at all. we had a brief guide meeting, mostly formalities and introductions, and then I was finally able to take a much needed shower. It was hardly refreshing - a single stream of water that lost all pressure after just a few minutes, then putting forth a mere trickle, as if being peed upon. I went to bed feeling exhausted and a little misled . . .
7.9.08
Went out to dinner last night with all the guides to a ritzy Italian joint. A margherita pizza and two Heinekens cost me 34,000 or $3.50. Afterwards our bosses met us for dessert and drinks at Cafe Bali where we polished off a bottle of Jameson. From there, we went to a bonfire party at Balangan Beach where a bunch of German uni students were having a final blowout before heading home.
None of the girls wanted anything to do with me once they knew I was American so I started hitting the Arrak pretty hard. When we got home, Mathias & Johannes couldn't budge me, so I slept in the backseat of the Kijang jeep.
Our Kijang
I woke up still very drunk with my feet hanging out of the open back door. Had an amazing banana pancake at the Batu Balong warung after a very windy surf session and met an Aussie friend of Joko's who travels eleven months of the year, making all of his money trading stocks online.
Batu Bolong photoshooting
Trey
Bart
Sarah
7.16.08
This last Sunday I had my first great Indo session at a place called Kedungu, at about 5-8ft.
Kedungu sunraise
We surfed it empty and glassy from 6:30-9:30am. Once another group arrived, so did the wind, and I was happy to leave them the leftovers. Afterwards I ate noodles at a warung overlooking the break and then napped in the shade. That afternoon, the Dutchies took me to Kuta beach with a bottle of Glenlivet to pregame for the Sunday Chill Session at Ocean Beach Club.
Dutchies Golden team
Tim, Mr in the middle is not Dutchie Team member so lets go further, Stefan and Don Vincent is missing, however stay stoked coz he is gonna be here very soon.
We made a big "NO" sign drawn into the sand so we could just point when approached by the roaming vendors. It must've looked like we were having such a good time that two different groups of young Asian girls came over just to have their picture taken with us. Afterwards, we pounded down Big Macs and settled into pitchers of Long Islands at OCB where this Aussie entertainer played the guitar, a giant digeradoo, and beat-boxed simultaneously - very impressive. Almost immediately I began making eyes at a gorgeous pair of girls who happened to be Aussie sisters. The Dutchies were so pleased that I didn't even have to move, they took turns bringing me more drinks for a chance to get in on the action. After the beautiful Aussies left, the night got very hazy at Club Bounty . . .
7.22.08
Met 2007 Pipe Master Jamie O'Brien. I watched as a huge group of Japanese took turns taking their picture with him, one guy even taking his shirt off for the photo. He was a good sport throughout, throwing shakas and smiling for tons of photos, the plastic high school dance smile that fades with every flash. After giving him an appropriate amount of recovery time, I asked if he would mind if I took my shirt off for a photo with him . . . we shared a good laugh.
Padang Padang
7.25.08
This Friday I had my first Zodiac session to the airport reefs. We launched from German Beach, and had to time the sets to make it over the reef safely; we had to turn back on our initial attempt as a set started sucking the reef dry, leaving our outboard prop grinding into the reef. Once we made it outside, we could see that it was too big for our guests, so we took them to Tora Tora, further inside Jimbaran Bay from Airport Rights. We anchored among a mini-fleet of local fishermen who charge 40,000 a head for their water-taxi service. The wave was a steep, racing right wall that could be worked for a hundred yards easy, two hundred if you really wanted to milk it. The left was a steep, pitching barrel that shouldered quickly after the drop, where it flattened out into the channel where all the boats were anchored. We shared the break with about thirty Japanese and a few Aussies, but I got a ton of great waves, sets running about 8ft, and Joko was finally able to see me surf a real wave.
Padang Padang
To celebrate our session, Joko took us to a local's secret warung that serves amazing strawberry juice and we all got giant plates of local fare as well. I picked my dishes ignorantly, by looks alone, and ended up eating a healthy pile of spicy chicken livers & hearts - Joko would only tell me what it was after I finished eating it all. "Don't worry man, very good for your blood." That afternoon, Lars and I took a group to Dreamland, which is being into "new Kuta Beach," complete with golf courses and a huge resort on top of what was once a desolate and pristine cliff. Sets were an easy 10ft, way too much for any of the guests, so I went out alone. It was thumping - most power of anywhere I've surfed in Bali in so far, but a beautiful, picturesque wave. The second wave I caught was an amazing in-&-out left hander with a perfect view of Balangan cliff out of the tube. That wave was the high point of my trip so far and made the long week of punishing airport pick-ups all the more worth it. I took some brutal beatings, getting caught inside by sneaker sets, and on my last wave got a minor case of whip-lash when I tried to launch a floater on the close-out end section of a huge left that I had been racing down the face of . . . longest ride I saw anyone make the whole day, and luckily all my guests happened to see it on the beach as well, so I practically came in to a round of applause . . .
7.26.08
Had a great day off on Saturday. Bart, Simon, & I got up at 4:30am and drove to the east coast, a spot called Keramas. We got there before dawn and I took a nature dump; the mosquitoes feasted on my thighs while I was squatting and squeezing. The beach was very scenic and serene, with beautiful mountains that the sun rose over. Perfect glassy conditions, unfortunately just a lack of swell. We checked Sanur Reef on the way home and it seemed to be working quite well on the sets, although inconsistent. There was deep water off the beach, then a section of completely exposed reef in front of the break. The reef and our lack of sleep kept us unmotivated and dry. Later in the morning, Roland met us at the Green Room and we followed him to Impossibles. We followed him to a French owned resort at the edge of the cliff where his wife works as a fitness instructor. The resort was amazing, with an edge-less pool that had a perfect view of the break which was cranking, wrapping all the way around the cliff from Padang Padang to Bingin.
We hiked down a steep and narrow staircase that wound down the cliff-face and led into the beach-side warungs. It was a long paddle-out over very shallow reef and then against the current to get out to the peak, with sets running in the solid 10ft range. I took some great beatings, got clipped by the lip trying to pull in and then slapping the water so hard with my face I thought I was going to have a black eye. On another, very late take-off, I got swallowed by the foam ball and was sent flipping head over heels; I counted five full rotations before the wave was done thrashing me. The waves I made made it well worth it though, being able to throw five or six huge turns on a huge emerald canvas. Bart naturally hit the reef again and got sucked all the way down past Bingin before he was able to make it back in. After our session, we had lunch at Suzie's Warung right on the beach, where I feasted on a pile of spicy spaghetti and large Bintang. After lunch, we drove further down the point to Padang Padang, where the Rip Curl Cup had just finished the day before. The waves were pumping and the peak was packed, but I was suprised to see how many waves bodyboarders were getting, it was actually upsetting. The asian fishing boat was still perched precariously on the rocks just inside the break. The boat was found washed on to the reef with a missing crew and a payload full of fresh fish.
Padang Padang shipwreck from Taiwan
At the day that ship got stucked on the reef and before swell hit the coast shipwreck was in the middle of the break.
Couple days later swell arrived and ship landed on the cliff.
I recon it's gonna stay here for good.
Padang Padang
Padang beach
sweeet
lov it
After the locals ransacked everything that wasn't bolted down, they were having fish BBQ for days. On our way home, we stopped by Roland's wive's new restaurant near Balangan. It is a small warung with the main dining building still under construction, which will have an amazing ocean view. Roland's wife, the fitness instructor, is an absolute knockout; and her friend and business partner, Brita, is a very hot cougar as well. She seemed to be noticeably checking me out before she finally explained that she recognized me from the airport, and that her daughter had pointed me out to her, saying, "Look mom, it's George of the jungle!" Everyone got a good laugh out of that and "George" has become my new moniker.
No comments:
Post a Comment