Indo trip 2013

I'm in Italy, watching the Tahiti contest and I got time to do this in another window.

Just like the Peru trip, here's the collection of the Facebook posts I did during the Indo trip, which happened May (before Peru).
Enjoy.

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Post 1, May 6.
That is true, but i can't believe it actually worked! They wanted to charge me $200 for the boards but thanks to that piece of paper with my notes from a phone call, i did not get charged a penny from honolulu to bali!
Growing up in Napoli did have some good aspects...
Fortunately, I won't need to do that next year: I left those two boards at my hotel in Bali. They're gonna live there. Because I'm going to Indo each single remaining summer of my life.

Post 2, May 7

one of the many magic aspects of surfing. Never met this guy before, probably never going to meet him again, but we shared a sweet dawn patrol session at a Kuta's "second reef" and for 1.5 hours we were best surfing buddies...

Just a quick... update for those who may concern.
I landed in Bali at midnight yesterday. Went to my usual shit hole hotel. Rented a bike at 5.30am. Went surfing at from 6 to 7.30. Had breakfast, changed all the money, bought local sim cards and grabbed a taxi for the airport at 9.15.
Got on a plane to another island at 11.
Next possible surf opportunity in 24h. Forecast for the weekend keeps looking very solid.

Now I'm uploading this (or trying to) from an hotel with no power (hence no Wi-Fi). I'm running on battery and a cell phone modem. It's so slow (and hot), that I'm going for a cold bintang right after this, so you guys will have to wait for more photos and updates. 

 

Post 3, May 7

Once again this wave in Kuta is called "second reef". It's between Kuta reef and Middles and I never surfed it before.
The guy on the boat said:"it's not a high performance wave like the other reefs, but there's usually a lot less people......"
I said:"that's exactly what I need after 10 + 7 hours of plane and 6h time difference..."
Plus, after 4 days of sup surfing at thousand peaks, for me that's as high performance as I can handle!!!
It was a really fun session. A mellow welcome to the magic smoothness of Indonesian waves.
I absolutely love this country!
See you guys, Bintang is now calling me loud.

 

Post 4, May 8
Wi-Fi is back on, a few more shots before going to bed

Post 5, May 9
Gp is in the barrel but he's not gonna come out of it.
Not gonna claim it, but the photo is good enough to post it.
This morning i surfed 2.5h, the first of which by myself. Then two other guys came out, but they sat too deep and got often caught inside by the big sets. I was at the end of the reef and caught 15 to 20 BEAUTIFUL waves.

top turn decently close to the pocket. If i could only transplant my front arm with an alive one that would help.

air bubbles beard on water pressure compressed face.

i'll leave the guesses to you guys.

Post 6, May 11
Mid day high tide time killing

both me and the dog

Post 7, May 14
The surfer and the surfboard: a fairy tale by Gp.
Once upon a time there was a young surfer (oh come on, it's a fairy tale) who owned a beautiful surfboard.
One day he was riding it on a beautiful wave

At the same time there was a photographer taking photos of the same wave from the reef

Unfortunately, after that wave the surfer got stuck inside and a big mean set snapped his board in two pieces

But the photographer was also a magician and with a touch of his magic wound he put the board back together.
The surfer and his board lived happily together thereafter

Post 8, May 15
Couple of shots from the inside of the jakarta hotel... i was expecting Arthur Fonzarelli to show up anytime

Post 9, May 16
Looks like I moved from one perfect wave to another. I'm gonna call this one Steve's spot. The internet connection is super slow, so don't worry if you don't see too many updates from me... I'm just fine, but thanks for caring! 

Post 10, May 16
the surf camp. 20 bucks a day, three (good) meals included.

the tough life at the surf camp: hanging out on the observation tower checking out the waves (and facebook), getting ready for session

can't see much 'cause now it's against the sun, but the waves are still pumping. That was a big set that caught everybody inside...
Allright, time to go! Damn, 10 days in Indo and i haven't got a massage yet! Uff, that's another solid head and a half set just now...

Post 11, May 18

It took 20 hours, but I manage to upload the video of that 50 seconds wave: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTF689RaO98&feature=youtu.be
I didn't do anything special on it, I just wanted to make it all the way to the end.
Also, here's a 4 photos sequence of yet another missed barrel opportunity. If I grabbed the wall at the take off, I would have stayed high enough and got covered... but that's not exactly the easiest thing to do on an overhead steep drop. Not with my skill, at least.
But hey, at least I made the drop!

Post 12 , May 20

Yesterday the waves were small and four of us went for a bike ride. We also rented a boat for a trip to a small island. We found a small right that had a perfect shape. It was a very pleasant and relaxing experience which i totally needed after having surfed for 6 hours each of the previous two days. Unfortunately, the day turned into a bit of a nightmare because as soon as we got back on land, we... got hit by some heavy rain and the bike ride back to the camp took forever. The last hour was in the dark and i don't remember doing something as dangerous in a really long time. I'm just really glad everything went ok. Half of the injuries i see on surfers here are caused by motorcycle wipeouts and now i know why...

Post 13, May 23
Four shots from this morning:
facial expression shows justified apprehension

facial expression shows justified pain

good surfer shows how it's done

shaving action around the cut. 
Swell is still building, I'm done surfing this spot. Tomorrow morning i'll start the journey towards Bali and hopefully i'll be able to surf two more days there... if the waves are not too big.
Life is great.

Well, I did go to Bali and I did surf a couple of more days and I also did a couple of more posts on Facebook, but I can't find them anywhere.
One more proof that FB sucks as a place where to permanently write your online diary. Well, it's not designed for that.

For example, this is a wave I rode at Balangan, the day before leaving.

Final feedback of my 2013 Indo trip: just awesome.
I surfed a new spot (which is my goal each time I go to Indo) and I scored great waves  pretty much every single day.
That section of the ocean between Cape of Good Hope and west Australia brews storms with a very reliable consistency in the southern hemisphere winter time.
Indo is placed perfectly and at the right latitude to receive the related swells.
Water is warm, winds are mostly offshore, it's cheap... how can you beat it as a surfing destination, really?

But I did like the two surf trips thing I did this year and I might do it again next year... as I said, the 50th year celebration was just an excuse. I didn't really need it and I won't need it next year...
I heard very good things about Nicaragua and I might try to combine it with the September family Italy trip.
But right now, I'm just focused on the fact that soon I'll be back to Maui and soon the north shore will come back to life. No need for surf trips in winter time in Maui. I love it too much to leave.