16 days of excellent waves. The light offshore made all the difference and the size didn't really matter.
But I'll start with a collection of sunsets.
I got there on August 1st and a new swell hit the day after. The usual 5-6f 15s which over there translates into head a half to DOH perfection. Unfortunately, towards the end of the swell, a unlike duck dive heavily buckled my board. I brought it to the local ding repair man, but with the waves on the way down I needed another shortboard and bought a used 6.3 Merrick Semi Pro, which did a decent job at temporary replacing the Payzel.
Now I got three boards in the spot, two in Bali and if I count also another one that I left to be sold on consignment, the total number of boards I own in Indonesia is six.
That feels like having built hotels in the most valuable properties of Monopoly (what is it in English, Park Place and Boardwalk?).
Not too much to say about my stay, which was made of the classic surf, eat and sleep routine. The biggest decision I had to take in those days was what time to go surf. So I'll let the gopro shots and videos speak.
This first clip and the photos below show a collection of waves of the first two days of the swell. After that, I partially broke the housing of the GoPro, and didn't use it anymore.
Towards the end of the stay, I figured that I could still use the camera with the mouth mount, and this clip below shows a well overhead wave (close to double on the take off) on my last day. It's glassy as it gets and consequently the shoulder was pretty soft.
My favorite sessions were the head high ones with the light offshore instead.
16 days of excellent surfing went pretty quick and all of a sudden the last day came and I had to leave. Didn't go straight back to Maui though.
When I booked this trip, in fact, the cheapest Bali-HNL ticket was through Melbourne and offered a 9h stop over. I tried to break it down in two separate tickets and if I added a two nights stop over, it would cost 100 bucks left. I had just watched the contest at Bells, and I embraced the idea of exploring the area with excitement.
At the time, I didn't even know that I had a friend (a maui resident a few years back) that lived in Torquay. Visiting him was the best part of the stay.
That's how Winki Pop looked in the morning of the first day. Pretty awesome, but a bit crowded because there was a local contest at Bells.
We decided to check if later the crowd would go down and since it was windy, my friend went for a quick sail in a spot with side shore wind down the coast. I graciously passed on the offer: I was not gonna wear a wet wetsuit later on... plus I'm too spoiled from the Maui windsurfing.
When we got back to Winki Pop, a bit of westerly wind was on it. Not as clean as before, but a bit less people. Reluctantly, I got into my 4/3 sealed seams wetsuit, put my rented booties on and entered the frigid water. I believe the temperature was around 11 degrees centigrade (52F).
My hands were the only fully exposed body part and they hurt for the cold.
To tell you the truth, the conditions made the waves look like an average day at Tavares, but even if it would have been as perfect as it was earlier (photo below), I would have not enjoyed it.
I was uncomfortably cold.
The day after the waves looked still pretty good (this is Bells), but I decided that I wasn't tough enough for it and returned the booties, had a drive around and went to the airport happy to have done the experience. Never say never, but that might have been the last time I put myself into a 4/3 wetsuit. At least I hope so!
Once again, the morning calls will be back in September. Pray for waves.
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