The Indies Trader was once known as the Indies Raider, but captain Daly changed it when he took sole ownership. What the boat lacks in speed makes up for it in comfort, distance and notoriety. 

The crew aboard the Trader is first class. Nights were spent around the galley sipping the local brew and listening to Martin's stories of past discoveries and salvages. Much of the boat is made up of pieces of salvaged wrecks.

Jimmy Rotherham

His style is perfect and he knows how to get barreled. He was blowing the top off of waves with front side snaps that flowed into functional airs. It must be nice to have a perfect world-class point break in front of your house.Jimmy also acted as our guide translator, which came in handy more than once. Somewhere near the Nicaraguan border, the Indies Trader was stopped and boarded by the local military. The locals were most likely looking for drug smugglers but anyone holding a machine gun is still frightening. 
After a day of searching for new spots, Jimmy took us to a secluded island for lobster and cold cervezas. He was my hero after that night.

Our flights to our destination went smoothly until we descended, which is when Timmy and I looked at each other and were screaming in pain. We both had sinus headaches that felt like screwdrivers were being driven into our brains. They were pretty severe so we decided to have a couple of drinks, which is never just a couple with Timmy and me. The next day the waves were perfect and perfectly suited for Timmy. 6-8 footers rolled in all morning with light off-shores. Timmy is probably the only guy from Huntington that can't surf small waves as well as he can when it's macking. Timmy has a classic barrel riding style, with his back arched and hand dragging low in the tube.

Never in a thousand years did I ever think Id ever get to go on a trip with Tom Carroll. His attitude and humbleness is unbelievable. He surfs with the stoke of a 14-year old grom and treats everyone with an enormous amount of respect. Tom surfed every session like it was his last, putting every inch of muscle into each form. I almost wish I wasn't shooting photos so I could sit back and just watch him surf. He surfs each wave flawlessly, from every bottom turn to cutback. His barrel riding is phenomenal as well; he always would get as deep as possible and never squat.

His role aboard the Trader was to account for each day's events and log them online. His tales had loads of humor in them, he didn't hold back in describing the day's happenings. Shayne actually got one of the better paddle-in waves of the trip with TC and the boys robbing all of the good waves and Timmy Turner getting the rest, it was pretty hard to nab a good solid wave. Shayne lucked out however and grabbed a beast of a left, pulled in looking directly at us in the tin boat and threw a scaka. That's his style - purely comical. It was probably the biggest barrel. I thought it was hilarious. On the right-hander we scored Shayne continually demolishing the waves with heavy snaps alley oops and solid barrels.

He buys plane tickets to Hawaii for him and his friends. Keeping in mind that Strider was like 13 at the time, and he just hopped on a plane without knowing where he was going to stay. Somehow he pulled it off and hasn't stopped surfing the North Shore since.
Strider had just come back from that massive swell in Tahiti, so these waves were probably nothing to him. Strider seemed to take over the Jet Ski responsibilities for the time because of sore shoulder. He whipped Morcom and TC perfectly into every wave, but somehow he managed to run into the tin boat we were shooting from, giving us a good scare.

Morcom straight up charges. Everyone knows it. But he was pushing the boundaries by towing into these 8 footers with my flash in his hand.
If you've ever been towed before, you'd know how hard it would be to do it with one hand. Morcom had enough to worry about with these nuts waves without my strobe flashing in his face. Morcom has a strict routine while onboard as well. He and TC made up their own training routine around the boat everyday just sweating in the blistering heat. But his strength shows in his surfing, with his solid barrel riding and beefy turns.