|
IT HAS BEEN OVER
A YEAR SINCE THE INDIES TRADER SAILED
FROM THE SPICY SHORES OF INDONESIA ON
HER QUEST FOR THE PERFECT WAVE.
SHE HAS FOUND MORE THAN HER SHARE.
SOME HAVE APPEARED IN MAGAZINES, SOME
SHALL TEASE US IN VIDEOS AND SOME...
WELL LETS JUST SAY THEY REMAIN IN THE
CAPTAINS LOG OF MEMORIES.
AS A SURFER, I AM PRIVILEGED TO BE A
PART OF QUIKSILVER’S GRAND ADVENTURE.
AS A CAPTAIN I AM SEEING THINGS,
EXPERIENCING MOMENTS AND MEETING PEOPLE
THAT WILL FUEL MANY A YARN FOR YEARS TO
COME.
The Indies Trader lay anchored in a
beautiful, sometimes fickle, part of the
South Pacific Ocean. Swells could take
days to reach the pristine reefs of this
island chain, during which different
high or low pressure systems could bend
or push these waves away from their
original course. Martin, Bruce and
myself were all learning from experience
about the idiosyncrasies of these
islands; the distances between
locations, the effect of different
swells, wind factors, and local lore.
Quiksilver was undertaking a new formula
for their latest Crossing Campaign. Pick
the swell, fly the team in, surf them
out, then send them on their way and the
boat across another stretch of water. |
|
A team was organised overnight to fly in
and be set up for the next swell. We
would be joined by the Slater brothers:
Kelly, Sean and Stephen, along with Ben
Bourgeois, Fred Patacchia and Shane
Dorian. Jeff Hornbaker, Sonny Miller and
Todd Messick were the image collectors
for the mission. Our cook Zane and I
hail from Bondi Beach in Sydney. We were
looking forward to witnessing some
red-hot action from a few seppo surfers.
This is what happened.
The surfers were caught up on the
mainland awaiting boards and celebrating
Kelly’s birthday. Sonny, Todd and Jeff
all showed up with more gear than an
Arabian camel train. There were some
small waves breaking so we all relaxed
and went surfing. On his first session,
Todd was “reef rashed,” so we
squeezed lime onto the fresh flesh,
handed him a beer and called it a day.
The rest of the boys turned up for day
two. Fred was running late, but we could
grab him later. We kicked the
eight-cylinder gardener in the guts and
hightailed it to another location. The
Crossing was about four-to-five hours
long and it was a great chance to catch
fish during the ride. Sean and Kelly
began rigging tackle while the others
lazed about the deck to the rhythmic
motion of the ocean. Hornbaker, as
always, had his own line out, waiting.
The bird pile was going nuts as we
steered toward it. Shearwaters,
Frigates, large Pacific Gulls and
fluttering white Terns bombed the
smaller fish the tuna were harassing.
Everyone was watching, waiting and
willing the fish to bite. Then bang! Two
lines whirred at a rate that would burn
fingers if one wasn’t careful. Kelly
had one, Hornbaker the other. Great
cheers went up and the fight was on.
Kelly’s fish escaped so all the
attention went to the other fish
fighter. A large Yellow fin shimmered
just beneath the surface at the side of
the boat. More applause. But the line
wrapped around the transducer pole.
Hornbaker jumped overboard as somebody
yelled “Shark!” He managed to
untangle the line bit the fish got free
and a little cursing followed. All these
boys have game fished before and know
the breaks. It was only a warm-up for
the competition that would ensue. From
the moment we entered the pass that
bordered by a short, shallow, hollow
left and a longer, wally, workable
right, Ben showed his keenness to surf.
He did not stop till we left five days
later. Sean was not far behind and also
showed symptoms of a bloke living on the
stoke of surfing. Small, clean rights
were running along the reef and Ben
wasted no time tearing the hellout of
them. The lefts were larger, but
somewhat inconsistent. Kelly and Steve
hit it and scored a few nice backside
barrels that we spied from across the
channel. Shane paddled over on a boogie
board and the rest of us surfed the
rights. The Tinboat Tournament began
with Sean and Hornbaker heading out for
a late hunt and returning with for large
Bigeye Tuna. Ben, Steve and Todd surfed
till dark.
Day three was almost flat. The crew
applied themselves for the mandatory
Reefcheck in the fish traps. By all
reports this area is stocked to the hill
with Trevally, Job fish, Rainbow
runners, stingray, Porcupine fish, Tuna
and various forms of reef sharks.
|
|
It’s always a bummer to see the swell
drop, especially after a taste on our
first day. Kelly began playing with his
black bag of fins-he had all different
kinds of setups from football fins to
mini-Merrick side fins. One of his
boards had slots to put in seven
different combinations. The surf was
very small so he borrowed one of his
brother’s longboards and they both
went surfing over the shallow reef. All
three Slater brothers are keen surfers
and decent down-to-earth blokes. This
was the first time Kelly had been on a
trip with Sean and Steve. The three
brothers obviously enjoyed being
together surfing, fishing, drinking beer
and partaking in evening shark baiting
frenzies. |
The crew have this act every evening.
They would tie carcass of a tuna to a
rope and dangle it over the side. After
a while, the Blacktips begin circling
and then eventually the larger ones will
attack. Once these things bite, they
will not let go till they have the fish
or the rope is severed. This is a great
tug-of-war between player and shark,
amidst cheers and splashes. Sean catches
sharks back on the East Coast, so he was
giving Steve and Kelly a few pointers,
till one night Shane came down and tied
a big hook on the rope so he could land
one. The thrashing of a mad shark on
deck is enough to get anyone’s blood
going. But in the interest of Reefcheck
and Karma, the boys threw it back, only
to watch the larger sharks tear it to
bits.
Day four dawned to glimmer of hope
preceded by Fred’s arrival with the
news of some solid swell in Hawaii.
Definitely more movement in the ocean.
Kelly went surfing on his
seven-fin-possibilities board. He was a
bit slow from his ankle injury, but
still carved the hell out of the waves.
Shane maintained his bodyboard status on
the hollow left. Always grinning, he
reckoned some of the barrels he was
getting were great fun. Fred worked the
right for all it was worth: surfing
extremely fast, tight turns with a lot
of power for a school kid. Ben sat on
the left for what seemed like hours.
Every now and then he could be seen in a
solid tube or belting the back out of
the wave. The lad was surfed out by the
end of the day.
I’ve been surfing in the Mentawais
over the last few years. I remember
watching him surf a few years back at
Lance’s Right and thinking that for a
smaller kid, he ripped. He’s filled
out a lot since then and is surfing has
become more powerful. In true East Coast
style, he enjoys a beer and loves to
surf. He has that casual, easygoing
manner that should stand him good stead
for many a surf adventure in the future.
He clocked up more hours than anyone and
his surfing was up there with the big
boys. He had some solid tubes on the
left and the right and was doing huge
roundhouses and aerials.
Shane, Steve and Horny all went for the
late troll and returned with six Bigeyes.
The challenge was thrown down to Zane
the Chef to create fish dishes for the
next six nights. Spicy tuna with rice
and veggies was on the menu that
evening.
The best thing about day five was that
Shane went surfing. He and Kelly played
tube time extension. They would both sit
there for as long as possible. When the
waves didn’t barrel they showed why
they are two of the best. Shane’s
re-entries seemed effortless and every
now and then he would go for a huge air.
I don’t think he made any of the big
ones but he never gave up. It seemed
that he was dead certain he would make
it. Both he and Kelly are a pleasure to
watch. Kelly occasionally does these
reos where he hardly even bends his
knees. His whole body goes into it and
then he would draw the turn into a full
off the bottom to set up some other
quirky manoeuvre, depending on what the
wave was doing.
The right was perfect but it had all
these tight tubes or fast sections that
changes subtly. As delegated tinboat
driver, I got to witness a lot of good
surfing. Todd was super excited - it was
his first big assignment with some
top-notch boys and he’d never shot
from a tinboat before. Jeff and Sonny
have years of experience and have
learned to wait till proof is in the
pudding, so to speak. Todd was raving
about the light and the manoeuvres. He
was over the side swimming here, there
and everywhere. Fred pulled the three
biggest backside whacks on this day.
Steve almost made a hang-five, 360
degree out of the tube turn, or whatever
one calls it. The coral ate his board,
but it was not for lack of trying. By
the end of the day everyone was pretty
happy. Kelly went fishing and returned
with a trophy. A 38-lb. Yellowfin Tuna.
Needless to say, he began to realise he
had all but broken his hex. His Aussie
accent became more pronounced in the
bagging program, so we called him
Kelpie.
The swell hit on day six. There were
some overhead faces and solid waves all
day. Shane’s mad rap music blared and
bopped from the wheelhouse speakers as
everyone viewed the waves only 30 metres
away from the channel. We all watched,
as a six-wave set reeled down the reef.
Martin had rung the day before and told
me he and Bruce Raymond would be turning
up, have the jet-skis ready. They were
loaded in the water and floated behind
the Trader. Steve paddled out on his
longboard and became tubed on his first
three waves. That was when everyone
began getting amped. Ben, as always, was
quick to hit. Pretty soon the whole
contingent was out there. The surfing
this day was nothing short of excellent.
Solid turns from all the boys, no
whick-whak shit, just rail to rail
gouging. Then the big boys turned up
just as the largest set of the day
nearly took out the jet ski and Shane
was tubed from go to whoa! Suddenly
there were four extra blokes in the
line-up. They had brought John Thompson,
a famous amateur golfer and a sales rep
from Quiksilver. Thommo will never
forget his first wave with the stars.
Neither will Ben. |
|
It was probably the hollowest tube of
the trip, and one of the biggest. Ben
pulled in and was flying. Thommo was
duckdiving through the face when his
board slipped from his grasp and shot
backwards into the barrel; that Ben was
motoring through. The rail literally
chopped his legs out from underneath
him. The sound of fibreglass hitting
shin was not a nice one. Maybe the tube
funnelled that sick sound because Zane
heard it from the boat. Ben had to go
and have a rest after that and ice his
shins. Everyone was a little dubious
about Thommo for a while. But he’s a
top bloke and we all forgave him over a
few beers. Not before bagging the shit
out of him. The other surfer was Arsene
Harehoe; one of the Quiksilver’s
long-standing sponsored surfers from
Tahiti. Arsene was bred on cavernous
reef waves and is all about old school
power carves, which shows in his
surfing. The old buggers put in many
combined hours this day. Bruce showed
flashes of his “Band on the Run”
days with subtle fade bottom turns,
Martin charged on as usual, Thommo
flowed, and Arsene stayed out all day.
Shane and Kelly paddled up the reef
where a particularly fast barrel was
depositing itself on the coral. It was
inconsistent up there but they managed
to catch a couple of extremely hollow
things. I have never seen two blokes do
bigger speed turns in what seemed to me
like a closeout. Todd went swimming in
amongst them and he came back raving
again.
|
|
Kelly paddled over to the left for a
late session by himself. He was testing
out a new steamer and the waves were
solid. We watched him pull some huge
backside manoeuvres – pretty crazy
stuff considering the way the left ended
in a big thump on the reef.
Everyone was pretty sore by the end of
the day. Sean had hit the reef and his
hours were taking their toll. Steven was
going nuts on his longboard and made it
look really fun. Fred and Ben had also
surfed themselves silly. |
The swell didn’t hang around. There
were still plenty of surfable waves.
Everyone was a little slow moving on the
last day. The boat was anchored away
from the channel so it was difficult to
keep an eye on the fluctuations of the
tide. Arsene took the ball up and surfed
the left for an hour by himself. When
the crew finally got out there the waves
cleaned up and some great backside
surfing went down. But the swell was
dropping and the waves were going
through their inconsistent phase. The
right had waves on it all day but most
of the boys went left till they surfed
themselves out. The late afternoon was a
magical affair with Shane, Ben and Fred
all catching some golden pits. Fred took
a classic tumble and scraped himself up
nice and bloody. It was good timing as
the trip was all but over. Ben and Shane
went barrel for barrel with Shane taking
the left of the week. A standup glassy
green thing that looked more like Indo
than wherever the hell we were. We had
to pluck them out of the water before it
got too dark to negotiate the passage.
A few beers were sunk on the last night.
Fred, Steve and Sean were all cut up and
absolutely surfed out. I was stoked to
hear Sean tell me how he would never
forget his boat trip aboard the Indies
Trader.
The following day everyone went out for
a couple of last waves before we steamed
off to chase a flight. Kelly shaved his
head, Shane blared his music, Fred
bandaged his cuts and the others drank
beer. Then they were gone. And Zane and
I were left to mobilise the boat for
another Crossing...
|