| Staying ahead of the pack in Bali.
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From the latest ASL.
Is it still as simple as hopping a ferry to escape the Bali crowds? A plucky crew of Kuta-stuck Aussies attempt to find out.
| | The author's late-arvo lip-smack. | Photo: Andrew Shield |
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Words | Adam Bennetts
Photos | Andrew Shield
Surf mags and movies need to shoulder our share of the blame for inspiring so many trips to Denpasar, but given a few clicks will find you a cheap flight and all the swell-forecasting data you could possibly wish for, the internet is a bigger part of the story these days. Whether the forecasts are accurate is another story, but at least they’re a guide and can steer you (and everyone else) in the right direction. With the situation in Bali, savvy operators can tweak this direction to places less travelled, just as they always have. But getting the drop on crowds is getting harder and harder and you have to work for it – to take risks and react fast with an impending swell. Basically you need to be one step ahead of everyone, which given the information mega-highway is easier said then done. One step ahead – that’s where we thought we’d be. We were wrong.
| | Dowthy tubed. | Photo: Andrew Shield |
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I’d been in Bali since May, making the most of the dryseason consistency, but the crowds had started to take their toll on my brain. On an average day at Keramas you would make the 40-minute journey across the island to be greeted by a dozen cars in the car park. Thirty to 40 dudes would be roaming the lineup and another 20 would be hanging in the two warungs on the beach. The Bukit peninsula wasn’t even worth thinking about, with crowds in the hundreds at Ulu’s. Josh Dowthwaite had come over for a two-week trip. We’d been hanging out, saw the swell and decided to escape for a few days. Ryan Hipwood, Nick Vasicek and ASL master photog Andrew “Cat Man” Shield were already at the airport in Kuala Lumpur when we were brainstorming about where to go, while Mick Campbell had just got home from a good result on Tour and thought he’d spend one day in Oz before making the journey over to meet us. To avoid the masses, we figured we’d need to go to an island people thought was too much of a mission for a three-day swell. Or at least one that was hard enough to get to that most travellers would arrive at least one or preferably two days into the swell. We agreed on Sumbawa.
For full story click here.
| | Combo's deadly forehand. | Photo: Andrew Shield |
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| | Who said Pro surfers don't put their backs into it. | Photo: Andrew Shield |
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| | Nick Vasa, second barrel on the wave of the trip. | Photo: Andrew Shield |
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| | Scar Reef sunset. | Photo: Andrew Shield |
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Issue # 255
CHARACTERS AND EVERYDAY HEROES
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When creating ASL 255, word in Government was the threat of Swine Flu had dissipated, so we sent Andrew Mooney and mates to mainland Mexico to test the waters. While the masked banditos would have you believe the H1N1 was still in full effect, a far bigger threat was Puerto Escondido’s ridiculously large, thumping beachbreak pits.
On closer shores, it’s obvious Indonesia is fast becoming the epicentre of hi-fi shredding thanks to a consistent, pumping training ground and a contest scene the locals dub “The Real Dream Tour”. We pry into the world of Balinese surfing, uncover a talent pool that sinks deeper than you’d think, and profile the main players.
If the Balinese crowd gets too much, as it did for Mick Campbell, Adam Bennetts and friends, then do as they do, and hop a ferry to the neighbouring promised land of Sumbawa, and if you’re lucky you too can score relatively empty perfection.
Elsewhere in the mag we track huge, morphing red blobs south of our land, and document the carnage brought by what that spins to shore. Amazingly, in amongst it all, some lucky locals score the biggest waves ridden this year.
In other areas Dane Reynolds shows us how to punt, and Adam Melling and Owen Wright join the big leagues and graduate to next year’s World Tour.
Still want more? The cherry on the top is definitely the latest Volcom movie BS! Staring Dusty Payne, Mitch Coleborn and Ozzie Wright, it’s stuck to the front of the mag and will have you fired up to rip into the next little swell that dares look at you funny.
We dig this mag, and we know you will too.
www.surfinglife.com.au
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