Thursday 18 August 2011

Thailand

Thailand - International SurfingAssociation Level one coaching and Level one Judging course:

Level one ISA coaches from Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore

In Julysurfers from Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore gathered in Phuket for an ISAeducation program. Apart from the two courses I worked with the young Thaigrommets on some training drills and staged a mock three nation team event. Allthe surfers in this region are super keen and were excellent students. Bigthanks to Thai legend Krab Joob and my friend Krab Laurie for theirorganisational skills. Phuket does have some waves through July August, only small wind swell beach break type stuff. You certainly wouldn't put this place on your surf destination map but if you have a couple of young grommets and a partner who enjoys good food and the famous Thai Massage you might enjoy a holiday here.Kata beach has the most waves and the is a cool surf school at Patong beach run by my friend Decha.
Thai Grommet training: Is everybody happy!!

Monday 1 August 2011

Father Son Mentawai Trip July 2011

18 June 2011
Off to Bali. Will arrive around midnight. Hope Un’s are there to pick us up. No problem. Actually not a bad flight the Arvo one even though it was Jetstar. Had to sit on the plane for an hour because  the water urn had broken and the pilot was waiting for the paper work. Also they had to get extra petrol as the re-fuellers hadn’t put enough petrol in. OMG. Got to bed at Un’s at 3am Melb time.
19 June 2011
Yehaaa. Woke a little tired at Un’s hotel, our favourite place in Kuta. Everything is pretty quiet. Little bit of wind around and some swell. Euro style breakfast for us and then a surf on the beaches. Pat is frothing. Spent most of the day chillin ’with Redo and Eric the local ding repairers. I had time to squeeze in a massage. Cath did the nail thing and then a cheap but great meal at Warung Indonesia.
20 June 2011
Slipping into the lazy days. Cath off shoppin while we think about a surf. Pool looks OK. Have to walk at least 5 meters to it. Ahhh crap, our favourite coffee shop Aromas has been pulled down for a hotel. Finding good coffee nearby is a priority. Steve Palmer reckons Aromas will be rebuilt late 2011. Dinner at the night market. Murtabah, fried chicken and corn and satays. 

21 June 2011
Pretty windy again, overcast mornings sunny arvos. Water temp a bit cooler than normal. Still boardies only. Surfed Kuta area from the reef. A progress. Noel and Dean due in this arvo. Noel and Dean arrived at 4pm. Pat happy now!!!!  Mmmmm where to for dinner tonight?......Nasi Campur at Warung Jogya. 

22  June 2011
Another lazy day. Swell still up with good waves at half way. Pat and Dean getting plenty of waves and sunburn. Need to get the skin ready for the boat trip. Squeezed in a massage. Cath and I went to Richie and Lisa’s pad for dinner in Sanur. BBQ fish.  Awesome house. Lisa works for the Australian Consulate here in Bali. Taxi to Sanur cost about $7.00.
23 June 2011
Not as much wind around today. Boys off for a surf at half way. Cath and I kicking back!. Cath keeps  feeding the cat and the kittens. Funny they seem to hang around our room. Dinner at Lanai on the beach front with Noel. Pat and Dean hooked up with Jack Homer. 

24 June 2011
Day before the boat trip, trying not to peak too early but everyone is getting pretty excited. The three boys are off surfing middle reef and I am sorting last minute details. Spoke to Scuzz in the Ments and everything is sorted. The boys are back from the reef after being smashed by jellyfish!
Ahhh, the mozzie man, he comes once a week to fumigate. He doesn’t wear a mask but his mate does. Cath and I have dinner at the Balcony – Ikan Pepes (steamed fish in banana leaf). 

25 June 2011
Yeah ha! Have booked a van to the domestic airport for 5.45am. If we leave by 6 we will be cool. You have to consider Indonesian rubber time (jam karet). Pat, Dean, Noel and I have been staying in Bali for a few days. Driver turns up at 6.10. He is the Indonesian version of Mark Webber. So Made Webber with a dozen boards on the roof powers through Kuta faster than his counterpart through Monaco. I am in the death seat and am starting to doubt the wisdom of telling him we were late for the plane. Everything ends well and we have time for breaky. Three hour transit in Jakarta left the boys to their own devices and have snuck off to a VIP lounge. $8 – comfy chairs, food, drinks, WiFi etc. Next stop Padang. Scuzz our skipper will do the pick up and take us to his place.
Padang is a huge port and matriarchal society. It is also a nightmare for earthquake and Tsunamiz. Not if but when!
Will board the southern Cross by speed boat. It had to leave the river earlier because  of the tide. Meet up with the boys who have come direct from Melbourne via KL. We have to take two trips out thrught the river to the Southern Cross. The crossing from the mainland to the Ments is about 85 miles. It takes all night and we get tossed around in a massive tropical rain storm. There are 8 air con bunks and a sauna box up top. I am in the box and spend most of the night trying to stay on the bed and man it is hot.
26 June 2011

Wake up near Telescopes and surf the right opposite. Everyone is having a ball. The young boys are frothing. They have had two surfs,  jumped off the top of the boat, gone for a standup paddle down to the other boat here with the Jeffrey Warrens before lunch. Richie Laing finished the day with 5 surfs at 3 different spots. By the way Gado Gado for lunch was awesome. The crew are really cool. They clean, organise, cook, drive the speed boat. I notice the lads are preparing fish for tea tonight. Everyone is stuffed by the arvo so some serious hammock time is called for. Pretty well everyone has a siesta.

27 June 2011
Woke up with a wind shift so we headed north for 3 hours. A rocky trip but the upside was 2 really good fish. The first one a meter long – Mahi Mahi – which ended up as lunch and a small tuna which ended up as sashimi for for tea. The food is awesome.

A few of us surfed an outer rifles reef . Mitch schored 2 deep barrels. The next surf was close to the island and everyone enjoyed a great right hander called pussies. Started to move to a new break and got caught in a massive rain storm and wind shift. Came back to pussies and surfed till night fall. After dropping anchor dinner included freshly baked cake and ice-cream. Aki put on a slide show. Everyone is blown away with the quality of the pics. Beers as usual but because of the excitement factor the whisky and bourbon comes out. Brock and Jimma come over for a visit after having duelling laser battles with Mitch. Such a good night with Aki doing the father/son and group photos. The tall stories started ending in plenty of laughs. 

28 June 2011
Lazy morning with a few boys surfing the right again. Everything starts pretty early. Scuzz checks out the weather around 4am and everyone is up around 6am. Our right gets crowded so we take off and end up surfing Rifles (one of the crown jewels of the Mentawaiis). 5 of us out in pristine surf with barrels everywhere. Pat has the best surf of his life including standup styling tube. Dean reckons his legs wouldn’t stop shaking and mitch gets a couple of super quality waves that would be at home in the best surf movie ever.

The other boys surf another left and right but Rifles is so good we move the big boat up there and after a rain squall everyone has a crack (almost everyone). We beat all the other boats by about 4-5 hours then it starts to get crowded so we take off south on a three hour cruise. I spot some sea birds and wave the magic finger on the fishing rod. Bugger me if we don’t  get a run instantly (Noel thinks I have taken on some bystical powers). Vic, the only guy that hasn’t surfed rifles, reels in a meter long Wahu. We are doing well on the fresh fish count. Sashimi again tonight. The ding repairer, Jap, is doing better out of Richie.

29 June 2011
Head South and for the next 6 days we don’t see another boat, great waves , perhaps the best I have had on a Ments trip, Green Bush, The hole and a host of other lefts and rights. Scuzz and Aki organised their tradional bonfire/barbie  on a deserted island and we BBQ’d some lamb.

July 5 2011
As we headed north again we called in to Sikicup to check in with the harbour marshall. The boys had organised school books and pencils etc for the local junior school. What a blast seeing the joy and the teacher and kids faces. They thought we were Santa Claus. Very inspirational stuff helping communities affected by the Tsunami.

Managed to get Maccas on. It was crowded but not during the lunch time session. Solid barrels, Mitch broke another board, I think he busted four all together while Pat got pile driven into the reef and tweaked his shoulder.

We squeezed an awesome surf in a t Lances Rights as well. Managing to get all the Mentawi jewel surfing spots on was just amazing.

Ended up surfing Bintang’s all day on the last day with Mitch, Dean, Pat and me. The other Boys had a crack at Lances Lefts.

The crossing back to Padang that night was sheet glass, what a way to finish. Arrived back in Padang around 3 am. The deal here is you stay on the boat till morning, wake up and have breakfast before heading to the airport.

To do a father son boat trip is so cool but to get the Ments firing with no crowds as well was bloody bagus. Thanks again to Scuzz, Aki and the team. All i can say is what the boys have been saying since the trip finished. “ I want to go back”

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