Last Blast
Broken Sticks And Blood On The Boat
That Kandui is a real ass-kicker. Overhead, freight train barrels greeted us this morning at what I’m calling one of the best waves I’ve ever seen. When proper, it’s like five Teahupo’o's strung together minus the top-heavy lips. While this morning was by no means epic, it was an awesome send-off for our group, a rag-tag bunch of misfits that I’ve come to call friends.
We had kinda offshore winds this morning and the swell was running head-high to overhead by two or three feet. The infamous racetrack sections were in full-effect and we only made about half of our waves, but make it or not, you’re fu–kin’ piped the whole time! My brand-new, 6’0 round pin WRV from Pat Mulhern didn’t fare so well after a shinner that snapped the nose off, and gave me a nice little souvenir to spin yarns with back home, “Dude, I was so deep…until…
Kandui (the surf break) Observations:
It’s definitely one of the better waves in the world.
There’s a little reef shark that lives out there (saw him last night).
I think it would be easier at six-to-eight foot than three-to-five foot, there’s just more room to weave through the barrel at that size.
Ozzie Wright got an eighteen second tube (captured on video) two weeks before I was here. Longer ones are possible.
After you takeoff, there is absolutely no dicking around–it’s pedal to the metal the whole time.
That said, don’t bother stalling or bringing you’re a-game cutbacks.
When in the barrel, don’t try to squeak out the doggie door, it’s best to go for the high line.
I’ll be back…
Adios
I’ve been on a lot of surf trips (a spoiled rotten dickhead I’ve been called by my friends) and I must say, this trip to Kandui Resort has been one of the all-time, best ever. Between the great surf (even though we didn’t get a really solid swell), awesome staff who cater to your every need in and out of the water, and beautiful tropical island setting, this is the place to bring a crew of bros, your significant other (she’ll love it!), or just yourself on a perfect surf getaway.
Thanks Kandui!
Justin Coté
Booked for 2008!
Day 10
Kandui! Or Was It Nokandui?
The bar here at Kandui is abuzz right now after our first session at the world-renowned left; Nokandui.
The day started off cold! Ray from the camp here was calling it the coldest day of the season and I almost felt like wearing a wetsuit jacket. Along with the “cold, Four Bob’s (the spot right in front of the resort) was packed with over twenty surfers from five different boats. To boot, the winds were howling from every direction, and we did a wave check at every spot–and they were all junk. Weird how it can be onshore everywhere even when all the spots are facing different directions. A pretty crappy morning until…
Around noon, the rain let up, we scarfed down some chicken, salad, and potatoes and hit the water in the speedboat blasting Akon (our boat drivers love that shit).
First stop: Beng Beng. It was 2-3 foot, glassy and pretty fun until a boatload of Portagee drop-in artists from Kauai showed up and threw an eggy vibe into the lineup. We blasted out of there and checked Hideaways, which was looking a bit small and inconsistent. After a couple Bintangs, we decided on one last check of Nokandui (leaving tomorrow! Shit!).
We hadn’t even stopped the boat when we saw overhead freight train barrels rifling down the reef. There was no question about whether or not to paddle out, it was on! With just over an hour left of light we got some long, high-speed barrels that had a make-it-to-eat-it ratio of about 1:3.
So what is it? Kandui or Nokandui? Nobody seems to be sure, guess it depends on how many waves you make.
We’ll be out there before light tomorrow going all out in big, grinding barrels!
Day
Wave Of The Trip?
Let’s hope not, but according to our new kneeboarder bro, Heinrich (the kneeboarder who hates kneeboarders), that’s exactly what I got this afternoon at Hideaways, aka, the Mentawaiian Pipeline.
But doesn’t everywhere have it’s “fill-in-the-blank Pipeline? You’ve got the Mexican Pipeline (Puerto Escondido), The Tahitian Pipeline (Teahupo’o) and on and on. While Hideaways isn’t quite Pipe, it showed some real potential today in the slowly growing swell. Slowly may be the wrong, word, perhaps sloth-like would be better. The “wave of the trip wasn’t much; a fun drop into an overhead but windy wall, and I’m pretty sure he’s blowing smoke up my ass.
We’re praying for a bump (and more favorable winds) in the swell tomorrow, today was just a tease at what I know that wave can do.
On a totally different note, did you know the easiest and least expensive form of mosquito bite prevention, a mozzie net, can reduce malaria by 90%? Not that we’re really too worried about it here due to the spraying, still water elimination, and employee testing (there’s gotta be malaria to spread malaria).
We’ll be dawning it Hideaways tomorrow, hopefully the wave of the trip has yet to be ridden!
Day Eight
Bang Bang Long Time
Marathon session this morning at Beng Beng. After a surf sacrifice last night–everyone taking three shots of tequila at the bar last night–we had high hopes (and a bit of a hangover) as we motored out to surf. A quick look at Kandui showed no signs of the much-talked about swell, so we blasted over to look at Nipussi, Bankvaults, Pitstops, and E-Bay in that order before ending up at what’s become our version of Old Faithful, Beng Beng.
The only other boat there was the Indies Trader 4, the boat featured in Young Guns 2. An older crew of Australians were on board and we shared waves all morning. One of the guys on board was Kirk Wilcox from Surf Aid. Kirk and I have been exchanging emails for a couple years now and it was weird to finally put a face to the emails in such a far-off corner of the world. Another “it’s a small world trip was that one of the guests on the Indies Trader 4, Butch Barr, used to live in the same small town as me and I went to school with his kids.
Anyway, where’s that swell?!?!?!
Our trip is winding down and the crew is getting antsy for some big shacks…
PS: We just watched the footy from the session this afternoon; and the heat winner is…Kandui Boat Driver/Mechanic/Akon Fan “Black Johnson!” Yep, Mr. Birthday Boy waxed everyone and will be celebrating his 20th birthday tomorrow in style courtesy of a TransWorld SURF goddie bag!
Day Six
Lay Day In Paradise
For the first time this trip, we didn’t surf in the morning. The swell dropped, the wind was coming from the wrong direction, and everyone was feeling a bit lazy. We did hop onto an insane fishing boat, the Asia Pride in an attempt to kill some fish, but the fish weren’t interested. Fishing’s weird here; we were basically hitting these little tuna in the head with lures and they just wouldn’t bite. Nice cruise anyway…
Just had a surf at Four Bobs and saw some new swell filling in…could be sick tomorrow!
Day Five
Man vs. Bankvaults: Round 2
Bankvaults is one of the heaviest waves in the Mentawais. A 15-minute boat ride from Kandui Resort, it picks up more swell than anywhere out here and is consistently twice as big as surrounding breaks. Four of us gave the overhead, shifty, and kinda closed out rights a go this morning and caught a few before the onshore wind kicked in too hard.
Two years ago I paddled out to Bankvaults on a solid six-to eight-foot day with Rochelle Ballard and Keala Kennelly even though I really didn’t want to go out. In a nutshell, I had my ass handed to me while the two chicks got barreled. I vividly recall bailing my board as Keala got shacked right in front of me on a double overhead wave. After peeling myself off the reef, I paddled back to the boat tail between the legs and quite a few notches down the ego ladder.
That said, today was a bit smaller and less precarious, but there were a couple rogue sets that got our pulses going and we managed to get a few ones. Oh and on the way back, I paddled out for a quick recon of two foot Kanduis and got a little taste of where we’ll hopefully be surfing when the swell picks up.
Off to Snake Island for happy hour and Bintang-induced snake charming…
Day Four
Exorcism At Kandui
After two marathon sessions at Beng Beng, which my girlfriend Ali described as her “best day ever of surfing we were wiped out from an overload of sun and surf. Everyone was planning on a big feed then an even bigger sleep. Little did we know, however, that we’d all be treated to our first exorcism! That’s right, an exorcism, complete with three shamans, seizure-like convulsions, and out of this world chanting.
It was heavy.
What started out as a “cultural dance kind of deal quickly turned into “what the f–k is going on? Is that dude okay? It turns out that Kandui’s owners brought these shaman/medicine man/chief guys to bless the island and rid it of evil spirits and they had been all over the small island doing their thing. So they’re doing their tribal song and dance number, everyone’s clapping for them and enjoying the show. Then things got weird. Conjuring up the evil spirits, one by one, the three shamans went into convulsions and uncontrolled chanting and wailing as the spirits presumably entered their bodies. As some of the local villagers held the shaman tightly in their arms like you would do to someone having a seizure, all of us guests started looking around at each other saying, “Dude, what the hell is going on? Is this for real? I asked Jordan (guy who runs the resort) what was going on and he’s like, “I don’t know, they usually just do a quick dance. Pretty heavy, huh?
They shaman came back to earth after about fifteen minutes of this, and, covered in sweat and muscles rippling from beneath their skin, had a well deserved smoke. I’d had enough and walked the dark trail back to my uma half expecting a ghost to appear at any moment. More from the spirit world soon…
Check the video
Day Three
There’s a new speedboat here at Kandui Resort that is simply badass. It’s a converted military patrol boat with a 200 horsepower inboard motor with tinted windows and dual 50 caliber machine guns that clear lineups better than an angry Hawaiian. There’s not actually guns on it, but, while kickin’ back on the bow as we motored out of the mangroves I felt like I was in a scene from Apocalypse Now and shouted “Charlie don’t surf! to Heinrich, the hard-charging knee boarder from Santa Cruz who hates knee boarders. Go figure.
After a ten minute recon mission, err, cruise up the reef towards Rifles, we stopped at a seldomly surfed spot, called Pistols. From out the back we saw what looked to be head-high plus rights spinning down the reef before expiring near an exposed rock. After a quick and unanimous group vote we jumped off the speedboat and into the best session yet.
Without a cloud in the sky (SPG 15 sunscreen doesn’t cut it out here by the way), our crew ripped apart Pistols. Brudda Zack from the Big Island was doing his best Taylor Knox impression while me and Pete (F.B.I. as well) did our best to stay out of the sun I paddled out to Bankvaults on a solid six-to eight-foot day with Rochelle Ballard and Keala Kennelly even though I really didn’t want to go out. In a nutshell, I had my ass handed to me while the two chicks got barreled. I vividly recall bailing my board as Keala got shacked right in front of me on a double overhead wave. After peeling myself off the reef, I paddled back to the boat tail between the legs and quite a few notches down the ego ladder.
That said, today was a bit smaller and less precarious, but there were a couple rogue sets that got our pulses going and we managed to get a few ones. Oh and on the way back, I paddled out for a quick recon of two foot Kanduis and got a little taste of where we’ll hopefully be surfing when the swell picks up.
Off to Snake Island for happy hour and Bintang-induced snake charming…
Day Four
Exorcism At Kandui
After two marathon sessions at Beng Beng, which my girlfriend Ali described as her “best day ever of surfing we were wiped out from an overload of sun and surf. Everyone was planning on a big feed then an even bigger sleep. Little did we know, however, that we’d all be treated to our first exorcism! That’s right, an exorcism, complete with three shamans, seizure-like convulsions, and out of this world chanting.
It was heavy.
What started out as a “cultural dance kind of deal quickly turned into “what the f–k is going on? Is that dude okay? It turns out that Kandui’s owners brought these shaman/medicine man/chief guys to bless the island and rid it of evil spirits and they had been all over the small island doing their thing. So they’re doing their tribal song and dance number, everyone’s clapping for them and enjoying the show. Then things got weird. Conjuring up the evil spirits, one by one, the three shamans went into convulsions and uncontrolled chanting and wailing as the spirits presumably entered their bodies. As some of the local villagers held the shaman tightly in their arms like you would do to someone having a seizure, all of us guests started looking around at each other saying, “Dude, what the hell is going on? Is this for real? I asked Jordan (guy who runs the resort) what was going on and he’s like, “I don’t know, they usually just do a quick dance. Pretty heavy, huh?
They shaman came back to earth after about fifteen minutes of this, and, covered in sweat and muscles rippling from beneath their skin, had a well deserved smoke. I’d had enough and walked the dark trail back to my uma half expecting a ghost to appear at any moment. More from the spirit world soon…
Check the video
Day Three
There’s a new speedboat here at Kandui Resort that is simply badass. It’s a converted military patrol boat with a 200 horsepower inboard motor with tinted windows and dual 50 caliber machine guns that clear lineups better than an angry Hawaiian. There’s not actually guns on it, but, while kickin’ back on the bow as we motored out of the mangroves I felt like I was in a scene from Apocalypse Now and shouted “Charlie don’t surf! to Heinrich, the hard-charging knee boarder from Santa Cruz who hates knee boarders. Go figure.
After a ten minute recon mission, err, cruise up the reef towards Rifles, we stopped at a seldomly surfed spot, called Pistols. From out the back we saw what looked to be head-high plus rights spinning down the reef before expiring near an exposed rock. After a quick and unanimous group vote we jumped off the speedboat and into the best session yet.
Without a cloud in the sky (SPG 15 sunscreen doesn’t cut it out here by the way), our crew ripped apart Pistols. Brudda Zack from the Big Island was doing his best Taylor Knox impression while me and Pete (F.B.I. as well) did our best to stay out of the sun and in the barrel while going backside. It sounds cliché and dorky but everyone yelling for others to go, slapping fives in the channel, and Heinrich the knee boarder even threw me a shaka from the barrel!
The surfer I was most impressed with was one of the guys who work here at the resort, Andy. Born and raised here in the Mentawais, he was ripping a new Orion Surfboard that Eric Geiselman recently left for him. After some prying, I learned that he’s 21, been surfing for seven years, and “sort of has some sponsors. He was popping airs, doing 360s, and got a sweet barrel right in front of me that he finished off with a double claim. It’s really cool to see kids like Andy and other locals ripping their own waves and becoming a part of the worldwide surfing brotherhood.
Day Two
Burgerworld
If anywhere has been mislabeled out here in the Mentawais, it’s poor Burgerworld. I remember rocking up to Swamis one day years ago and sighing, “Fu–kin’ Burgerworld as I watched a typical set mush on down the line. Rob Keith, a photographer for Surfer Magazine, was nearby and shot back at me, “Hardly, you couldn’t get out there quick enough if this was Burgerworld.
Rob was right.
While not a particularly hollow wave, it’s the go-to spot out here when the swell drops below four feet as it has today. Over four foot and it should be called “Duckdive World or “Paddle World but yesterday and today were optimum conditions out there: two-to-three foot and really fun.
The takeoff is right next to little patch of reef where it doubles up and spins down the line offering up several sections that just beg to be abused by your best shortboard. A big channel and beautiful backdrop make it a favorite for photographers, which is why you see it min mags so often.
So, why the name?
Pretty spot on actually; over four foot and it breaks too far out, and in too deep of water, resembling a big fat Mentawaian cheeseburger.
Check out the Burgerworld Photo Gallery
Day One
We finally made it! After two days of traveling, my girlfriend and I have settled into our own uma (bungalow for those of you unfamiliar with the Mentawais dialect), and to say the least, are frothing!
Yesterday was our first full day and we got two super fun sessions at a spot called Nipussi in the morning and 4 Bobs in the afternoon. “Nipussi (yep, that’s what it’s called) was kinda crowded, but a good way to rinse the airport grime off and warm-up for hopefully more challenging waves to come. We (me, Zack, and Pete–two bros from the Big Island who are also staying here) surfed “4 Bobs, which is right in front of the resort, all to ourselves well into dark and had a blast trading off waist-to-chest high rights that were super rippable.
Today we checked Nipussi again, but it was smaller and still crowded so we blasted up to Burgerworld and scored head-high rights with just our crew from Kandui Resort out. After less than two days here, I’m already planning to book a trip here for next year–between the plethora of waves, wonderful hospitality, great food, and top-notch accommodations–this place is amazing!
That’s it for the day, I’m off to get a $20 massage while this little rain squall passes, then it’s off for another surf with perhaps a Bintang mixed in there somewhere.
www.kanduiresort.comsun and in the barrel while going backside. It sounds cliché and dorky but everyone yelling for others to go, slapping fives in the channel, and Heinrich the knee boarder even threw me a shaka from the barrel!
The surfer I was most impressedd with was one of the guys who work here at the resort, Andy. Born and raised here in the Mentawais, he was ripping a new Orion Surfboard that Eric Geiselman recently left for him. After some prying, I learned that he’s 21, been surfing for seven years, and “sort of has some sponsors. He was popping airs, doing 360s, and got a sweet barrel right in front of me that he finished off with a double claim. It’s really cool to see kids like Andy and other locals ripping their own waves and becoming a part of the worldwide surfing brotherhood.
Day Two
Burgerworld
If anywhere has been mislabeled out here in the Mentawais, it’s poor Burgerworld. I remember rocking up to Swamis one day years ago and sighing, “Fu–kin’ Burgerworld as I watched a typical set mush on down the line. Rob Keith, a photographer for Surfer Magazine, was nearby and shot back at me, “Hardly, you couldn’t get out there quick enough if this was Burgerworld.
Rob was right.
While not a particularly hollow wave, it’s the go-to spot out here when the swell drops below four feet as it has today. Over four foot and it should be called “Duckdive World or “Paddle World but yesterday and today were optimum conditions out there: two-to-three foot and really fun.
The takeoff is right next to little patch of reef where it doubles up and spins down the line offering up several sections that just beg to be abused by your best shortboard. A big channel and beautiful backdrop make it a favorite for photographers, which is why you see it min mags so often.
So, why the name?
Pretty spot on actually; over four foot and it breaks too far out, and in too deep of water, resembling a big fat Mentawaian cheeseburger.
Check out the Burgerworld Photo Gallery
Day One
We finally made it! After two days of traveling, my girlfriend and I have settled into our own uma (bungalow for those of you unfamiliar with the Mentawais dialect), and to say the least, are frothing!
Yesterday was our first full day and we got two super fun sessions at a spot called Nipussi in the morning and 4 Bobs in the afternoon. “Nipussi (yep, that’s what it’s called) was kinda crowded, but a good way to rinse the airport grime off and warm-up for hopefully more challenging waves to come. We (me, Zack, and Pete–two bros from the Big Island who are also staying here) surfed “4 Bobs, which is right in front of the resort, all to ourselves well into dark and had a blast trading off waist-to-chest high rights that were super rippable.
Today we checked Nipussi again, but it was smaller and still crowded so we blasted up to Burgerworld and scored head-high rights with just our crew from Kandui Resort out. After less than two days here, I’m already planning to book a trip here for next year–between the plethora of waves, wonderful hospitality, great food, and top-notch accommodations–this place is amazing!
That’s it for the day, I’m off to get a $20 massage while this little rain squall passes, then it’s off for another surf with perhaps a Bintang mixed in there somewhere.
www.kanduiresort.com
