With hundreds of world-class waves within throwing distance of each other the Mentawais has long been the quintessential surf travel destination – for surfers all over the globe.
That may be why, for some, the mythos around the joint puts people off making the mission over there. But if you do pull the pin – how does it pan out?
Couple months back Josh Hughes and Alec Hume made their way over to the Ments. For Josh, it was his first time in the area. And Alec, a returning travel hound with a love for decent waves. What the duo didn’t realise is the charts were lining up for the swell of the Indo season… here’s how it went.
Josh
“You see it in the mags but life’s never lined up to have the time or opportunity to go. This finally had – except over my partner’s birthday. Which she was… happy about. You had to book a year in advance and it’s every surfer’s dream to go. But life gets in the way or bills or being in the army.
“This isn’t a strike mission, on top of that, when we were in the airport in Singapore and saw it was going to be the swell of the season. Every time we landed on our way to Rifles, we saw the swell looking bigger and bigger and bigger. That was nerve racking. But didn’t make us question it, we wanted that – just maybe not on the first day. The chart was amazing. We got that tail end the big swell then the start of another one.
Josh and Alec (centre) about to sample the goods. Photo: Radin.
“We looked ridiculous on the plane though, we had these Oakley helmets clipped on our bags, bashing into people and falling out of the overhead lockers. With a helmet on the side of your back, you kind of remember that you’re going somewhere where you need that.
“When you land, the place is quite intense to the senses. You get to the fast boats and you’re meeting people and not sure where they’re going and you split off and go your separate ways. Which is kinda cool if you see them on the return trip too and swap stories.
“I think, because you see so much of the Ments in mags and online, you go to different places and you’re like, ‘oh it looks like the Mentawais’. Then you go to the islands and you realise; those places are nothing like the Mentawais. That island chain is like nothing else on earth.
If you’re wondering why Josh’s shoulder was in a bad way after this trip. Evidence, centre. Photo: Ifran
“It’s kinda different, because I thought all you see in the Ments are the best surfers in the world. And they’re doing everything that you’d like to do, but you obviously can’t. But it gets you thinking, ok the Mentawais are a high-performance wave. When you’re there, it actually can be really intimidating. Rather than the reefs around Ireland, or the slabs in Scotland – you surf them, gives you confidence – you go to the Ments and think it’ll be easier than those waves.
“But you get there and they’re they’re just as heavy, if not heavier, but 400 meters long. They’re just 400 metre long slabs without a wetsuit. So the whole idea of that high performance surfing is completely gone out the window. And, actually, it’s a charging spot.
Like a sketch book. Bank Vaults. Photo: Asep.
“It’s a bit more serious than I thought it would be. I think that’s what gets people when they arrive and when they experience it for the first time. Especially when it’s people that have only been surfing Fistral. And you take them out, and you put them straight in the Ments – it’s like, no. You need, like, a run up to it.
“As for boards, took a fun wave board and two shortboards, got a board from Cord, 6’4” Ark twin pin. I was surfing this a lot but had in the back of my mind. But when we were there, it’s the only board I rode. A twin pin. Because the fins are set quite far back on it, and the pin tapers out the tail really thin, and it’s got channels, it’s like it sucks down into the wave and has all that volume up front. With that twin pin and channels it’s like having a third fin. It’s like you’ve got the drive of a quad, hold of a thruster and all the volume upfront of a mid-length.
Josh dropped his wallet, recovered. Photo: Radin.
“When it was a technical barrel, you could speed up and slow down, got all the freedom to move around. It’s super forgiving especially in the Ments. Going backhand at Rifles on a twin pin, there’s not much you can do, you just got to like hold on. The wind was perfect for the right throughout the trip.
“Then Jackson Dorian showed up, Benji Brand, Tosh Tudor. So they’re all there doing their thing. There’s, obviously a big ability gap than to the guests out there. But it was cool to watch their take on the wave, sit in the channel, pick off a few and learn quickly what they were doing differently. You can get loads of waves, if you don’t take off on the best ones – leave it to them.
“That level of surfer, they’re so patient out there. That was one thing I learned, to wait. And then wait more. You see the clips, and what you don’t realise is they waited hours for that one wave.
“I remember looking at one and Makoa Gomez was so deep, I peeped over the edge and saw him completely disappear. Paddling back, Benji was saying how insane it was out there, how heavy it was, one of the heaviest days in a long time – and that set the nerves through the roof. I kinda reigned it back in after that. After a while, I just went on a few and they turned out pretty ok to be honest.
“After a few days, I felt my shoulder start to pop. On the last day, I dislocated it surfing my backhand. Thought I’d be ok, but was paddling so much and stalling so hard that my body just gave out. I booked in for next year immediately.”
Alec
“We had the sickest trip! It couldn’t have really gone much better to be honest. The travel was long, as you’d expect. Three flights and a ferry over the course of two days, but we kept ourselves entertained and the boards all made it in one piece. We had a pretty serious froth on as we’d been obsessively watching the chart beforehand and knew we were going to be getting some swell.
“On the first two or three days, we had the tail end of a previous swell and had some really fun waves at Bankvaults and another slabby right near the camp in the three-to-six foot range but nothing too heavy. That gave us the chance to get our sights set and a few kegs under our belt.
“We then had a few smaller days where we were still surfing three-to-four times a day in super rippable chest-to-head high stuff with low crowds. At the end of the trip, we had the proper four days swell come in and that’s where everywhere really started to light up. Rifles broke for three days on the trot, which is very rare apparently, and this slabby right up the reef was absolutely pumping but did attract a crowd after a video was posted of it on the first day of the swell.
“We were actually out there on that first day and it turned out to be my best session of the trip. We didn’t even realise at the time that it was the first proper pulse of the swell as it came in a bit early.
We implore you to find a more stoked human. Alec. Photo: Radin
“There was only Josh, myself and around five others out, three of which were pros and it just started pulsing. Most of the waves were in the 3-6ft range, just perfect glassy right hand kegs, but there was the odd bigger wave coming through very 45 mins that would double up and go pretty mental. The pros were sat waiting for that odd bigger one so me, Josh and one other were hoovering up everything else coming through. We came in pretty sunburnt and stoked that day.
“I had one hairy moment in that session where I’d just gone on a wave and fallen off and was paddling back out through this small key hole on the closeout section of the wave with a dry section of reef right next to it. The set of the day came through while I was right in the worst spot I could have been. I was paddling for my life while watching Makoa Gomez stand tall in probably the most perfect eight foot wave I’ve ever seen and luckily just made it under the lip before it detonated on me.
“We then had three days of rifles, which was a quite a tricky wave if I’m honest. It’s super fast and hard to predict where the barrel sections are going to end or how fast they’re going to spin off down the reef. I only actually made one long one out there and ended up too deep on countless others. Josh got a pretty mental one on his backhand which must have been 8 or 9 seconds long and probably the best single wave of our trip! The key takeaway from rifles was you have to pump.
Alec, laying a new roof. Photo: Cris Jhon.
“I did have one wave in particular that I was pretty stoked on. I’d had a shocker at rifles that morning with a heavy crowd and slow sets and felt a bit deflated so decided to go and surf up the top. I waited patiently and right at the end of my session came through one of the deepest barrels I’ve ever had. The visions you get of crystal clear water folding over shallow sections of reef with a small palm tree peppered island in the distance will stick with you forever.
“We were both pretty battered and bruised by the end of that swell. Josh had injured his shoulder quite badly, which he’s still suffering with now, and I picked up a few cuts and bruises from the reef. We laid back and relaxed for our last two days and I got tucked into a couple Bintangs to celebrate the trip!
“Board wise I took 4 with me but only really surfed two in the end. A 6’2″ JS Golden Child. That board is an all round high performance short board and did just as well in the head high turn waves as it did in the heavier kegs. The other board was my old trusty favourite 6’4” BOS Warpig which I have with a quad set up. That board has lasted me five years now and I’ve had most of the best waves of my life on it!
“My biggest advice to anyone doing a trip like this is you get what you pay for. A grand extra for a better resort is 100 percent worth it, if you have a year to pay for it. Also take good equipment and make sure you’ve put some time into making yourself physically fit and strong before you go. Last thing you want is to get injured in the first half of the trip.”
