EOFY

Today it’s all about surfing as the waves are pretty good (but the light not so good). This week’s south swell had dissipated and a new, clean, fresh ENE swell arrived switching on joints like The Bra. It’s around head high on sets, predominantly chest high. Winds are offshore, so it’s lining up nicely. My […]

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Spruce

Sorry about the late transmission. No… I haven’t been surfing all morning, even if the waves are the best they’ve been all week long. Finally the winds have swung offshore and the swells are lining up. Bondi at sunrise was very dark with thick cloud cover and a handful of dudes surfing mostly closeouts mixed […]

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24 karat

It all kicked off today with a gold-plated morning around 7:10am. The clouds broke open for a brief moment and the bay was flooded with 24 karat rays. Quite the spectacle. This time of year the light is clean, crisp and gold – my favourite. The sun rises over the Ben Buckler when in its […]

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Damp

It’s amazing what a difference 24 hours can make. Right now it’s raining and the beach is completely empty. The onshore winds are smashing anything resembling a wave and everyone is off to work. This same SE onshore wind will create swell for the tail end of the week. So be patient, wait for it […]

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Cryogenics

Over the past two weeks, on my tropical sabbatical, I’ve haven’t worn much more than a pair of boardies. I’m back in Bondi now and this morning had to layer up before venturing out of the house… IT IS FREEZING! It’s only 9 degrees as I write this now. Gotta be snow in ‘dem mountains. […]

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Final Voyage

We spent 12 days at sea surfing 12 different surf breaks amongst 3 overlapping swells in the Mentawais. We had 7 surfers on board the 47-foot Tengirri catching on average 40-50 waves each per day, sometimes more. Most days we’d surf 3 times on waves no smaller than 3 foot and no bigger than 8 […]

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Lances

If you ever make your way to this part of the world I am pretty sure you’ll see Lance’s left or right. All boats stop by here for a day or so…kinda like tourist attraction No.1 for the Mentawais. It’s the one of the world’s best rights, machined to perfection offering a high performance tube […]

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Below Blues

Just like every other day on this trip we’ve scored good waves and great weather again…it has been pretty special up here this past week…3 swells in 11 days. Can’t ask for more than that. I just spent the afternoon below the surface with my camera, swimming around looking for interesting things to shoot. This […]

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Air Strike

We cruised the Tengirri back up the island chain for a change of scenery and came across 5 of the hottest young aerialists competing for a cool 50 grand. Yep, 50 gees to pull off the most rad air whilst on their boat trip to the Mentawais. Chippa Wilson, Jon-Jon, Ryan – they were all […]

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Remote

Another week and we’re still on the boat in Indonesia. This time we’ve gone to a really remote part of the islands, an area that I’ve never been before. The conditions have to be right before committing to motoring down here – its bit of a drive – but we’ve scored it good, real good. […]

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Thunderstruck

We finished up late at the right to head south to a wave magnet left called Thunders. No one around…at all. Just how we like it! The weather is perfect and the swell continues to produce. I hear another swell is due tomorrow so all the boats are heading to their favourite part of the […]

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Rocket Rights

If you come to the Mentawai Islands you’ll expect to get barreled…you’ve seen all the surf movies and mags…you’re all pumped to dance in the back of a slippery Indo cave. Some waves are easier to get barreled than others up here. This vicious right-hander that we surfed today is easy to get barreled but […]

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Black Hawk down

My mate Paulie and I had this great plan to document the Mentawai Islands from the air. We’ve spent about a year working on this idea, even acquired a remote controlled Octocopter that is large enough to carry one of my pro digi cameras and dragged all the gear up here into remote Indonesia. The […]

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Telescopes

We’ve been pretty lucky up here so far. Couldn’t ask for better weather and waves (sorry, I heard it’s pretty ugly back home). The surf has been consistently above head high every day, sometimes bigger and the winds are favourable meaning plenty of options. Today we’re anchored near Tuapajet, the capital of the Mentawai Islands […]

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Men-tay-wee

Welcome back to paradise folks… today’s Aquabumps escape is being transmitted off the back of charter boat Tengirri in Indonesia. We’re currently 90 miles off the Sumatran coastline amongst the remote Archipelago of Mentawai that hosts some of the best waves in the world. We’ve been here together quite a few times… Why is it […]

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Friday Bonus

It is the goods out there today…a day to get out of town and go surfing. The sun is shining, the swell is lining up a hell of a lot better than it has been and it’s finally offshore. She’s a little chilly though, so don’t forget your steamer. We have clean 4-5 footers out […]

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Settle

After two days of roaring winds and wild seas finally it’s calming down out there. It’s still big, but far from good. A handful of locations will be on fire today, mainly out of town. Bondi struggles with these big ones. Especially when the swell is rogue and wobbly as it is now. I saw […]

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Bondi Chunks

This must be the 50 year storm that Bodhi (Point Break) has been talking about. Sydney was turned upside down last night. Roofs ripped off, garage doors flying down the street, trees blown over and the emergency services have been working through the night. Even Gould Street Bondi has been closed for 14 hours as […]

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It’s gonna blow

All nice’n’neat’n’calm down the beach this morning. Stark contrast to the monster that is about to unleash tomorrow. At 7am today you’ve got waist to shoulder high waves on a fun little bank at Bondi. Bondi likes this size, being small, it won’t handle it tomorrow. The sunrise was a beauty. Real shiner…spraying hues of […]

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Quiet Mondays

These winter Mondays are the best. All quiet down the beach…not many people getting outta bed for the early. The line-up was uncrowded and dark with a very late sunrise. Small but fun shoulder high peaks breaking left and right at South Bondi. Super clean surfaces…barely any wind at all. The Volcom Fiji Pro is […]

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Elevation

The waves were and still are quite good this morning. Bondi is lacking banks so a short drive to Maroubra proved fruitful. Waves broke at the D-bowl around shoulder to head high, plenty of hollow ones at sunrise. Another nice peak in the middle of the beach illustrated from the bird above…The swell is dead […]

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