Aug/Sept, 1998
No. 036/VI/98
Young Guns
Bali's Generation X speak out
Gone Surfin",
by boat
Gallery
Imagining the Soul
Health and Beauty
Which Doctor?
Food
Something Fishy
Fiction
Womb by Cok Sawitri
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As
Bali’s breaks become increasingly overpopulated, surf trips by boat to other islands
are ever-more sought after. Veteran surf photographer Peter Crawford boarded one vessel
bound for Sumbawa.
It all began when Bill Boyum discovered G-Land in Java, one
of the world’s greatest left-hand breaking waves. Soon after, Rex Patten, a long-time
resident of Bali, built a small vessel to seek out new surf spots in Lombok, and Paul King
started ferrying surf-starved adventurers on his 'Sri Whidana' to the islands east of
Bali. Simultaneously, it was these two who paved the way for the charters that now take
surfers all over Indonesia.
King’s surf-ari started at Desert Point
in Lombok and continued around the rugged coast to the various magical breaks that were
otherwise unknown. The charter ended up on the western coast of Sumbawa, which like Desert
Point and Ulu’s, boasts one of the world’s greatest natural resources - perfect
waves that grind and tube mechanically over coral reefs. 
Two such waves are Scar Reef and Super Suck. Scar Reef is so named
for its shallow sections when the break is small. But given a 2-3 meter swell one of the
most challenging left-breaking waves emerges, enticing the uninitiated into the shallows
of her perfect tube. Only the strong survive a blow from her unrelenting tube that chases
them until the ride is completed in the channel. For those who are unsuccessful, the coral
inflicts a gruesome souvenir of their failure. As for Super Suck - when I first visited
this idyllic bay in 1988, not a soul was visible. Now, a gold mine leaves an ugly gash in
the once pristine landscape between Scar Reef and Super Suck. Freighters, tractors and
helicopters and thousand of workers who are on the job day and night starkly juxtapose the
green principles of the surfing lifestyle.
Such
was the sad reality I discovered early in 1998 when I revisited Sumbawa on a surf charter.
This time, it was with Brett Beezely - with whom I had been the first to document West
Java’s One Palm Point in 1988 - Chris ‘Critta’ Byrne, Tiger Tours Captain
James Higginbotham, Hawaiian buddies Tim and Kirby, ‘new guard’ of young,
professional surfers Made Lana, Made Lapor and my son Scott Crawford, and the Ana
Ruyung’s trust crew of four.
Above:
1. The view a surfer lives for
2. Made Lapor's aerial explosion at Marbles, Sumbawa
3. Our vehicle, 'The Little Mermaid' parked at Desert Point, Lombok
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