Yeah, good luck with that!! Lots of stuff!

That's easy! Just send her off to watch (or compete) in the Hawaiian Ironman!

Mate, she had her opotunity when she won her age group at the Australian Ironman. Her response was, and I quote
"The only thing I want to do if I go to Hawaii is lay on a towel on the beach".
And that's exactly what she did went we there a few years later.

My mate (who I'm having a surf with this morning before work) did it 2 years ago. Tough bugger.

Fark it's cold. I'm waiting for the sun to come up, it's 4 deg outside. I'm thinking about wearing the hood.

Hood?
You pussy!

mrs. mantas is an ironwoman? thats hot.

didnt fly to indonesia this time (already pmed to you spook tho) and now im in boracay island, phillipines. getting open water license this afternoon (if things go well) and i can fly to cebu and surigao (spelling...) tomorrow or palawan, anybody made a trip around this area? must get back to kansai next tuesday so perhaps flying out and moving around is not a good idea..

how was the trip ewok...? and when can we expect a TR?
for those who have been keenly following my progess out here (ie mantas and indo) sorry for the lack of news. i've been too busy surfing. the waves have been pumping and a MASSIVE swell is due in a few days time
am also working on a phto website so will share the love when all that gets online in a month or so
i've been dipping into the surfers thread too. nice pics mantas - that right pint looks pretty hefty

Hey Spook, Good to see your still alive out there and getting good waves. Some more pics would be good. The boys are still talking up a trip next year, focus has shifted to the Banyaks, do you know much about them? The trips are based out of Simieulu, they are above you right? The break Asu is still OK-but not as good- after the quake (so i've heard)
They say it's less crowded up there too. I think I might be getting railroaded by a bunch of natural footers though as there are plenty of rights on offer up there.

I'd be interested to here your thoughts mate.

Hey Spook glad to hear you have been getting plenty of waves, like Mantas Im keen to see some pics to. Its hard surfing back here in the real world after a trip there.

sorry for the lack of pics recently crew - things have been pretty busy lately.
the surf hasn't been all time lately, but there's been plenty of great days in the past few weeks. spookette has been taking some great shots and had some published on coastalwatch the other day.
the bottom four photos are hers, and all were taken within 5 minutes of our location.
http://www.coastalwatch.com/news/article.aspx?articleId=4337&display=0&cateId=3&title=Sumatra%20&%20The%20Mentawais:%20September%201-15,%202008









mantas - i haven't been up to the banyaks but an old indo veteran who's staying here at the moment reckons he got great waves on a trip there a few years ago.
the best wave is a long right (the one in the pictures in the ad), and there's apparently another half a dozen waves in the area. not sure if there is as much quality set-ups as the ments though. if you want draining lefts, mate then defo think about the ments. we've got 3 sick lefts within 20 min of us and any goofy who likes solid barrels is in heaven up here

the telos are another option - suppossedly much less crowded than the ments and the bayaks, but they get less swell.

the crowds here are hit and miss and don't make much sense. sometimes it's pumping with not many crew out, other times it's packed. if you want to minimise crowds, maybe try and hit it just before peak season - april and may up here were firing with not too many people around

i'm also trying to swing a trip to mainland north sumatra at the end of this year. not sure if it's going to happen yet, but will let you boys know if i find any gold. got a mate working way of the beaten track up there and he reckons there's some potential

Sick photos Spook. Spookette snapped them just fine. I look at coastal watch all the the time.
I think the ments is the go. My mates are essentially, well, let's face it, old farts that don't like to take it on too much. Plus they are naturals. Afters Law's run down on the left's (and yours) I'm keen to get up there. Hitn and miss crowds are what I've heard as well. I guess that's the beauty of a place with multiple set ups.

Keep in touch mate.

Great photos Sppokette. Looks like you having fun spook - cool. Mantas all of us that went this year were between 41-53 and ranged in surfing ability with no one charging anything 8ft plus which we only had two afternoons. I cant reccomend the place enough. We told our skipper we wanted 4-6 and thats what we got but did travel out of the way.

Like Spook suggested early in the season was good to us and we surfed alone 9 out of the 12 days if I recall correctly. Its a stunning place. Just dont try and bring a canoe home as a souveneir - its expensive

my trip was nice spook but my tr/thread seems suck so no tr im afraid.. ur tr rocks tho. in boracay, met many interesting ppl who moved there from around the globe, observed and found some pattern of alcohol, anger, prostitution, emptiness, hardworking efforts, and nice smiles. kite surfin is popular there. met this japanese ironwoman in her 40s who went to hawaii a few years ago, we went for jogging barefoot as the white sand felt good. experienced my first toothache on a bus from cebu to moalboal, could not take any water pressure nor high pressure so went riverclimbing with some good painkiller and the view was fantastic. i kept eating curry and got a nice bd cake. sorry this has nothing to do with mentawai.., back on topic, keep on posting great pictures, spookette is ace.

>my trip was nice spook but my tr/thread seems suck so no tr im afraid..

What? I like your tr's...besides you not going to introduce...?

thanks cb, not so many people respond to my tr.. its always u, tson, u, and..., thats it(?) lol. anyhow, no im not going to introduce the name of the painkiller i used. hope not so many people dont have to end up needing them.
this is absolutely

we might not comment, but we always read Ewok!!

sick pics.
Mantas if you go to Hinako's where Asu & Bawa are the right (Bawa) is the better option. Asu is pretty fickle and affected in a bad way by the wind.
I have also heard of reef risings up there. Could all be BS to keep us away!

A guy I know is doing the Solomaons soon. 9 days for $1900 + beers.. waiting on a verdict.

I've heard mixed things about that reef too Indo.

Solomans eh? Sounds interesting. I like the Pacific locales. Easy to get to. With the ments, your talking about 2 days travel each way (plus the cost), that's 4 non-surfing days out of your little surf holiday window.

I surfed Bawa and the Hinakos in '91.
Bawa was huge. I broke my legrope and got swept into the beach and got invited into the kepala desa's house for a cuppa and then paddled back out to the fishing boat..
top spot..

btw what happened to max the guy that was running the asu resort. ??
He was on that boat trip with me. Nice guy. came from Dudley in Newcastle..

My mates surfed Bawa in 86. A side trip from Nias, they were some of the first to surf it. They stayed with the kepala desa also Koko (with about 100 spectators)