Pepen Hendrik eye’s the reason why. Photography by Budianto Chandra
With the winter season full upon us, with the monsoon rains and moody, bruised skies, it’s natural that our thoughts become more introspective. Surfers are as connected to the earth as cats. And the weather, aside from being the most important thing in a surfer’s life, is also a barometer of our emotions. And so in this issue we decided to embrace this moody introspection with a series of features that offer a distinctive temperament. An examination of our moments. We kick off by examining the meaning of our relationship with perfect surf. And staff photographer Liquid Barrel’s photos of this far off reef that illustrate these journey’s will blow your mind. Pay attention to the captions, they hold a strong message too. We went with some tech moments in this issue as well. Photographer Nicolas Antipoff showed up with a new gadget that just might turn your phone into a professional surfing photography rig. His shots of the pro’s, all of them shot with his phone, prove his point. We also called our old friend Shane Dorian for his insight on his personal moments of Fatherhood. Currently traveling the world with his son Jackson, he is very frank about the responsibilities of raising a child of the Ocean in the shadow of what most perceive as his legendary status. Humble as usual, his quiet, firm answers are those of a gunslinger. We were also stoked to catch up with Muklis Anwar one fine morning on Sumbawa. Where the entire line-up watched him pick off the wave of the day. Or maybe the wave of the year at that particular reef. We get inside the moments of the ride for you. And you might find this point of view familiar as most of us have felt the same exhilaration. Then Ben Benson dropped by with some super session photos of his latest California caper. Ben
was schooling the Californians of Newport Beach with some solid Indonesian style. Quite the ambassador, it’s Ben fifth trip over there as a stand-out. We examine the meaning of small wave performance and take you along on Ben’s wetsuit clad swing. Then we really hit the mood switch with a remarkable photo portfolio from fine arts photographer Rachel Talibart. Her black and white, huge format masterpieces sell for six figures and hang in the boardrooms of some of the most prestigious offices and museums in the world. One look at these images will change your day if your smart enough to really spend some time with them. We are offering a prize package to the most intelligent letter we receive regarding this premiere portfolio.Try your luck at Surftimemagazine@Gmail.com. And speaking of luck, we were lucky to get a visit from Agus Frimanto. On a Bali junket from his home island of Nusa Lembongan, he lit up a session at afternoon Keramas that reminded everybody of just how good our brothers across the channel really are. And while we were thinking of good surfers, we were proud to receive some very heartfelt words from Pua Johnson. A stunning leader of the women’s revolution, she proves herself a thinker as well. And so it goes in this, the last issue of our 20th anniversary year. And we promise to keep it coming deep and intelligent. A panacea to all the disposable digital noise that most of us unknowingly absorb like too much sugar. Because when it comes to the photos and the words in Surftime Magazine, you can be sure of the fact that for 20 more, we will never drown our Indonesian scene in the shallow end.
- Editor -
COVER:
Usman Trioko has been setting his home break on fire lately. Experimenting with the upper quadrants of a wave that is usually reserved for deep barrel rides. And so his lifelong quest for a Rip Curl Cup continues. With this kind of surfing, look for him to be a real threat this year.
Photography by Liquid Barrel
“There are hatchets and knives on that reef, man” Says wave whisperer Nick Chong, “every wave is a magic trick…you either pull the rabbit out of the hat…or it’s you could disappear”. And it’s this reef that, though only half the size of a football field, attracts near suicidal tube hunters from every corner of the planet. Each surfer that is in love with this spot, or rather in a love/ hate relationship with this spot, each of these surfers have there own set of circumstances that will drive them there. For one thing, like most beautiful siren’s, it’s not a sure thing. It takes a stupendous swell to make it happen. And when it does it’s a serious matter. Big walls of water break off a boil rock on the outside of the bay and then rear up into thick, heaving left bowls that grind themselves to a halt onto an inside section. A section that is one of the shallowest in Indonesia. If the catastrophic thoughts of wiping out even cross your mind, you don’t paddle out here. Indonesian pro’s like Made Winada Adi Putra are the magicians that Nick Chong is talking about. To see Adi Putra wind his way through horrendous situation after horrendous situation on his way down the line is both mesmerizing and horrifying.
Time travel would look like this. As busy as we all are destroying our Oceans, might this image be what poisoned surfers look back on 100 years from now and think to themselves, “Why did our forefathers kill the seas when they were so perfectly magnificent?”. William Aliotti walking the tightrope between heaven and hell in a place the way it should be. The way it should stay. But then, we guess that’ss just too much to ask of the human race.
These aren’t so much barrel rides as they are precise risk managements. “If you think about this wave you are dead” Says Adi Putra, “once you take off, it’s not a wave anymore, it’s a kind of wild animal. You don’t tame it, you match its instincts”. To call this wave rare is fair. By Indonesian standards it is, but then Indonesia breaks 365 days a year so the scale of rare is skewed. This is not some a local winter bombie we are talking about. But it is a wave with a fickle spirit and it is effected by the island it crashes against. It’s mostly offshore in dry season tradewinds and heavily effected by the tides, but strange microclimates move in on a whim. These due to the morning thermal heating and evening cooling of the mountainous coast line. “This wave definitely has a spirit”, says Hollander Ivo Pansier, “If you are plugged in, you can feel her. If she’s unhappy with anyone, she’ll turn onshore, even though you can see the whitecaps of the offshore trades on the horizon. Karma comes into play here more than most visitors care to realize”.
Even though these are no-thought moments, shouldn’t we reward the Ocean for giving us these moments? Sebastian Correa riding the foam, absorbing the rush, hoping for human success within a natural phenomenon that has been present for millions of years. Waves have never intentionally tried to kill us. So why are we intentionally trying to kill them? If only the golden rule was real.
The Addiction is very real. And the Ocean provides like a pusher. Giving us just enough so that we stay hooked for life. Wouldn’t it be great if our dealer actually profited from our buys? Instead of eventually ending up in the gutter with us? Because that is where we are all going if we do not fight for our rush. Above, Leandro Keese surrounded by the Ocean. Below, Othmane Choufani celebrating the fix and to the right, an unknown soldier peaking at a slightly more forgiving Desert Point. All three lost in a mainlining moment.
Still her allure is undeniable. With water as clear as the beginning of time. To see her in the distance, and it is a distance out to her from the beach, is to see what appears to be silent, spindrift perfection, reeling off the left of a bay so astonishingly beautiful that only the most articulate surfers can even describe it. A fantasy set-up. A movie set. One half expects a turn of the century pirate ship to come sailing around the corner to anchor in the bay. But once beyond the beauty, once the lust takes hold, a very different kind of fantasy can meet the first timer that paddles into her line-up. One will be met with a very unique crowd. An international crowd of super-hot surfers, all jockeying like a horserace when the bell goes off at every set. And that clear water? As beautiful as it is? It now serves as a very unnerving magnifying glass. Enabling you to see quite clearly your violent fate should you falter on the tightrope between your instincts and the will of the wave.
But then again, it is no achievement at all to walk a tightrope across a flat floor. So you go. And you hope. And you either live or die.
Waves will never disappear as we poison our Oceans. They will just become ugly. And we, the ones who literally threw the acid in their face. Othmane Choufani riding a fragile beauty into an inevitable future of pollution. It is possible to change this. We just, each and every one of us, have to get up off our asses.
Photography by Billy Sencha
Agus Frimanto is a man of the future. Who surfs with the hope and the pride of Nusa Lembongan on his shoulders every time he takes off. Especially when his home island can be seen in the background. Hard trained in the air ramps of his island, Agus Frimanto’s rotations, with a lot at stake, are world class.
“To be any kind of good surfer on Nusa Lembongan”, says native son Agus Frimanto, “You must have a very close connection with the moon”. And at 27 years old, he is the man that should know. Surfing on our neighbor island is tidal to the extreme. Constantly swept with deadly currents, Lembongan can look flat at low tide and be ten foot by high. And don’t forget those famous rogue waves that come in, vexing inexperienced visitors who are out on a three foot day when all of the sudden a ten foot set barrels through the line-up. But Agus Frimanto is an experienced breed of Lembongan surfer, never caught by surprise. “You have to pay attention over here. Sometimes our best sessions are only 40 minutes long. You need to connect to be a part of the peak moments over
here”. Still, drawing inspiration from John John Florence’s surfing and possessing a bubbling enthusiasm for Lembongan’s future, Frimanto can see a day when his island will no longer appear as a private surfing reserve and instead become an important stop on the WQS tour. “It’s all about getting the government to help us build towers”, He says, “Like the one at Lakey Peak or the one at Siargao. The pontoons we have now don’t cut it, even the judges get seasick”. With this new push for meaningful competitions at both Shipwreck and Lacerations, Frimanto envisions a day when Nusa Lembongan will become a regular international stop, inspiring the next generation of their Boardrider club members to go toe to toe in the barrels of both spots. And with great air sections at the end of each, one can imagine it happening.
“Right now, we have an open invitation to our government and to all international competitors to help us make our island a competitive hot spot”, Frimanto says, “We have the waves and the talent, and most of all the desire”. And that’s exactly what it takes. After all, as Agus Frimanto now knows, the best way to predict your future is to create it.
The wave at Lacerations on Nusa Lembongan has a “quick grab” opportunity at the end of it. And at Keramas, Agus Frimanto can break them out at will.
With his surfing inspired by John John Florence, Agus Frimanto knows that aerials do not make a man. “You gotta know how to put it on a rail if you are going to be anyone”. Re-energized with future hopes for his island as a competitive hotspot, Frimanto is surfing like a man living up to his own expectations.
The set-up. Surfing has always been about adaptation. It’s the key to the survival of our species
Now, your phone and a pair of binoculars can bring it back alive. Rio Waida, his mind already two turns ahead, captured in the now with what you carry in your pocket.
It is only fitting that this new camera set-up was inspired by hunting. Seeing as surfing is all about hunting too. In a marriage of engineering and imagination, photographer Nicolas Antipoff has been able to turn your phone and a pair of binoculars into an amateur photographers dream. Alot of birders out there will be stoked too. With the first testing done at Keramas with the world’s best surfers in the water, Antipoff’s results solve that which has always been the bane of live surfing audiences: How to capture the action that is too far away without an expensive pro camera rig? Now, for the cost of an adapter and a pair of 10x42 binoculars, you can turn your phone into an effective telephoto lens. There are challenges of course. The fall off of sharp focus around the edges, fast enough shutter speeds on your phone, some vignetting and the need for perfect lighting. But most of these issues can be solved with a decent tri-pod. As you can see here, the results from Antipoff’s hand-held work is more than promising. Because photography will always be magic…even if you know how it’s done.
For more see:
https://us.tectectec.com (USA)
https://fr.tectectec.com (FR)
Top: Now, you can capture any surfing moment you like. Your photography freed from the dictations of what is considered a perfect surfing photograph by the media. Here, Rio Waida hits one o’clock in a split second of timing that is as important to the photographer as it is the surfer.
Right: Capturing peak action can be a little tricky with your phone considering shutter speed delays. But like any photographer, you eventually develop a relationship with your camera. Funny how standard SLR camera’s have never allowed a photographer to see the moment they have captured until it has passed. Now, with your phone, it never blinks an eye. Owen Wright’s peak moment, captured with a machine that fits in the palm of your hand.
Memorable moments need never be perfect moments. Felipe Toledo, if just for a moment, walking on water with balletic grace.
With quality telephoto opportunities now available to anyone with a phone and a pair of binoculars, capturing those private moments of portraiture has never been more possible. Taina Izquierdo, reflects on her session, having just been surfing shoulder to shoulder with Stephanie Gilmore and Carissa Moore. Photography is a way of discovering what our lives mean to us. Of who we are.
There is a wave coming for all of us out there. But only if you are really good surfer. It is almost if these rogue waves choose the best surfers themselves. Most of us have been there. Through clever positioning or just what feels like luck, the biggest, best wave of the day finds us. The line-up starts hooting, friends are yelling for you to go, the line-up is a flurry of energy as surfers out of position paddle in formation to avoid the smash. But one guy is in position and is paddling to meet it. And in that heroic moment of spinning around and digging in he earns the greatest thrill in surfing. The wave of the day.
Muklis Anwar knows the feeling. Restless from surfing the best season Medewi has ever seen, he made the trip over to Hu’u on Sumbawa in need of a barrel that perfect Medewi could never offer.Tuned in from ripping Medewi for months, on that fine morning at Hu’u it was almost as if Muklis willed the wave to happen. Twice the size of anything that came in before or after on this day, the wave itself was tailor made for Muklis’s hunger. Undergunned, he almost didn’t catch it. An unforgivable sin for any serious surfer. But once it had him, things slowed way down.Taking off deep before the power jacked into the reef, his drop was straight down and smooth. Taking his time, timing it right, he leaned into his bottom turn carefully knowing his board was not up to a jam. Climbing into the fray the wave became everything it was supposed to. And from there it was preordained that he would ride into the channel gone from view. He sat in the channel for few moments afterward. Debating paddling back out. He knew no wave like that was going to happen again on this morning. And in the end, he paddled in. Satisfaction is not always the fulfillment of what you want. It is the realization of how lucky you are to have what you have.
A calm mind is the greatest weapon when facing challenge. Muklis Anwar, in an almost serene state of anticipation for what is to come, taps the power that is going to get him into the channel unseen.
Photography by Pete Frieden
The Surftime Interview
SURFTIME: What is the most frightening thing about having a child for whom you have been responsible for him being obsessed with surfing?
SHANE DORIAN: Honestly, now that my kid is becoming pretty good at surfing, its naturally getting more serious. He likes to compete in contests and all that as well. I hope he doesn’t lose his love for surfing. That is my biggest fear. Surfing is so important in life, just the simple act of riding waves with your friends, it’s good for our health, good for our sanity and good for the soul. I just want him to remember why he fell in love with surfing and not let it get too serious.
What traits in your surfing obsession are you hoping your child does not inherit? I really liked to scare the shit out of myself by surfing really big waves. I felt like I had something to prove. I am hoping my son Jackson does not follow that path. He has a totally different personality from me so I am not really worried about that. I don’t think surfing Jaws is in his future but you never know.
You know what it takes to achieve the professional surfing dream. Does your child?
He thinks he does. He thinks it takes a lot of time in the water and lots of discipline. It is definitely his current dream.
Having passed your DNA onto this new vessel of life, do you feel as if you are going to live forever?
No, definitely not. It is fun to be so involved with my kids and to experience things seeing it through their eyes. But they are who they are, living their own lives. I am just trying to give them the tools they need to learn to be stoked on being who they really are and making the most out of our time here.
Like being in a bullfight next to your son. Shane Dorian takes sharing surfing with his boy into the stratosphere. Though Shane believes in Fathering with a light touch, dropping in on the one of the greatest Hellmen of all time has got to make a son’s blood roil. A hybrid of emotions, proving things to yourself and the old man.
Do you think surfing provides a place of happiness in life for your child? Or just a place of happiness he can visit?
No doubt. That is one thing we definitely have in common. He does not like to listen to any directions and he likes to be creative and have total control. Out in the water no one tells him what to do and he can surf exactly the way he wants, that is the true beauty of the surfing experience.
In the surf, what is your child’s superpower?
He is very little so he’s a fast little bugger.
What is yours?
I have never lost my love for it.
Name a powerful personal philosophy that you feel your child, independent from your influence, has formed so far through surfing?
He loves his independence. He already knows that surfing has given him so much, from meeting friends around the world, to the opportunity to be creative on a daily basis.
When great men have children, history shows those children often grow up obsessed with equaling or surpassing their Father’s achievements. Do you promote or combat this?
Honestly, navigating fatherhood is very tricky and it takes a ridiculous amount of time and effort. I think no matter how good of a parent you are you can still have a kid who grows up to be an idiot and make terrible choices. I am just doing the best I can at being a dad and enjoying my time with my kids, trying to make the very most of these years. I don’t spend much time worrying about what they will achieve. I just want them to find out who they really are and be happy in life.
Though Shane Dorian’s courage is unquestioned in tremendous waves, it has always been his high performance moves that have cemented his credibility. Never a World Champion, with moves like this at 47 years old, he’s never had to be. Him and Kelly Slater have obliterated the age ceiling. Not living a life span, but enjoying a long health span.
By Kartika Lestari
(Editors note: The following is an unedited submission that tells a very common story about the vortex of the Bali nightlife that can swallow you up. Yet it also tells a very uncommon story about a man who sought the solution in his own way).
Here are short story about Dedi Gun last trip to Java.
Dedi himself as a profesional surfer, has reach some point that force him to dealing with lifestyle and it consequences during life in Bali. Some of them are very exhausting and complicated, especially things that connect to his personal life. As an adult he is on a situation that require his responsibility part, but at the same time he don’t wanna drown
into the stressful side effects.
That’s the real conflict that happen inside him while he decided to join “The trip to Java” with his friends.
It’s look like a simple trip with some old and new friends, but actually it is kind of trip that able to bring you to another side of this crazy life during this day. Trip when you can be yourself with no one to judge. Trip with people who are also chasing their dreams, and people who doesn’t attached to life routine. It was bit wild but touch your spiritual side at the same time.
Being at a new place that challenge your curiosities to explore it, able to bring back Dedi Gun enthusiasm to ride the waves and conquer his ego once more, like when it
happens at the first time long time ago. He manage to bring his passion back to it places again. And it become one of the most precious thing that he found during that Java Trip, along with the grateful feeling to find out a “New Secret Play Ground”
When a man already found the joyful side of his passion, he could find the way to continue chasing his dream and leave behind the demons...again.
Sometimes the worst place you can be is inside your head. Dedi Gun, finding some room to move his thoughts and actions around.
Paddling out alone at a spot never surfed before can be a cleansing act. But it can also be lonely. And yet the sun is alone…and it’s still shining. So why not? The greatest of wisdom has often come to those who have no one to say anything to.
BLUE PANIC
Jl. Pantai No. 51, Kuta - Bali
BILLABONG • RVCA • VON ZIPPER
QUIKSILVER • ROXY • BOARD RIDER
Funny
how when we dream of waves, they are always overhead. Maybe that’s because above all else, we long to crawl inside of them. And you need a little space to do that. And yet there is so much more to be said about small waves. Even though we treat them like a lower caste. A friend asks “Hey man, how’s the surf?” and we either sheepishly or grumpily mutter, “Small”. But are they? Do smaller waves make us smaller? When it comes to the heroics and the bravery and the courage and the rush, rush, rush, sure, small waves don’t demand any saber rattling or gun nest charges. But since they are the waves we spend most of our lives in, shouldn’t they? I mean, it’s not like your spirit or your body becomes any smaller in smaller waves. It’s just your attitude. Your approach. And look, people, lets define small waves right here and now. Go stand up straight with your back up against a wall. Grab a pencil and make a mark of your height. Now stand back and look at it. Any wave face below that mark is considered small conditions. Anything above is overhead. Now that we have that straight, lets get back to it. The invaluable experience of small waves is six fold. One: Like any pilot, it’s how you build up your hours. Two: It defines your approach when things get bigger. Three: It defines your ability to find the power sources a wave offers. Five: It defines your individual style. And most of all, six: it defines your desire. So regardless of the conditions, our advice is that every time you paddle out, make it big. Certainly not the waves every time, but always in spirit. Prove to yourself that if you cannot always do great things, the least you can do is small things in a great way.
Ben Benson recently went on a California tear. And wetsuit or no, he put on a clinic in small wave performance every where he went. Newport Beach may be a long way from Padma, but the Indonesian fire within was evident to all.
Three different angles of attack. Two different days. With California beachbreaks having more mass and heave than Kuta, the technique Ben employed in California demanded a hybrid of sand bottom skills with a dash of the Keramas training.
Surfing in a different Ocean brings a different enlightenment. And it can be the best feeling in the world when you wire new water. Ben Benson, representing Indonesia on a far shore with a feeling of home close in his heart.
The world works in mysterious ways. And I’m grateful for it. For my family and friends and surfing and a million other things. Amazing things have happened this year. Not without some heartache and pain. But honestly, I’m not sure if all the wonderful things would’ve happened if I hadn’t gone through the bad. I guess, that’s how the universe works though. Its timing is impeccable.
Earlier this year I remember writing down: “My why is to remain positive, strive for greatness and enjoy life to the best of my ability. Trusting the process I must go through to achieve goals and accept my faults. Most importantly growing from the challenges I encounter”
It’s a mantra I hold close to my heart. Especially in moments when I lose faith in myself. I am young and I have so much to learn, but I am excited for all that is to come. I know that if I believe in myself and work hard then what I want to achieve is possible. Surfing and competing has taught me so much. I love it. I took some time off from full time competing on the WQS. It was doing my head in. Competition can be so heartbreaking. When you work so hard at something and it doesn’t work out, that’s rough. I had to go back to the drawing board and remember why I love it so much. And I feel that now I surf better than I ever have. My Father gave me the gift of surfing. My Mother gave me the gift of my Balinese heritage. And what better place to surf than here in Bali? To be a surfer and have my family heritage and live the surfers dream on this beautiful island is a blessing. I love Bali. It’s home. And my heart is here.
First look for honesty in a smile, then appreciate the beauty. Fresh from her win in big outside corner at the Uluwatu Boardriders Challenge, Pua Johnson is refreshed, re-energized and ready for the world. It’s something in the way she moves.
G A L L E R Y G A L L E R Y PERSONALITY. CHANCE. DESIRE. FIRE.
PERSONALITY. CHANCE. DESIRE. FIRE.
Is there more to life than just increasing its speed? Varun Tandjung doesn’t think so. And Keramas is the perfect test track for his F1 tactics. Blink and you might miss him.
by Pete Frieden
PERSONALITY. CHANCE.
DESIRE. FIRE.
The heart is where your style is. And Nyoman Satria, one of Bali’s cardinal stylists, brings his unique riffs to every stage. Like a symphony conductor, guiding all the elements of beauty into one resounding moment with his own two hands.
by Paul Viney
