What a day

Stevo and the Romper Stompers join us again for their annual adventure throughout the West Sumatran Island chain.

Words and pics | Uncle Lip

The Group

Broken up of half-goofy and half-natural footers hailing from the east coast of Australia with familiar faces as Stevo, Rod, the Squid, Chris, Captain Tony and Jefro ranging from the age of mid-30s to early 70s.

Place your money

Sumatra's number one beer garden in full swing

Conditions/Forecast

Heading out from Padang the first half of the trip on paper was reading small waves but stellar weather. To be followed by the first proper swell of the season. Like an actual swell that had the whole surfing community talking all around the world. With this we started our trip in the Mentawai’s to guarantee surf every day to finish our trip north in the Telo islands so we could tick off a few favorite waves of the lads on board. That’s the beauty of 2-week trips and an operation who’s prepared to go the extra mile if you have time to cover a lot of nautical miles.

Standout Sessions

12 different waves surfed in total on this trip so plenty of variety.

I think everyone onboard would agree that the session towards the end on one of Telo’s most favourite rights was the standout for everyone. We woke in the morning on the 3rd day of the swell. We stuck to the plan we made a few days prior and as the sun rose, we were stoked to see plenty of swell still around. A little bit of morning sickness soon ironed itself out and the flurry of waves that continued all day put the froth levels in overdrive. Another epic solo session on the Mighty Mango.

Oh, also nearly forgot! when we commandeered the super cat ‘Luna’ for an evening and got a magic show off the Juggler Smuggler. Something different, that’s for sure. Another session that will be hard to forget.

Forever solo

Forever surfing alone

Rod off the top

Session 3 for the day

Squid Junior

The signature pig dawg

The Squid

The uncle festa was born

We love our March _ April sessions

What a day

Win some you lose some

Wave of the trip

After surfing a lot of lefts earlier in the trip Captain Tony found himself wishing for a right as this is the only way he goes at home. Throughout the stand out session as the waves went super dreamy Tony dropped into a gem and rode it in true fashion all the way through. A lot of excitement from the lads over this scored Captain Tony wave of the trip.

The Captain

Tonnnyyy!!

Personalities

Between the WSL (world sleeping league) to surfing 3 times a day, the early morning sledging and banter combined with froth always creates a perfect environment in and out of the water for this annual trip. Always sad to see the end of this one as it goes past so quickly. That’s when you know you’re having a good time.

how does your fleet compare

Mangalui believes in magic

Mighty Mango

The annual traditional photo

You know it going to be a good day when you start it like this

Food

Chef Situ and Putra in true fashion kept the food coming on point. With a few of the lads claiming they will have a lite day eating but not being able to say no as the food was just simply too good. The curries were definitely the standout though with few of the boys claiming the best curry of their life.

Quote Stevo “I don’t even like curry but that was next level”

Fish Curry

Putra the BBQ king

Snack time

Fish on

13 Yellow GT, 2 GT, 8 Wahoo.

A lot of action in the Indian Ocean this trip with Wahoo caught every time we did a day/afternoon crossing to the bottom dropping off the side of the mother ship cleaning up the Yellow Tail GT. Only once we went trawling on the Foxy Lady and we came back with a full bin. Never miss a Foxy mission.

Always a bonus when you get a fish in transit

Always hours of entertainment bottom dropping

bedgzy for president

FISH ON!!!

Never miss a Foxy mission

"Squids a super snake, a super snake, he’s from Corindiiiiiiiii"

The Squid did the most brutal snake on his son Chris which everyone thought was amazing and after a regroup on the Mangalui back deck after the incident the song was created (quote above) in the same tone as Superfreak by Rick james.

Special Thanks

Always firstly my crew although I don’t know who had more fun this trip them or the guest. Resort Latitude Zero for giving the Foxy Lady a birthday and the guests who keep on supporting us on a yearly basis.

The Indonesian season is just starting to kick off and it’s going to be a good one. The swell has already started and the winds have been so light. We have a few last-minute cancellations if you would like to come join us on the Mighty Mango’s 30th birthday.

Yours truly Uncle Lip. See you guys onboard.