6TH JULY – 20TH JULY
GRAVEY POINT!!!
Chelly and Bruiser rounded up Avoca's finest young hell men, throw Benny into the mix, an absolute bonanza of perfect empty lefts, and that was one hell of a trip!
The kids reckoned they were the groms of the trip. Truth was, there were a few old blokes onboard out surfing the groms like they have never really grown up.
EASY DOES IT
The opening days served up playful wedges and novelty peaks, the perfect warm up after a long travel. Nobody was complaining. There was plenty of smiles in the lineup and enough quality to remind everyone why they'd come.
…but the fun was only just getting started, and the next two weeks were going to blow the boys minds!
GRAVEY POINT
Every trip seems to leave something behind - often it is a new nickname for a wave. This one left us with Gravey Point.
We pushed south after dark, slipping quietly through the islands while a few other boats hunted elsewhere. Dawn revealed one of those Mentawai gems that still somewhat flies under the radar.
For three straight days it belonged to just a few mates, fathers and sons.
Gravey was first out on day one, paddled into the first proper set of the morning and disappeared from sight. When he came flying out the channel erupted and everyone was OUT THERE!
For three days we traded pit after pit until everyone had totally forgotten what day it was.
LEFT FOOT FORWARD
With goofies outnumbering naturals in the voting, the program was pretty straightforward – “Lefts”.
Luckily for them, trade-wind season has started and lefts are exactly what we got.
The natural-footers weren't left completely starving. Whenever the breeze shifted or eased, the Foxy was loaded and they'd sneak off to score a few playful rights. Clean empty lefts have a funny way of calling you back though.
THE NIGHT OF THE CLIPPERS
Origin fever rolled through the boat after the Blues finally got one over Queensland. The post-match celebrations somehow turned to “haircuts”.
A few bets had been made, and by the end of the night every one of them had to be honoured. Saltwater has a habit of making bad haircuts look almost respectable though and first thing the next morning it was back to what we came for - left tubes.
BLUE TUBES
The final swell of the trip was a cracker, pretty south, and we knew where we wanted to be.
Only one other boat with us, and as luck would have it there was a bunch of mates onboard. Plenty of waves, plenty of hooting, and plenty of kegs.
Somewhere during the afternoon Gravey paddled back to the Foxy shaking his head.
"That was the best day of surfing of my life."Lenno didn't hesitate -
"Yep, I’ll double down on that call."
Comments like that don't get old.
But the punchline came the next morning with the swell doubling in size. What had already been an unforgettable day had now turned into two unforgettable days, and more than a few of the boys left the islands with memories of the best few days surfing of their lives.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
Big thanks to Chelly for backing the Mighty Mango once again, to the whole crew for keeping the stoke alive from sunrise to lights out, and to Indies Trader for the assistance with extra “provisions” late in the trip.
Cheers Uncle Lip.