A couple of months back the boss of our humble organisation walked into the office and announced to the staff he would shortly be leaving us to go spend a few weeks in the Mentawai islands in Indonesia in early March. After much delight around the staff at escaping the tyrant of a boss for a few weeks this was soon met with much jealousy at the perfect warm water waves he would be surfing.
Teaming up with a crew of Cornish including ex european champ Ben Baird and current UK veteran champ Roger Knight amongst a group of 8 to head out on this dream trip and after looking at the various options decided on Mentawai Surf Camp as the place to stay. Whilst not luxurious by western standards it was more than comfortable and was the perfect base for exploring the waves around the Mentawais with Diego our host and his team.
After much debate on types of waves that would be surfed the boss settled on a range of Fred Rubbles for his quiver. The shape and rocker of this model would allow easy wave catching whilst still allowing it to hold in once things get a little steeper. He took a 6’0, 6’3 and 6’8 all fitted with Kommunity Project deckgrips and Ocean and Earth leashes. For Surfboard travel protection he used an FCS Travel Boardbag which provided great protection at a reasonable price and easily fitted in his surfboards and a lot of clothing luggage in as well.
For Sun protection he used a long sleeved rash vest to make the most of those long sessions through the midday sun and avoid having to sun cream up all the time. After surfing year round in booties he decided on a pair of reef boots from Rip Curl and ended up using these on the shallower reefs when the feet touched the bottom regularly avoiding unnecessary reef cuts which could potentially keep you out of the water.
Happy Travels and we hope this guide helped!
