here i sit on the coffee table of the sansscouci2 on the way back to padang. these past 2 days were incredible. it was 4:30pm yesterday evening when i went down to my bed to finish up the book i was reading. i was on the last 3 pages and ready for a nap when hayato came down and told me the waves were good. i already came in from a surf and got a 20 second barrel so i was pretty much over surfing. so i told him to send the dingy back to wake me up if the waves are good. i fell asleep. 10 minutes later, the dingy comes back and tells me “kirby, waves going off”. really? i was half sleeping but went anyway. i jumped in and my mind wasn’t there. the waves were pretty good but my timing was way off. i seen hayato, zuccho, and numajiri get sick 20 second barrels but i was just sitting on the outside waiting for a good one. the sun set, it was probably 6:30pm or so and it was getting pretty dark. everybody was on the dingy waiting for me and i was thinking to myself that i should have stayed in bed. then there it was, a huge set creeping in from the dark. i turned around as everybody was yelling “go”. i took off, pulled into this huge barrel, got so deep, made it out, pulled in again, again, and again, and rode the wave for 1 kilometer, or about a half of mile. i kicked out in the dark and looked back at the lineup. all i could see was a little dot in the water, that dot was our dingy. that was by far the best wave of my life. nothing even comes close.
then i wake up today and the waves were even bigger. i got another 20 second plus barrel and rode it forever. that was the 2nd best wave of my life. mentawai has the most perfect waves in the world. i’ve been here many of times but things are only getting bigger and better. i’ve seen video’s of kelly slater and andy irons getting long barrels out here. ours were longer. and if you don’t believe me, ask the guys at the kandui surf camp who took them surfing. they will tell you the same thing because they were out and getting the waves of their lives too.
i’m surfed out. i’m tired, i’m happy, and i appreciate my life more than ever. just wanted to say thanks to everybody that made this trip happen, and to everybody that we’ve met along the way. we all have new memories, new friends, and over 10,000 photos that’s enough to make a 100 page article….. stay tuned….
and i’ll just leave you with this….
SURF YOUR DREAM….. GO-NAMINORI….
