Go With A Pro – The Perfect Wave Surf Experience May 2013

Trip To Nomad Tropical Surf Resort: West Sumbawa Hosted By Matt Hoy and Ry Craike
Words by Josh Allen. Photos by Nick Gregory courtesy www.coastalwatch.com
Video clips by Mark Riley, courtesy Fish Outta Water (Fuel TV), Tyler Bell and Nick Gregory.

It’s not often that you get the opportunity to travel with your hero, someone you really looked up to when you were younger or someone you wish you could surf like one day. Luckily I and a small group of surfers from all over Australia and two lads from Hawaii took advantage of The Perfect Wave’s once in a lifetime chance.
Professional surfers and all round good Aussie blokes Matt Hoy and Ry Craike were hosting a one off fans trip to West Sumbawa for a week of barrels, Bintangs and crazy shenanigans. Here is my re-cap of what happened.

Ry Craike @ Supersuck
Ry Craike @ Supersuck

Day 1: May 5, 2013. Anticipating a solid day of travel ahead of us, everyone smashed down some free brekky before a 930am flight to Lombok. We spotted a few solid lines from the bird’s eye of the plane, so the boys were getting super excited for an arvo session and the week ahead. After landing in Lombok, driving 2 hours to the other side of the island to a small ferry terminal and catching a 1 hour ferry to West Sumbawa we were at our destination with a minimum of fuss. To make things even more rewarding we got there in time for surf before the sun went down.

Day 2: Our first day in West Sumbawa! Nomad Tropical Surf Resort surf guide Aaron had us all down a quick brekky before jumping on the minibus to a right hander 5 mins drive away known as Yoyo’s. Yoyo’s is a fun, bowling right hander with plenty of hollow sections and steep walls for powerful hacks. The first to paddle out was Kael Walsh, a young grommet from WA who lit the place up with some crazy aerials and lightning fast turns! After a day of froth and pure exhaustion the boys were wrecked so we went back to the resort and had a chance to experience the highly regarded NTSR food menu. Let me tell ya, the hype didn’t do the food justice! The food was incredible! Five out of five – I would seriously go back just for the food. How they pull such a high quality menu together being in such an uncrowded, isolated location is beyond me, but they do!

Day 3: Talk of a building swell, due to hit the following morning meant a lot of the lads saved their energy and enjoyed other things West Sumbawa had to offer. There’s a 9-hole golf course nearby, huge swimming pool in the resort, ping pong, billiard table and a massage parlour so it wasn’t hard to find something to do! Most of us still had great surf at Yoyo’s in the arvo. There was an afternoon glass off, so there were plenty of barrels for all the boys.

Days 4 – 6: Surf guide Aaron had been talking up a solid swell hitting West Sumbawa that in his words, “Should last a few days.” His local knowledge was spot on! Aaron took us to a place which was so far out of the way we had to drive through old run down villages, swamp lands and an old resort that had been abandoned and was now home to some local families. After a bit of stress regarding the potential strengthening cross/onshore wind we reached our destination – Supersuck.

From the car park we saw one, then two, then 3 dudes in a row get completely covered…gone for all money and then at the last second spat out of these dredgy pits breaking over only a few feet of water. It was on! The “Suck” was such an insane wave, but it was very tidal. On high tide it would link up 3 – 4 barrelling sections, some faster than others. WA surfer Shaun Green managed to get 4 barrels on one wave numerous times with an eight second pit on the second section on one of his gems.
On low tide the barrel section would still link up but it was shallow…gnarly shallow and on occasion you could feel your fins grinding on the reef or in some instances your precious skin. One guy got cut up so badly half his back was covered in nasty scratches like he had been hacked up by a razor blade. The grimace on the face when someone’s reef cuts are limed never ceases to make you laugh!

Day 7: So after a week of crazy waves, good times and good people it was time to let loose! At the end of the week the resort puts on a big buffet meal for all the guests. After a massive meal it’s time to party! With some new friends and good times behind us we partied the night away knowing the realities of back home await. The trip was over but will never be forgotten.

Matt Hoy said, “The Perfect Wave made the travel easy for me and Craike. Nomad is without doubt the best surf resort I have ever stayed at. The waves and food were insane and crowds not an issue. Myself and Craike are hosting another trip to Nomad with The Perfect Wave during the first week of May 2014. You are all invited along. Just suss the photos and vid clips and I’m sure you will join us.” Email [email protected] to book for 2014.

Check out the photos from the trip!! Tropical Left, Yo-yo’s and Supersuck. Photos by Nick Gregory courtesy www.coastalwatch.com

Written by:
Ben Horvath

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