Travellers Tales: The Best Indo Week Ever!

WQS Standout Shane Campbell and his friends luck into the best week of swell in July 2018 with Shane Dorian and his son Jackson at Kandui Villas.

Shane Campbell is a super stylish, powerful 23 year old WQS standout from Cronulla in Sydney. Shane is one of the standout chargers on Cronulla’s notoriously hollow reefbreaks and equally adept at shredding 2ft beachies apart.

His best competition results include a win in the Boardmasters Pro WQS 1000 in England, the Carve Pro WQS 1000 at Maroubra, and 2nd place in the Barbados Pro WQS 3000 all in 2017/18.

“Shambles” currently sits at 84 on the current WQS World Ratings, which is not really where he really wants or deserves to be, but he plans to crack into the top 50 before seasons end and then re-evaluate.

The Perfect Wave’s Ben Horvath caught up with the surfer he rates most likely to succeed Connor O Leary as the next big thing from Cronulla.

Ben – What dates were you in the Mentawai Shambles?

Shane – Me and my friends were in the Mentawais from the July 14 to the 24th. We actually had to bail the morning of the Big Wednesday July 25 Mega Swell.

Tell us a bit about your trip?

Yeah the trip was amazing! Only one of us had been before, so we all kind of went there not really knowing what to expect or what we were getting ourselves into. We had booked the trip months in advance with you and Emma at The Perfect Wave Cronulla Office, so obviously had no idea if we would get swell or not, but none of us cared because were all so pumped. Then we saw the forecast leading up to it and it looked good, but we didn’t really know it was going to be as crazy at it was. To create a picture- it was literally mechanical 6 foot barrels everywhere you looked, with a bunch of tropical islands surrounding us. Everyday we would wake up and get the dingy straight out to the surf and surf until we needed food or until we were beyond sore. We’d then relax by the pool, have beers, go diving or fishing, and then surf again for the whole afternoon, and then of course straight back to the bar for some beers and stories.

Who did you go with?

My friends from Cronulla – James Harrison, Jansen Pocklington, Lukas Reedman, Ben Dewhurst and Luke Hickel.

Where did you stay?

We stayed at Kandui Villas, right on the beach!

How were the waves?

To say the waves were amazing was kind of an understatement. We literally got barrelled every single day, so yeah pumping! We were told that the forecast we were rolling into was the best they had seen in 5 years, so i don’t really have to add anything to that.

Where did you surf?

We surfed mainly Kandui because it pretty much pumped the entire 10 days, but we also got some great days at Rifles, A frames, Baby Kandui, Pistols, and we got to surf Hideaways once too.

Best sessions?

Our best session….. such a tough call, but one day at about midday we were surfing A frames and it was super fun. Jordan (the guy that runs the Villas) drove his boat over to us and said keep your voices down but the wind has swung slightly and Kandui could be firing, so we all quickly jumped in the boat and drove over there to find 4-6 foot perfect barrels with not a soul out there. We had it to ourselves for over an hour and I’m pretty sure no one fell off. It’s funny because 2 of the boys, Jansen and Luke, left A frames before Jordan got there so they missed out on the session hahahaha!

How were Kandui Villas?

Kandui Villas were amazing, in the perfect spot, set up perfectly and the crew were great. The best part honestly was sitting around and seeing the photos of everybody at the bar after a full day of surfing, laughing and praising people for epic waves. It wasn’t cheap, but I would 100% go back- we scored!

How was surfing and hanging with Dorian and his son Jackson?

Well when we saw that Shane and Jackson Dorian were going to be there our first thoughts were, oh sh*t how big is this swell going to be hahaha. We were pumped to meet them i guess. They were really cool and down to earth and we all got along really well. I learnt that Jackson will probably be world champ in 5 years and Shane hasn’t lost a thing in his surfing since being off tour.