“Best Barrels I’ve Ever Scored in the Maldives” – 2009 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Runner up – Adam Robertson

by Ben Horvath

The most consistent run of swell so far in 2014 hit The Maldives in the last fortnight or so of June and it kept pumping well into the first week of July.

2009 Rip Curl Pro, Bells Beach WCT runner up, Torquay’s Adam Robertson spent what he called a memorable week at Kandooma from June 13 to 20 and said, “I have been to The Maldives nine times in all, but I have never scored stand up barrels like I scored mid June at Kandooma.

The Perfect Wave’s marketing manager Ben Horvath caught up with Adam for a quick interview upon his return.

Q – I bet you were stoked to escape the Vicco winter, land in the tropical Maldives and hook straight into a swell of substance?

Yeah for sure. In the lead up to the trip I was flat out with my work at Surfing Victoria and the post Rip Curl Pro rundown so I hadn’t had that much of a chance to surf.  To be honest I had no idea what the waves were going to be like at Kandooma.  I took two short boards (a Simon Anderson and a Stretch) and two fun boards to muck around on if it was small. Once I saw the wave I realised the fun boards weren’t going to work out there. I broke my Simon short board third wave in a barrel and rode the yellow and red Stretch for the rest of the trip.  A friend borrowed the Stretch and ripped all the stickers off it which I didn’t realise until I pulled it out of the cover once I was over there.

Q – Have you been to The Maldives before? If so where, when?

That was my 9th trip to the Maldives.  I’d been to Lohifushi and Pasta Point before when the W.Q.S event was on over there. I think it’d be hard to have a bad time in the Maldives, it’s a nice spot.

Q – How did the waves at Kandooma rate?

All the waves I’ve surfed in the Maldives have been top quality waves; I’d say Lohifushi and Pasta Point are more playful waves and maybe a touch softer than Kandooma.  Kandooma is definitely hollower.  But again I think all the waves I’ve surfed in the Maldives have been of very good quality.

Q – Give us a quick description of Kandooma Right?

It’s a really nice wave, not too shallow or sharp in comparison to say the Mentawai or G-Land or somewhere like that, but it still has a very Indo type feel where you can take off and get a barrel from start to finish. With that being said it did cater for surfers of most abilities, there were slow waves that allowed for turns, or smaller tubes on the same patch of reef also.

Q – You were there for a week in prime time June 13 -20. Where there waves every day?

We were lucky and got a swell that lasted for the entire week.  It was nice to spend the week surfing good waves with a relatively uncrowded line up.

Q – Did you surf some of the other waves nearby?

I actually only surfed Kandooma rights, it was good every day and I didn’t feel the need to search any further.  When there was barrelling waves breaking right in front of my eyes I found it hard to walk away from.

Q – Who did you travel with – can you tell us a little about Surfers in suits?

Part of my job at Surfing Victoria is to be a part of Surfers in Suits.  Surfers in Suits is an exclusive brand created by Surfing Victoria to represent business people, professionals, entrepreneurs and the corporate community who all have an interest in Surfing.  We’ve run functions in Melbourne with guest speakers such as Rabbit and Tom Carroll, Occy spoke at a recent function.

I was lucky enough to go to Kandooma with a group of Surfers in Suits members and surfers as a surf guide and coach to help their surfing progress.  It was a fantastic trip. I was actually talking to one of the surfers on the trip, Pete Dunworth, about how enjoyable the trip was and to have a group of surfers be genuinely stoked for everyone to be sharing great waves made the trip much more enjoyable.

Q – Would you go back?

Yeah, I’d really like to go back next year.  I’m hoping to take my wife and young son over with some friends next year for a bit of a surf/family trip. I’d love to do another Surfers in Suits trip there also; the guys really improved their surfing in the week we were there which was really good to see.

Mark Cooper from www.epicswells.com scored 10 days of nonstop swell aboard The Haira in late June and early July.

Cooper’s charter began in North Male with some fun 3-4ft sessions at Jails, before heading to the Central Atolls in anticipation of some solid swell.

Coops said, “We enjoyed a great run of swell and barely saw another charter boat the whole time. The waves were consistently in the 4ft range and there were one or two 5-6ft days and one solid 6-8ft plus day. We surfed Machine and a bunch of other amazing set ups with mid size swell, clean conditions and no crowds.”