Few waves in the world are preparation for the length, depth and intensity of Kandui. Surfers from around the world come to the Playgrounds area of the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia, hooked on Kandui. The worlds premier luxury surf resort, Kandui Villas, is within minutes of Kandui, a prime location to master this beast.

Surfers return to Kandui Villas year after year, season after season, to figure Kandui out.

Kandui is a startlingly fast, hollow wave, known as the best left in the world, by any person and any top pro surfers who have surfed it on a good day.

This is not one of those days.

Indonesia’s swell wasn’t just historic because it produced a viral clip of a boat going over the falls. With a chart reading of 20 feet at 17 seconds, the swell was the largest ever recorded to hit the region.

Historic swell, meet Kandui. Although big, the Mentawais’ famously perfect left-tube was shifty and warbled. Watch Nic Von Rupp & co wrestle with a not-so-perfect Kandui.

This isn’t the first time we’ve been blessed to watch Nic Von Rupp wrestle Kandui. Perfect Wave photographer, Margarita Salyak, was on hand in 2017 to capture this video.

 

Written by:
Caleb Thornton-Shaw

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