After almost 4 weeks in T-Land, it was time to bid my farewell to this land of long and mechanical lefts. I took advantage of a lull in the swell to fly back to Bali to spend a couple of days on the Bukit Peninsular before heading back to Kuala Lumpur for a visa run.
Prior to T-Land, I had hoped in my mind that T-Land would better prepare me for the intermediates breaks at the Bukit. On my way there, I had my fingers crossed, constantly questioning myself, was I ready?
To ease myself into the Bukit and to set myself to a positive start, I went to surf the more forgiving Dreamland breaks first. I surprisingly found myself amongst one of the most experienced in the line-up, picking off waves that were too late for the beginners and catching a whole bunch of waves. Compared to the other outstanding world class breaks at the Bukit, Dreamland was so-so. But the fact that it was one of the only rights on the Bukit, had a less inexperienced line-up, the easy take-offs and a forgiving deep reef made Dreamland appealing on its own. (PSA: Dreamland’s breaks are super fat, and intermediate surfers should hit it at the lowest tide possible.)
To gradually ramp up to more difficult breaks, I also challenged myself to surf Balangan. Unfortunately, it was super crowded when I got there, and I found the break impossibly fast, especially since I was surfing it on my backhand. I caught a bunch of waves, but they was no way I could generate speed fast enough to race the waves there.
I also went to surf Padang-padang Rights, a wave that breaks closer to the beach of the world famous barreling Padang-padang. On the day that I went, the swell was of a mixed size, resulting in the Padang-padang rights becoming a chaotic mess of strong currents. I caught a few waves, but it was a horrible surf session. The currents were so strong, that I had to ride the whitewash in circle around to get back into the line-up, only to find myself completely off position just a few minutes later.
After surfing Dreamland consecutively for several evening sessions, I actually found Dreamland’s breaks too unchallenging, which was a first for me. To this point, I had never found any surfbreak unchallenging. This to me, was definite sign of progress in my surfing.
Eventually, this slight lack of challenge eventually motivated me to push myself to attempt to try and surf world-famous Uluwatu on a rising mid tide. This was a strong psychological challenge to me as it was a small venture into the unknown. I knew the infamous Uluwatu cave would be a challenge to paddle in after a surf, due to the strong currents and narrow entrance.
On the morning I decided to consider this challenge, I rode my scooter down to Uluwatu and peered over the overlooking cliffs to see what waves were being offered by Mother Nature that morning. With a moderate swell of 4-6 ft, the waves at Ulus were quite spread out, resulting in a dispersed line-up. Expecting more hollow and fast waves, I was surprised to see slower and fatter waves, and immediately thought to myself, ‘That’s definitely doable!’ and put on my reef booties and headed down to the break.
The waits between sets were long, but I managed to grab a few head high close-outs without dropping in on anyone or anyone dropping in on me. I was proud of myself that I was even sitting out at Uluwatu, legitimately surfing what is considered an advanced or even experienced break! (Although the waves were definitely intermediate at that time) However, my confidence was slightly challenged upon seeing a very heavy wave come through with the lip throwing, and I sought to avoid any heavy-looking waves after that.
I was still hunting for a wave which opened up down the line, and I eventually lucked out and caught a wave where I could finally see the line not collapsing on me. For a split second, I saw this and thought to myself, “Alright, time for some maneouvres!”.
Then suddenly and unexpectedly found myself being launched back out of the lip. I was a bit confused, wondering how that had happened, as I wasn’t pointing my board in that direction…
I later found out from cameras on the cliffs that my front foot was placed way off centre towards the left of my board during my pop-up, which explained the board not going down the line as I intended.
Feeling my stomach growl, I decided to head in for breakfast, which was the tricky part… Would I be able to make it safely back to the Uluwatu cave entrance? I rode some white water to a sandy strip to the side of the cave, thinking I could get back to the cave from there. I found out this was not the case, and I had to paddle slightly out again to get to the cave entrance.
Although the swell wasn’t that big, the amount of water being moved in the cave entrance was slightly daunting, and I could see how a mistimed or off-position re-entry could result in serious injury to the board or the rider. As advised, I paddled in a direction slightly more southwards than the actual entrance, so that my paddling and the current would result in reaching ground safely.
Upon reaching ground, I was relieved, and very proud that I could now navigate the surf at Uluwatu by myself. To me, this was a mark of progress, a badge of honour, which validated my progress as a surfer. 😀
For my last session before heading back to Kuala Lumpur, I decided to go and check out Impossibles, but found it completely dead when I got there. Being immediately to the side of Padang-Padang, I found Padang-padang rights working with shoulder-high sets, and decided to shift over there to try my luck.
I found the lefts at Padang-padang right extremely fast and steep, and so decided to try and grab the rail during my takeoff to prevent pearling. After numerous steep and fast takeoffs where I found myself nose-diving at the flats, I learnt how to crouch lower to prevent nose diving, and also realised that turning the board faster down the line would prevent nose diving. After about 4 to 5 waves of rail grabbing take-offs, some of them successful, some of them not, I realised that grabbing the rail did indeed prevent pearling, but also resulted in more stability, as I found myself still punching through the white water.
Then it unexpectedly happened.
I took off on another steep wave, crouched low, and grabbed my rail towards the left, and for a split second, found myself in this green tunnel of water. Light pierced through the curtain of water that enveloped me, veiling my world view in emerald crystal.
In that instant, I was in a different dimension. Probably a dimension of pure stoke.
I punched through the thin curtain and rode out with the white water, and squealed in excitement without thinking. Then immediately thought to myself, “Did that really just happen?”
Then immediately thought to myself, “Did that really just happen?”
Everything happened so fast that I was even questioning what I had saw. Did I really just get covered up and mini-barreled for the first time?
My only witness to the whole affair was my unadulterated, authentic and immediate whoop of joy upon exiting the wave, and upon reflection, I knew for sure it was surely a trustworthy and reliable witness. And that day, I could proudly claim that I had got my first cover-up or small barrel, although it was an infinitesimally short ride. 😀
