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Real Stories
By, Holly Beck

Chic Chat:
Mentawais

One Saturday night a group of the best female surfers in the world took over a small dance club on the second floor of the Bumiminang Hotel in Padang, Indonesia. They let loose, dancing and singing to Brittney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, and whatever other sickening top 40 hits they could scribble onto a request sheet. Sunday afternoon, Australians Kim Wooldridge, Kate Skarrat, Sam Cornish, Dara Penfold, and myself, the lone American, left our solid-grounded comfort zone and climbed onto a boat to embark on a ten day adventure in the Mentawai Islands.

It was Kevin Costner’s "Waterworld" as it should have been; an armada of boats, equipped with the latest satellite technology, all dedicated to the simple feat of finding the best waves, for the right swell direction and prevailing wind pattern, among the myriad surf-infested Mentawai islands. Replacing Costner’s hell-raising jet-ski pirates were the hell-raising dinghy drivers, shuttling surfers between boat and reef, and heavily armed with water bottles, rashguards, extra pieces of wax, and enough sunscreen to cover five surfers from head to toe, three times over. In fact, mid-session paddles back to the dinghy were accomplished with the speed and accuracy of Indy 500 pit stops. No surfer wanted to miss the next set, which would always inevitably arrive just as they had squeezed out a palm sized glob of sunscreen and were too far out of range to get into position. Even though reef break etiquette prevailed, with most surfers cooperating and waiting their turn in line, when a set popped up after a long lull, it was every man for himself. Competition was fierce. And there we were, five women, right in the middle of it all.

With so many breaks on opposite ends of an over-night drive, most evenings we hoisted sail. Exhausted from our second four-hour session of the day, we were rocked to sleep by an 85-foot cradle of polished wood, with only the sounds of the wind in the sails and the swells breaking against the sides of the boat. In the morning, we opened our eyes to yet another perfect reef break.

In order to hasten the arrival of a forecasted swell, rituals are necessary. The men on neighboring boats shaved their heads, but as any female surfer knows, perfectly painted nails are mightier than the mohawk. So, instead of hair clippers, Dara supplied a well-stocked bag of nail polish containing every possible shade of red and blue, with a few bottles of purple, green, and silver, thrown in for extreme cases. Even with fingers and toes shining fresh with color, the ritual was only complete after an exploding shot-gunned soda was celebrated by "Bintang Woman" magic marker tattoos. Kate showed her artistic talent as we flexed our tattooed biceps, posed for photos, and stood in awe of the power of high blood sugar mixed with too many hours of exposure to direct sunlight.

As the sun penetrated deeper, we started chanting techno lyrics drilled into our heads during that first dance club session. Any girl who began singing, "I see you babe…" was immediately out-yelled by the rest of us screaming, "shakin’ that ass, shakin’ that ass!" Apparently the insanity was contagious as Bill and Art, the photographers, would sometimes join in on the chorus.

No adventure would be complete without a few enemies to conquer. A herd of Australian longboarders on a boat that resembled a hot dog, but purred like a lawn mower, seemed to follow our every move. The sea lice were abundant, especially harassing Kim and Kate, who constantly emerged from the water covered in a fresh set of itchy red bites. Kate became so paranoid that she freaked out when a sprouting coconut drifted past her in the line up. After all the sea lice, a fish that somehow found its way into her swimsuit top, a flying crab, and a mysterious eel-like creature that rubbed up against her leg, all in one session, who could blame her?

The trip was an adventure, and in the end we found what we were seeking. We surfed perfect waves in warm water in front of islands of palm trees. It was an amazing experience to be so far from home with new friends on a floating hotel. I can’t wait to return!