As it goes, at the start of any story, I will introduce myself. My name is Dave Scard, most of the crew know me as “Scardy”. I have just come down with a serious illness, one that only surf doctors can diagnose. It’s called “post G-land depression.” Lets just hope that the Australian Social Securities office recognise it and put me straight onto sickness benefits!
I have the position of Head Surfguide in the “G-land Jungle Surf Camp” sometimes known as “Joyo’s”. I was having a bloody cold beer with my friend Jim Bristow the few hours before my flight home and he asked me if I could write a small piece on the 10 weeks I had just spent in G-land this year.
I tagged out our first Surfguide for the year Cory Byrne who sat out a lot of onshore shitty days until he scored some big Money Trees and Launching Pads at the beginning of May. Arriving in Mid May was the best decision I made for sure, generally speaking it is about the time you can trust the winds will be good, the rain has stopped and the swells are starting to back up to each other.
The first thing that really struck me upon arriving in camp this year was how empty all the camps were. There were a few regulars, a few new guests and a hell of a lot of surf. The first couple of swells had a lot of west in them, giving some classic Money Trees, on the peak of those swell’s it reached the ten foot mark. When it gets to 10 feet solid, it is usually only surfable on the high tide (low tide washes out from the bombey). The down of these big westerly swells are usually the best as it becomes so perfect and lingers on for days, combine it with good tides and you will see all the characters of the money tree’s sections.
The first week of June saw some Quiksilver boys comingout to inspect the camps and sample the waves, and as usual Money Trees and Speedies turned it on for them. The camps were uncrowded for the duration of thier stay and as it turns out its all systems go for the G-landpro next year. Just when you thought you were surfed out and hoping it would go flat so you could go fishing, the rest of the month decided to completely fire with back to back swells.
With more satisfied customers than the “Bugar Massage palour” in Kuta, the season continued to pump through early July.
There are three secret ingredients that make for the Agrade Launching Pads and Speedies. For these to come together in perfect harmony is a godsend. Which brings me to the 13, 14 and 15th of July three days that the people in camp will not forget ever!!! The first day of the swell was the heaviest, consistent ten foot Launching Pads (with occasional bigger clean up sets) running through to speedies anywhere between 5-8ft. It was a moody day being overcast and some light drizzle made for a heavy setting. After three hours of staring in and out of the dohnut machine that is speedies I had our camp boat rush into the lineup alerting me to the fact that one of the guests had been seriously injured!! Shit I thought, at the first sign of my friend Jamie actioning with his hands from the boat, if he had beenplaying sharades I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT HE HAD JUST TAKEN THE TOP OFF A BOILED EGG!!!
This was the most serious injury I have ever seen, My friend Brendon Leo from Australia was sitting on the bamboo bench in the boat channel being attended to by two doctors and a nurse who seemed totally in control of the situation. His cut (if you could call it that) started below his ear on his face side went up to his eyebrow, followed his hairline to the centre of his head then all the way back to the back of his skull. It was basically a scalping with his skull fully exposed for all to see like some Nazi war experiment!!! After having, I dont even know how may stitches, and remaining conscious the whole time, he was tranported with a doctor back to Bali OVERLAND (6hrs), then put on the first flight to Sydney. Last reports say he was doing fine and the doctors in G-land did a great job stitching him up!!! Lesson 1 always travel with travel insurance, Lesson 2 if you have a helmet wear it!!
Usually after a day of surf like that on the 13th of July it is so uplifting everyone gets pissed and celebrates the victory but not this time. Nothing seemed to matter other than Brendon’s head. The next two days were just as big but even more perfect, the best three days of speedies I have seen in my five years working out there for sure!!
For the rest of my stay it continued to pump and the next good tide band for speedies finished off my trip so well with more A grade speedies, not quite as big, although just as perfect and heavy. So to say I left g-land a happy man is a gross understatement “I feel like a soggy piece of toast”
Yours in Surfing
Scardy
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