Lakey Peak, Sumbawa
10th May 2021
The waves have been almost non stop so far in May. But conditions have also lost their dreamy early season feel. The trades are up, and are sometimes blowing cross shore by midmorning. Lines of heavy ground swell have been marching in consistently, slamming into the reefs at Peak and Pipe, and sending wide bumpy clean up sets through Nungas. The relaxed and forgiving sessions from mid April seem like a lifetime ago.
The café on the beachfront is now more crowded than the respective lineups. Previously enthusiastic surfers have been lingering over their morning coffee’s, while offering up half baked excuses on why they aren’t paddling out. I was completely rattled by a heavy beating at Lakey Peak just yesterday, so am in no position to judge.
I chased a smaller wave in and missed it. When I turned around, there was a frightening hunk of ocean building out in the deep blue depths. There was a panicked moment of indecision, as I contemplated a mad paddle for the horizon. But there would be no escape this time. Resignation and fear curdled in my stomach as the wave stood tall. With nowhere else to go, I began desperately paddling back towards shore, hoping to give myself time to take an extra breath.
I’ve always found getting caught inside at solid Lakey Peak to be an especially difficult experience. The shape of the reef really concentrates the power of the wave. If you are unlucky enough to get stuck right where the apex pitches, you could be in some trouble. When that explosion of whitewater gets a hold of you, it’s a bit like being stuck in an underwater tornado. The wave ragdolls you in these big circles, while you wrap your arms around your head, and prey that you don’t hit the reef.
I ended up getting the whole set on the head, and was washed under the photographer towers. In was an easy decision to call it a day and paddle in from there.
Note from Slim, Through the start of the 21st century I was looking for a place to try and get away from the crowds that were starting to overwhelm G-Land. After around 20 trips into the famous East Java surf camps. Then some one recommended heading over to Lakey Peak on the island of Sumbawa. Why not you could fly to Bima and then get a ride out to Lakey Huu making it all too easy and away from the crowd. My first flight into Bima the pilot had to abort the landing and circle around while the ground crew got the cattle off the runway. Then a nail biting white knuckle ride over the two mountain ranges constantly smelling the burning brakes and brake fluid in the colorfully decorated bemo I had hired. But making the trip to Lakey’s safely and after the first time it only got easier and easier.
I ended making a trip at least once a month to Lakey Peak and made a lot of friends from at the airport all the way to Lakey’s. I wanted to know as much as I could about the area and what it was like through each month of the year, and I sure did learn a lot. By no means I was an early arrival at Lakey’s there were all ready a number of tourist / expats settled in and not very welcoming to any new guys. After a year and a half of monthly trips over there it seemed like the crowds from G-Land were also now turning up at Lakey back and maybe time to start going back to the Jungle.
But getting back to what Ben wrote in this latest surf report he has sent us I can certainly vouch for the power the waves of Lakey Peak have and the way that power is focused onto the impact zone. I reckon I saw more head wounds on surfers at The Peak than any other location I’ve surfed at in Indonesia.
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