Jason Lunn.com/ Surfing and life in Indonesia

I have been back in Bali 4 weeks since being in Sumbawa, My back has become strong enough to surf again so all is looking  bright on the horizon.

One thing though is Kuta is like a vortex, that can suck you in like a powerful magnet. It is Bali’s surf capital however it is a known fact that when surfers come here they do their least amount of surfing whilst in Indonesia. Kuta is an amazingly colourful place, culturaly diverse with large amounts of people from Japan, USA, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Most of Europe, Russia and the UK.. It really is diverse, when mixed with the traditional Hindu cultural of the Balinese, trendy boutiques, surf shops, and the small street food stalls I find myself in the middle of a colourful playful world with many distractions. Traditional massage and beauty parlours entice all who pass by as the young attractive Balinese women try and engage you in conversation. Bottom line here is surfing often takes a back seat and the density of the traffic and dangers of riding a moped through it all in the blazing sunshine wearing only boardshorts often means I find myself surfing a lot less when I am here.

When you visit a remote beach with only a sprinkling of accomodation all you do all day is surf and to be honest this is exactly what Lakey Peak Sumbawa offers the travelling surfer, surf surf surf and more surf…Now that my back is in better condition I am feeling the need to get on a surf mission again. Bali is a great place but all the waves  are super, super crowded.

Well to summarise my time in Lakep Peak I met soo many cool people, from many nations, the quality of the wave attracted visiting pros from the UK, from Indonesia, USA and Australia. I was able to get great big and small wave video action featuring Garut Widiatara from Bali, World Champion Mick Fanning came with an entourage including Bede Durbidge and Ozzie Wright, Ruebyn and Joss Ash, Josh Ward and many others provided me with great surfing action to film. I aim to post some of the action on my blog when I find a fast enough connection..

Bottom Line Lakey Peak is a great place to surf and I am realising that more each day

to get there simple,

Bali to Bima fly with Merpati Airlines, taxi to Lakey Peak, job done then its great waves from there on.

Lakey Peak I will upload some photos of some new friends and goodtimes when I get a chance

Here is one I wrote earlier,…

These are not stunts or tricks, we are not magicians
we wish no illusion, just self discipline and self control

creating new vibrations, for you to feel, see and hear
bypass the mind, our souls are what steer

captured on analogue and digital rewarding
no money can buy the life we are recording

the media is the discourse, but this message unaffected
it reaches the hearts, that others have rejected

we grind down the concrete of constricting opinions
when true creativity flows, the followers in millions

now a time to transmit for you to receive
a moment in time of what we believe

these wheels always rollin’, stir up a storm
new boundaries created, high fidelity in form

“when are you going to grow up?”
speak the lips of old fools
this artistic expression, undiscovered in schools

all criticism acknowledged, yet all ignorance ignored
we just aim to inspire like our heroes before

the young rippers are coming, their wheels are on fire
step up or step down? Only one takes you higher

This is our language, to express how we are feeling
each movement presented contains its own meaning

Mastered through repetition, the definition perfected
Inspired by our heroes, who by talent
we elected.

(Jason Lunn 2002)

I wrote this poem in 2002 and it refers to many things spinning around inside my heart and head, however looking back I can say that one truth underlies this poem. Basically my mum died of cancer when I was aged 17 then when I turned 15 my father hung himself. As a result guidance for me and know which choices to make was based on all the people that I saw in my life and in the media that inspired me. Alcohol, drugs, colleges, schools, churches, religions and business all aimed to influence me but I try to be aware of their tactics and instead follow those who inspire me through their achievements and actions.

I have my heroes and I will list some of them one day, but In Lakey Peak Sumbawa I found a new one, his name is Eugene Tollemache..this is Eugene

This is Eugene from behind, this scar is from breaking his neck surfing whilst on a surf trip when he was younger, hitting the sand on a shallow wave..

This is Eugene from the front having looked after a fellow surfer for two sleepless nightsHe is standing next to Christophe Frat from Hawaii, Christophe is wearing a neck brace from damaging his neck on a slam on a big wave at Lakey Peak. If it was not for Eugene’s previous experience and super big heart, Christophe Frat would have probably received a lethal injection from an untrained doctor from Sumbawa or ended paralyzed due to medical incompetence and negligence,.

To give you an idea of what kind of person Eugene is, below are three photos from the local surf photographer Grommitt shot from a boat in the channel,..

This is how Eugene continues to overcome his experience of a broken neck…this is why Eugene is a an inspiration to me

People often say you have to face up to your fears, Ok if that is the case how do you explain facing up to this,..This is what Eugene looks like standing up in a barrel of water heavy enough to break your back and neck in half then shatter the rest into tiny pieces on a bone dry reef,..

Eugene is a humble legend, he works in Cornwall as a lifegurd by day and a chef by night to save up enough to go on three month surf trips. When he is on a surf trip he is one of the kindest friendliest and most instantly likeable people you are likely to meet. Eugene is an absolute legend and each morning when the waves had been so big they had keeping people up all night crashing on the reef, he would knock on my door at 5.15 am and let me know he was going surfing if I wanted to film the action… The amazing thing was he had been up until midnight drinking enugh Bintang to drown a surfer..If it wasnt in a green glass bottle with a Bintang label Eugene just could not get excited about drinking it..This is Hannah Eugenes girlfriend..Surfer Bod!Eugene Tollemach by jason lunn Lakey Peak Sumbawa Indonesia 2009

No surf for 10 days, back still in agony from sitting in an internet cafe too long then getting up too quickly, spending too much money at chiropractors with no real benefits. So I have decided to keep updating my blog for all who are interested, no doubt looking back in the future this painful time will be somewhat of a blessing…

Traveling has been great for my spirit and my soul,I have met so many great people who are in a wonderful mind space, please let me explain..In Bristol I met many people who dreamed of traveling and experiencing things but it never really happened as they were still like me at the time working and living but still in Bristol..

When I decided to take the risk of selling my possesions embracing my fears and jumping on a plane into the unkown, I have now met many people who had decided to follow their dreams as well. Then I realised I was not alone and this is a good feeling to know you are not alone. If you combine this with being surrounded by may people living their dreams this is a positive environment for your mental health

Well If I try and articulate myself further, it will go like this,. often it appears one has to spend long periods of time with different people most days that they would rather see less of and not enough time with people they would rather see more of, this is due to life, work and circumstances,..

Furthermore many of the people whom we meet each day are not always at their best, with regards to their mood, their health, their mental state or generally how they feel about themselves, and where they are at in relation to where they would like to be eg, doing a job they dislike, living somewhere they would rather change, in a relationship they are not fulfilled in and generally pissed off they are not following their dreams.

This discontentment keeps people living in hope of, change, or maybe winning the lottery, It keeps celebrities in their celebrity status as an ideal to aim for and it keeps us all borrowing more money and spending more of what we do not have in an attempt to live a life better than the one we have immediately around us.

From where I am sitting right now, this seems positive for a nations economy because the debt keeps people going back to work on a Monday morning, it keeps the shops in business the pubs and clubs keep collecting any excess earnings  at the end of each week as people aim to achieve a state of euphoria at the end of a generally dull, difficult, stress full and tiresome week. Well I am speaking from how I felt much of the time when I was generally caught up in the so called ” Rat Race” in the UK. The newspapers and television seems to keep everybody in a constant state of anxiety and fear with regards the Economy, also there is a seemingly never ending War in Iran and Iraq and War on global terror daily in the news.

Everybody has dreams!

Reality is the example of life that takes place immediately and remotely around us both past and present.. This example is often all we have to measure ourselves against and furthermore it is often all we have to guide our hopes and desires. Well I discovered if reality is the standard I use in my life and the example of what to aim for I will only go as far as what has already been and gone.

Now this is why dreams are so great, within my imagination all is possible, so many things can happen in my imagination.I have people who have inspired me in life, many people have dreamed of situations, circumstances and results and then gone in search of them until the results appeared. This is when dreams come true, and the possibilities are endless. Personally I found for a drea to come true, I just need to take small steps in the direction that I dream of going and the rest unfolds.

Many but not all of my dreams have come true,

In the picture below is a collage of all the things I dreamed of doing since I was a little boy aged 13, I wanted to ride my BMX in empty swimming pools like the pros in the American BMX magazines Mike Dominguez and Eddie Fiola, When I saw Tony Hawk and Christion Hosoi skateboard in early skateboard videos I dreamed of how it would feel to be able to do that too, so I took small steps in the direction of my dreams and they slowly over time came to pass,..

Then when I had turned about 35 and was financially in a position to try I was able to purchase a motocross bike and learn to jump that too.. I have discovered that it does come to pass all you have to do is dream first visualize how then head towards the dream.

Well I had always dreamed of what surfing must feel like and bought my first surfboard Oct 2008 aged 37 from Sharkbite Surf Shop Bristol. In Dec 2008 I decided to move to a place with sunshine warm water and waves, just like I had dreamed of doing and these are some pictures of some steps towards a dream come true..

This is me learning how to bottom turn! quite literally, following the dream of blue skies, warm water and great waves also had extras thrown in, life is good! this is my new friend Hannah she was in the water twice a day for about 6 hrs, and was staying at Lakey Peak with her boyfriend Eugene Tollemach (more about Eugene Later!)

This is me doing a frontside turn, It has been a very humbling experience staying at Lakeys surrounded by so many pro surfers and generally high level ability surfers. I really am not very good at surfing and have discovered surfing is not easy at all this is me working how not to drop in on a wave..

Stage 1 of learning the hard way, I have not paddled hard enough into this wave..

Step 2 I manage to get to my feet but because I paddled in to the wave too late I am caught up in the white water..Step 3, So now I am just free falling but I am still on my board, this is called an airdrop but I am not good enough to get away with this..

Vert Skateboarding helped me still stay on my board up until this point..Still standing, but I know I am about to get a wave on my headAny minute now half a ton of fast moving water is about to land on me and put me on spin cycle at the laundryHere goes, time for the washing machine..unless you have experienced this you can not imagine how much power moving water has, I broke 3 surfboards when I was at Lakey Peak..

Learning,

Well apparently experience has shown me that learning anything is always achieved through balance, countless repetition and persistence until you know what you are doing inside and out in all conditions. This is unfortunately where you have to pay the price, this is the trade off the balance point, In order to find out how to do something correctly you have to also learn al the different ways of doing something inncorrectly regardless of how much good advice you get. The result for me always seem to be Pain! Yes raw painful pain, seems to be the price I pay, it is the living proof I am alive, I have hit the floor so hard so many times in pursuit of my dreams, I have been x rayed, stitched up bruised battered and twisted up in excruciating pain on my osteopaths floor begging for relief.. But all these things pass, like rain, pain comes and goes the body heals.

The result of pain for me is

-you learn what you need to learn about diet, nutrition, flexibility and strength in order to achieve your dreams. That is health, to be strong enough to live your life,” Health is Wealth” and although I have been in pain many times most days, visited and experienced the surgeons knife I still aim to be constantly healthy so that I can live my dreams..

Hitting the Reef,’…

Just before I left Bali for Sumbawa a wave hit me then I hit the reef and this is what it looked like..There is always a price to pay..and sea water everyday after really does “rub salt into the wounds”

Lakey Peak by day and by Night…

These shots were taken on my Canon G10 camera a small but great 14mp camera that I purchased in Denpasssar Bali after my Nikon coolpix failed on me,. it appears customs in Jakarta took it apart after I left it on the plane and never put it back together so well.. anyway my small G10 is working well here are some shots of the beach at Lakey Peak

Lakey Peak tower in front of where the waves break. It was built to get closer to the wave to judge contests but works pretty well to take photos and film from

beautiful sunsets usually every other night..

For the Lakey Peak section of my DVD I have recorded some time lapses of the sunsets and they came out pretty well so I look forward to sharing them with you soon…

Bulumba Cottages

this is where I stayed aircon room not too expensive and open to negotiation..directly in front of the beach and the wave, wake up check wave have breakfast then surf all day, and then all over again..

More camera action…

You can never get tired of looking up and seeing this view,..

Lakey Peak Retrospective part 3

Lakey peak is a mecca for surfing for people from all around the globe however it seems to attract nearly every Cornish and Devon surfer to its appealing wave at this time of the year, not to exclude all the winter travelers from the islands of Jersey…This has been great fun with a terrific social scene and lots of fun and friendly people to hang out with in the evenings…

However everyone is primarily here to surf and all of these surfers in one place may be good in the evening but not in the water  where some days the crowds were large and the waves were scarce between swells, Kind of a “You are on the same wavelength but get the fu++ off my wave type of vibe” keeping the atmosphere some what tense in the water some days.. However the first few weeks full of UK heads was great fun and I made some great friends and had a good time.. Firstly I want to start with an absolute Legend or “Leg end” as his pole dancing antics would reveal after a few two many beers..

Let me Introduce Grishka Roberts…

Grishka in full effect…

Grishka is 17 getting on 44 has a head full of grey hairs a brain full of sharp wit and more stories than a worn torn Grandpa,..he is more charming than James Bond with a wit drier than the Moroccan desert.. People informed me that back in his day he traveled the world with the worlds best sponsored pro surfers,.. I was also informed he is Ex European Surf Champion winning on two separate occasions, the only GB surfer to ever do this..

Grishka however informed me he preferred the term Former rather than Ex European Champion,… something to do with prestige I guess, now that he is approaching 44 he is apparently growing a belly and has to surf larger boards to stay afloat..

Grishka learned how to operate his camera on this night and got ohhhh so excited, just press the button he didnt know it was that easy!

Grishka still rips on a surfboard and is absolutely one of the most fun people to surf with, super friendly in the water regardless of your ability he is totally respectful. He likes to drink and likes to then dance having picked up all his moves from the pussycat dolls, spice girls and the lapdancing bars no doubt he has visited…video to come watch this space.

Above Hannah,  Aime and Grishka trading dance moves

He is hilarious you will fall in love with Grishka if you meet him, he is an absolute legend I have so much respect for the guy for so many reasons on so many levels and look forward to seeing him again when ever possible…Unfortunately the week he was there there were nt reall y any waves they came two days after he left..

Day 2 at Lakeys, Camera Worst Nightmare!!!!AGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Rushed out in the morning to take some more photos, assumed housing worked fine so didnt check to see if it was watertight at the waters edge before I went in, halfway accross lagoon I noticed the housing was full of water, Game Over! 5K down the tubes in one easy swoop…

This was obviously my fault for not checking but In retrospect I feel that the o ring design on my housing could have been designed better as it kept falling out from its groove when I was putting my camera in an out on its initial testing, anyway this was an expensive mistake but worst of all I have no camera but a bag full of lenses and an underwater housing.. Oh well this is all for a reason so I will be filming surfing instead…

Ok I have not written much about my time at Lakey Peak six weeks total so I will retrospectively do this now… It is a place in Sumbawa, one of Indonesia’s many Islands. Sumbawa is two islands east of Bali. I flew here with a female surfer from Jersey UK called Amy Barrat and a Swedish surfer staying in the same hotel as me in Bali, his name is Johan Pomtell.

The Plane flight from Bali Denpassar airport is 1,500 000 rupees approx £100 return and takes approximately an hour and a half. The flight operator is Merpati and flies once a day, the flight takes you over some amazing Indonesian geography especially the valleys and coastlines of Lombok and Sumbawa, Large Volcanic coastline covered in tropical greenery and then the large rice paddy fields in the lowlands. I managed to get a few shots from the plane .

We flew with Merpati airlines arriving at Bima airport, literally a landing strip in a valley, shortly afterwards we collected our luggage from the baggage collection, which was basically a hole in a wall with a conveyor belt, the hole was like a window into paradise valley, super low tech and basic..

Then a two hour bus journey to Lakey Peak through the valleys and lowlands, allowing us a chance to witness the paddy fields up close and experience local culture through the small villages. Sumbawa is most definitely rural third world culture and economy. The drive from the airport was a real eye opener for me, when you pass by rivers you see people washing their clothes and bathing in them, there were no cars just horse drawn carts mopeds and really ol overloaded and overcrowded buses, the only modern vehicles are the minibuses picking up surfers from Bima Airport and driving to and from Lakey Peak. The roads are rough, no pavements and the potholes, goats, cows and dogs sleeping in and along them mean transport does not happen fast.

We arrived at Lakey Peak I stayed in Bulumba Hotel, one of about 5 hotels that are directly in front of the beach overlooking the main wave. “Lakey Peak” is a world class wave that rises up over the reef in a perfect wall with a peak that then peels pretty symmetrically on both sides to produce good quality walls to surf both left and right. This wave is very consistent an attracts top surfing professionals worldwide as it is a great place to develop ones surfing ability, hence the reason I came here.

Day 1 at Lakeys,

Good News all round, Lakey beach is like paradise great views of volcanic tropical jungle with the view from the hotel of the sea and a selection of perfect waves to surf. There appears to be not much else to do except watch the sea and pick a good time to surf, so we managed to get time for a fun surf in the evening on our first day. It also appears that there are about another 15  surfers from Devon and Cornwall here plus a handful from Jersey. All good on Day 1

Day 2 Lakeys, heavy heavy waves, my underwater camera housing and lens ports that I ordered from Australia arrived at the TNT depot in Bali two days before I left for Sumbawa. I spent the previous night until 2 am working out how to operate my camera from the housing, so having worked out how the housing worked and followed the instructions in the morning I watertested the housing and so with no leaks I swam across the lagoon to place myself in the sea to take some photos of all the good surfers that were present.

A top European surfer called Ruebyn Ash and his brother Joss whom I previously met in England in summer through my friend Paul cheeky Morgan is staying in Indonesia at the moment collecting video footage for his sponsors Billabong. Ruebyn had told me the previous night the waves were going to be big and it would not be  a good day to go into the sea for my first time with a camera as the rip currents would be strong and the sea would be at low tide which means the wave would produce big barrels because it would be sucking the water off the reef in the shallow water.

Well barrel shots and big waves would make great photos so I decided to have a go anyway.

Scared! Oh yes! It took me three attemps to make it out to the spot where the wave was breaking and where I would need to be to take some good shots. The rip current was soo strong I physically could not swim across it to get to where I wanted to be, the current kept dragging me in a direction towards a wave called “No Mans land”

which no one surfs as it is too heavy and just closes out. As I was swimming towards the main Peak at Lakey Peak I was being dragged at full speed in a direction I really did not want to go. I gave up twice and came and sat on the reef and decided it was far too dangerous and the currents too strong to go out in these conditions. I really felt out my depth and that I could get a huge wave on the head and drown, no joke that simple.

Well Ruebyns brother Joss came out and when he saw me on the reef came over, I explained that I couldnt get out and the rip was terrifying me. Joss has surfed here many years in a row and explained to me the rip and the the directions it would take me and where I needed to be to get through it. He suggested that I just swam behind him as he paddled out and I would be Ok. Great this worked and I located myself and started taking shots of some of the scariest waves I have ever seen with me located just a few metres from where the would land on my head or a surfer would run me over. Adrenalin is great and believe me it was firing through my veins right now… well I got some good shots and managed to make it back in one piece, yes both me and my camera. In the evening I went for a surf myself and had some good waves so today was a great day.

Here are some of my first attempts at shooting from the water..

Ruebyn Ash from the UK on a heavy set..

This wave and Ruebyn were coming straight for my head, experience similar to being in a washing machine, pretty scary fro my first time in the water, there was so much current and water moving around. I kept getting pulled directly into the impact zone of the wave..

Joss Ash below…all photo copyright Jason Lunn.com

Marky from Beach Beat St Agnes getting Barreled at Lakeys

Josh Ward from St Agnes Cornwall

I found a Chinese/ Indonesian medicine woman next to the launderette near my house, for 10 pound she spent an hour and a half on my energy lines meridians etc,, blah blah, when you are in pain you will do anything,.. Her assistant worked on my feet and she worked on everything else, reflexology shiatsu, Balinese cupping and a whole combination of other stuff..

Well she most definitely was a healer with the healing touch, she found every painful knot, blockage, pressure point and trigger point in my whole body. She said my body was completely dehydrated and I had lots of stress and anxiety building up in all my energy lines manifesting in my back.. well you hear all this stuff and try and make sense of it but at the end of the day I am feeling a lot better and healthier still not ready to surf but I have taken note.. I am a bit stressed as my visa runs out in two months and I need to go to the UK, Bangkok or Singapore to renew it, I have some decisions to make as I want to stay here at least another 6 months or more so I guess I have been stressed. I recieved some info my last VAT return was wrong and there are some problems with my camera insurance, not major stress but I guess it all adds up and it might make sense to come to the Uk for a month or two over summer to tie some loose ends up but I fear I will get stuck there which I do not want to do .

Damn, spent three hours in a internet cafe drinking black coffee then stood up….Twang!!!! back goes pop, now my whole lower back has been in spasm for three days,I cannot stand up straight bend down go to loo, sit or sleep without pain. Pure excruciating agony like a knife in my kidneys twisting everytime I  move..

This sucks its been three days I have visited two separate Chiropractors who seemed to have made the situation worse and took about 100 pounds from me for the privilege..

Feels that bad I want to jump on a plane and see my osteopath back in Bristol Martin Morgan from the Fishponds practice who has always fixed me up in just one visit and I mean always regardless of what state i crawl into his waiting room curled up in a buckled ball..

It seems in life some people are Healers and some people are in the health care profession. My friend Katerina Petropolous is a healer it runs through her fingers and touch, so is my friend Sarah Hussey. My Osteopath Martin Morgan is a healer. I do not kow why I have seen many osteopaths over the last twenty years, I have had deep tissue sports massages and sen various orthopedic consultants and surgeons due to skateboarding and bmx injuries. Some people are healers, some most definitely are not but they work in the profession due to the job security and salary.

For example, the French chiropractor I paid to see in Kuta the other day is not a healer, he just wanted my money. Supposedly trained in California with 19 years experience and practice, he sent me upstairs in absolute agony, an unqualified Balinese women massaged my back to warm it up then he comes 15 minutes later, then a forceful crack crack crack to my neck and back. This is all good and well if you want the spectacle but I have visited any trained and great osteopaths in the passed. What this guy did was messed up he didn’t even feel my back or my soft tissue before he went to work on me which is frightening. As a result I have been a complete mess for two days in worse pain with my condition aggravated.. This practice was called Global Chiropractic. I would not recommend this French chiropractor to anyone, anybody dealing with a complex injury or pain in the spine or neck needs to carry out a thorough examination with their hands and a soft touch before any rapid twisting or forceful realignments. His treatment made me worse. Literally having a poorly paid local masseuse to warm people up so he could walk in and just crack me into place, this was the worst practice I have experienced he spent 5 mins on me then sent his assistant in to do some ultra sound on my back.. this did not help I would not go here again… this is the address if you are thinking of going..

Istana Kuta Galeria Valet 2 No. 16
(next to Bank Buana)
Jalan Patih Jelantik, Legian
Kuta, Bali

Ok so two days later I still cannot stand straight so In despair I visit another Chiropractor about 10 doors down the same road as the first one. This is an American chiropractor, my experience with him was more proffesional and reassuring but I am still in pain a lot of pain and the treatment lasted total 20 minutes and cost close to 60/70 pounds, this is all set up for people with travel insurance which I have, if I a can claim on it I will get my back x rayed and visit him again if not I will find a cheaper alternative…. Damn this sucks I want to go surfing….and I can walk properly let alone surf..

Ok I have spent 6 weeks at Lakey Peak Sumbawa and finally returned to Bali. I have been back in Kuta for a week now, there has not been much swell so surfing has been put on hold. The weather has changed from wet season to dry season so the wind has changed direction which means for the next eight months the whole west side of the Island will be the place to surf, as the “Trade Winds” have started

Trade Winds are winds which appear at the same time same places around the globe each year and for many years were how the trading ships sailed across and around the globe, these trade winds are what make surfing in Indonesia such a consistently great place to surf.

NYEPI festival,

this is the Hindu/ Balinese new year festival, there is a big procession through the streets with effigies of monsters and demons and these are then burnt on the beach at midnight. Then fort the next 24 hours no one and absolutely no one is allowed outside their homes hotels onto the streets. Supposedly the demons are roaming the streets at this time. Police dressed all in black to make themselves invisible to the demons patrol the streets during this time and you will be put in jail if you are found on the streets during this time. My friends Ruebyn Ash and his girlfriend Sophie Hellyer booked into a 5 star hotel for two days during his period so I joined them. Unfortunately the main pool was closed to keep the noise down and the wi fi didnt work. I was hoping to catch up on my Blog during this time.. Oh well..

However I managed to take some photos of the procession in the evening and some of the monsters being carried down the streets.

As you can see the streets of Kuta got pretty crowded, I managed to climb a tree and pretty much get the best view in the whole place. When I was climbing the tree leaves and bark were falling on everyone below and I was getting some pretty angry stares. Kuta is absolutely full of white Aussies and Europeans, but during this festival they were nowhere to be seen and I felt pretty out of place, culturally speaking. However when I pulled out my video camera a Sony vx2100 which is a brodcast reporters camera, the crowd below realised why I had climbed the tree and seemed to offer some respectful waves to me and smiles, so all good there. I have some pretty good footage of the event. (just a note Sony make great video cameras, the best in my experience, my camera works soo well in low light conditions and the footage came out just great) some of which will be going in my Indo surfing dvd which is well on the way now.