Lakey Peak Retrospective Part 1
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
