Lagundri Bay

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Lagundri Bay is a horseshoe shaped bay at the southern end of the island of Nias. It's a popular tourist destination and a noted surf break.

The main break is called The Point, a barrelling right-hander breaking over reef along one side of the bay. A break further out along the bay is called Indicators but it breaks dangerously onto dry reef and is surfed only by the most talented locals. On the opposite side of the bay a left-hander called The Machine breaks sometimes, but needs a very high tide.

The surf break was discovered in 1975 by travelling surfers Kevin Lovett and John Giesel together with Peter Troy. Lovett and Giesel, aged 20 and 22, were travelling through south-east Asia, living rough and pursuing the surfer's dream of perfect uncrowded waves. They were drawn to Nias by a map they saw in a chieftain's house in North Sumatra. On their final sea leg to the island they found legendary surf traveller Peter Troy was among their shipmates, which they took as a good karmic sign.

On the island and after travelling 15 km through jungle they finally reached the bay and were greeted by, as Lovett put it, "Relentless sets of smokin' 6-to-8 foot almond-eyed waves". (That's 6 to 8 Hawaiian scale.) They lived there for 3 months surfing it alone.

Giesel and Lovett made a pact to keep the place secret, but word leaked out over the years. Giesel never got to enjoy Lagundri again, he suffered repeated bouts of malaria he'd contracted on their travels and died of pneumonia just 7 months later. Lovett maintained his connection with the place, returning many times and getting involved with helping the local people. In around 1995 he learnt from the local siulu (chief and head magician) that the two had actually been in considerable danger from headhunting, which still went on back in 1975.

The 2005 Sumatra earthquake (28 May 2005) devastated the local village, and caused an uplifting of the island. The uplift seems to have been part of a regular cycle of megathrusts followed by gradual sinking. On this occasion the uplift was about 2 feet and it has improved the surf break. Where previously The Point only broke from about 4 foot and up (Hawaiian scale) it now breaks from 2 foot and the tube has lengthened from 7 seconds to perhaps 9 in good conditions. On the other side of the bay however The Machine has suffered, needing an even more fickle combination of swell and tide to be surfable.

[edit] References

• Lowalani's Kingdom, Kevin Lovett, Tracks magazine, November 2005