WHAT IS THE SURF HISTORY OF THE AREA?
As with most remote surf locations worldwide, we’ll probably never know who first surfed the Mentawai chain. One story has a Californian shaper, name unknown, surfing the area in 1944 while stationed on a US patrol boat. People were consistently riding Lagundi Bay on Nias, not far to the north, in 1975, which may be some guide. A group of Australian surfers claim to have visited Macaronis in 1980, after a ferry trip across from Padang. Strangely, they never went back — which perhaps says more about the rigors of overland travel in Sumatra than it does about the wave. The islands were — and still are, in places — home to extraordinary bands of Sumatran-origin tribesmen, who lived high in the rain forest areas of the larger islands. Indonesia’s governing authorities have shown somewhat conflicting attitudes to the islands. They sometimes appear to be concerned with preserving their natural state and, at other times, open the door to giant tropical hardwood logging corporations and rel
