Swells come and go wherever you are, but when you’re off western Sumatra in the midst of the first open season in three years, those swells can feel a little more special. Ace contributor Swilly spent over a month between July and August doing photo duty at Telo resort Latitude Zero, and we asked him if he could keep a swell diary during his stay. Here’s what he brought back.
July 17 Fun day of waves at the Ledge and Jurassic. Not a human for miles and three foot all day. Living the dream.
July 18 Odd day of winds. SE to start, then no wind, then NW. Two waves surfed, Misho in the morning and fun Pinnacles in the arvo.
July 19 Went south for the day and scored a random session at Bojo. Glassy with best water clarity I have seen in a long time. Dreamy Indo.
July 20 Bit of a slow day. New SW swell meant to hit later. Today my father son party left, leaving just Mike in the camp. In 12 years of coming here I have never seen just one guest. Some kind of odd covid gap caused by all the lost years .
July 21 NE, SE, and no wind. New SW swell in the water. Got to have a fun three hour session and platforms . Super dreamy at times.
July 22 Awoke to 5.5 earthquake off northern Telo. The camp has a great quake plan and camp manager John was running around checking all reports. No wave with it. All sweet. It was a odd day, a few spots firing. Out the back of the camp was good but way too low. Rangas had a few bombs. We went south and found a few more guest friendly waves.
July 23 Funny day lots of swell just constant wind change. Like nearly every hour. This just made it super hard to score anywhere. Fun day, just nothing amazing.
July 24 Super stormy day. Big rain storm and super strong NW winds. Only real spot was the Shoe. Fun as hell but next level with the wind.
July 25 Wild weather day. Went south to Monkey Bay in rain and wind. Sea was in a hell state. Got there after taking 30 mins longer than norm. Had a fun day of small three foot. Couple of good storm cell when the weather seemed to calm down.
July 26 What a great day, birthday ha ha. Swell dropped right out, leftover wind slop on a small SW swell. Never fear a new south swell meant to hit tomorrow. South swell always seem a day late in Indo. SW swell always on time.
July 27 Bit slow this morning way to many b-day drinks. New south swell in the water. Fun as hell and a bit of size too.
July 28 Human again. Not much to say about today. Small swell and wind changing most of the day.
July 29 Wow what a crazy day. A west swell at 6 feet at 9 sec popped up. Killing the south swell which was meant to 7 to 11 feet at 16 sec. This led to a super odd ocean and random west swell spot working. On top of that a strong NW to W wind pattern. Storm surf with size.
July 30 West slop kinda killed the swell. Found a few at the shoe but was real average.
July 31 What a perfect day. Haven’t seen the sun for a few days. Went south and surfed a super fun three foot Monkeys. Wind light and variable. Guests stoked. One guest Craig got the longest ride he’s ever had.
Aug 1 New south in the water. Fun day at Pinnacles.
Aug 2 Down south all day on the Monkey point top and bottom. Fun four foot glassy conditions. Just got home to be blown away by a mega storm. Be interesting to see if there’s any surf left tomorrow.
Aug 3 Had a huge storm blow the ocean into a washing machine last night. Found a fun but slow Rangas. Glassy and 3 foot. Weather got bad again in the arvo.
Aug 4 Saw a new SW swell hit 205. Went south and scored a fun session at Crocodiles and then a pumping arvo at Bombers left with super sunny conditions. Bloody fun arvo.
Aug 5 What a bit of a odd day. A strong south swell with a big slop west swell. Light winds backing NW. Made for a fun morning at Misho on the left. Then the rest at super fun Le Ba. Ripper of a day. Nice to see the sun again.
Aug 6 Half day as my group left. New group was Doug Lees, ex-Surfing World and now SurfAid boss. Slow arvo on a dying swell. Few fun ones at the Shoe but nothing that flash. Good to get wet and feel the wax between your toes.
Aug 7 Went down south to Bojo island. Few fun lefts. Charter boat showed up so we went on a mission to a spot we knew was going to be good in a SE wind. Glassy four foot fun lefts all arvo. Left stoked and sunburnt. Love the Telo.
Aug 8 Went south again due to the SE winds. Had great session at Bojo. Bigger than we thought, couple of random four foot sets. Couple of charter boats about so we headed off to find a wave away from the crowd. Once again ended up at yesterday’s mysto spot. Not as big as the day before and a little slow. However another fun day. Not bad either as it was meant to be flat.
Aug 9 Woke thinking going to be a hard day to find waves. So wrong. Misho was fun as hell. West swell kicked and and gave the north area a fun three to four foot of swell. After that went to my fave wave to surf, Le Ba. Slow but bloody fun when they came. Conditions were next level so glassy. Wow what a day.
Aug 10 Well it had to happen. Got a fun small surf on the west coast then nothing else. Plus side was an arvo of hang time at the beautiful RLZ. Cocktails by the pool and boys all getting massages in the spa.
Aug 11 Be honest didn’t think I’d find anything up north today. Wrong, found three spots all fun as and manage to surf on our own. We always try not to surf with other resorts’ guests. Normally like to give them at least 35 to 40 on their own. Makes for a better vibe all around the chain. All the resorts do the same. So nice to see.
Aug 12 Telo giving me a present today. Thought it be flat all day. Three to four foot Monkey all day and all the reports said flat. Cheers Telo islands love ya!
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