33, the age of Crist, was on the jungle!

  I just got back from 2 weeks at G-land where i went to spend my b’day on the 12/09 by the 5th time on the spot, what has already become a tradition...

  I was turning 33 and again this was the best present i could have, mother nature didn’t let us down and the waves were just excellent in almost every day of the 2 weeks we’ve spent in the jungle.

  I left Bali with my friend Fernando Avila on the 08/09 at night to spend 1 week at Bobby’s Surf Camp, courtesy of my friend and owner of the Surf Camp, Bobby Radiasa and we ended up staying there for 2 weeks. The waves, the treatment from the camp crew and the vibes all around the camp was amazing, my best trip of this season for sure.

  I’ve met many long time friends of various nationalities and made many more.

  The positive vibration and the good spirits were there at all times and the thru Aloha spirit was shared by everyone. It was common to see australians, californians, brazilians, hawaians, japaneses, southafricans, portugueses, kiwis, etc...drinking beer togheter after the epic sessions that went down almost non stop watching the sunset in front of the camp or in the many party nights that took place.

  On the 12/09, the night of my b’day, the party was celebrated on the camp’s traditional way for when there are guests staying in the camp on their birthdays, including a b’day cake with candles, music and lots of drinks. A lot of people who were staying in other camps came to celebrate with me and with the rest of Bobby’s guests plus the staff of the camp that also joined the party and we ended up finishing all the beer stock of the camp having to go to buy more in other camps so the party wouldn’t stop...

  I got a bottle of a very nice imported Rum as a present from a japanese surfer that went down well but didn’t last long...On the 16/09 my friend Eddie Blacwell was turning 31 and was his turn to celebrate his b’day on the best “Jungle Style” and another wild party in the jungle took place!!While the parties were going off at night, the waves were usually on the 4’ to 6’ range with bullshit good conditions creating heavy and long barrels during almost all day, all being registered by the professional american photografer John Hepler that was usually on a boat in the channel next to Speedies with his camera pointed to the crowd.

  On the 18/09 was the night of the full moon and following the tradition at Bobby’s camp, we had traditional javanese dancers togheter with a traditional javanese band playing live music and many were “chosen” to pull some moves in the middle of the dance floor trying to follow the dancers rithym to the sounds of the band’s music…Puma won the show!Living Legend!Long live the Puma!!

  During all this, the swell forecast was showing a swell of good intensity that arrived on the next day ending up all the hangover instantly; It was on and the waves were with 6’ to 8’ in between the 19th and 21st. On the biggest day (20/09) it was kind of messy with a real strong rip and very few risked to go out but the day before and after the bomb, the conditions were just EPIC with deep an heavy tubes, light offshore breeze and excellent swell direction that made many waves connect all the way from the beggining of Money Trees all the way to the channel past Speedies!!

  Unfortunatelly we had some casualties…a hawaian little girl from the island of Maui got a cut in her face when she was hit by her board and got baptized taking her first 8 stitches home that could’ve been 15… you could see her skull…welcome to the team!! Australian Cashy from Maroubra, had his head looking like a cauliflower after hitting the bottom and got more than 30 stitches on the sequence; Chris, also from Oz, went to the reef at Speedies and broke his collar bone and got 10 stitches in 2 cuts in the ear and behind it’ apart from the many scratches that looked like marks made by a tiger on his shoulder, head, back and arm; one american broke his ribs and another his ankle; a japanese perforated his ear drum; boards were broken by the dozens ant two people had to be evacuated by helicopter directly to the hospital in Bali; there was a lot shit going down, but the barrels…NO WORDS!!!

  I could write a lot more stuff and go into details but I think the photos will speak for themselves and are worth more than a 1000 words.

Standouts: Australian Eddie Blackwell was the best in the water, the most insane and go for it with Rick from west Oz not far behind...

  Michael from San Diego that surfed all the swell in a twin fin, 5’9 fish board even on the biggest days taking some vertical drops behind the peak and pulling in on some heavy barrels. Simply insparational!!
Puma, the most Aloha of them all, manager of Bobby’s Surf Camp, hindu priest, doctor, a living legend!

  Direct contact with the ecosystem: Many times tiger sharks have been seen and an australian friend of mine saw a huge one attacking a giant mantaray less than 5 meters away from him; a whale showed up in the area and rode a wave togheter with a surfer (filmed); as always, many turtles and fish schools have been seen on the line up; wild pigs, snakes, monkeys, big lizards, squirrels, etc…still always around; a black panther
had babies by accident near by the camp and will have to stick around in the area untill they grow bigger.

  It was a big pleasure to se you all there: Fernando Avila (Br), Felipe Ricci (Peru) e a linda Eva (Hungria), Mike “Big Dog” (Oz), John Hepler (Usa), Eddie Blackwell (Oz), Brett (Oz), Brett 2 (Oz), Cashy (Oz), Rick (Oz), Chris (Oz), Chris (Hw), Silkky (Oz), Burkey (Oz), Ale (Br), Michael (Usa), Guilao (Br), Mobral (Br), Mike and group (Maui, Hw), Goncalo and group (Port), Pena (Br), Maia (Br), Ursula (Br), Jim Bean and Jungle crew and specially Puma and all of Bobby’s Surf Camp staff and all the others i forgot to mention...

  I would like to say a big Thank you to Bobby Radiasa, Puma and to all staff of the camp and to all friends that i’ve met and to the new ones i’ve made in these unforgettable 2 weeks .

  The trip of the 33 was excellent, if God allow, the 34 will be on the jungle again!!

ALOHA,

Rodrigo “Digone”