MENTAL WAY by: Rosaldo Cavalcanti

It’s now seven in the morning. Our boat crosses the Indian Ocean on the way to the Mentawaii islands. The surfer’s Disneyland. The Indonesian captain light up a cigarette next to a gallon of gasoline and I look at him worried. About two weeks ago another captain exploded his boat after lighting up his Gudang Garam. Here is like that. It reminds of Brasil.

This is the second time i come to this parts. It was more than 30 hours traveling from Rio. With stopovers at South Africa, Emirates and Singapore before arriving in Indonesia, the country with the biggest Muslim population on the planet.

The small and chaotic city of Padang is one of the main ports of Sumatra and it is used as the entrance door to the majority of surfers that come to surf the perfect waves that break in the Mentawaii.

The emerald green sea reflects the sunlight while the flying fishes cruise by flying low above the sea. One of them explodes against our boat making a loud noise. A true show. The clock shows eleven in the morning when we approach our destiny.

The Mentawaii archipelago extend itself for many miles and we are at a region known as “Playgrounds”. Imagine why the surfers that discovered this area baptized the region with this suggestive name? Is right who thought about perfect spots and fun for all kind of surfers.

The swell was small on our first day here but the forecast show a week of a lot of waves and light wind. A series of swells are lined up to come over the next few days and the expectation of everyone here is high.

Tired but happy we check in at the Kandui Resort and a after a short rest we went after waves. Our first session was at a spot known as Bank Vaults. A good and hollow right hander that was small and inconsistent.

We are participating in the shooting of a surf movie called MENTAL WAY that is directed by the Brazilian Alexandre Ribas and has a logistic production of the Brazilian Rodrigo “Digone” one of the biggest experts in Indonesia, specially on Mentawaii.

The female surfer from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Andrea Lopes, 4 times Brazilian champion is one of the stars of MENTAL WAY. The film should be release don dvd by the end of this year and the trailer will be available for you to watch soon here at ricosurf.com.br
Nothing like unite the utile to the enjoyable. Even more when its all about surfing and working. A combination so perfect as improbable.

Best regards and happy surfing,
Rosaldo Cavalcanti

Special thanks to Bali Surf Connection (www.balisurfconnection.com).