I was going over some old files on my computer tonight and found this story i wrote for a trip i did into the jungle with Brad Masters. It was awesome fun and scored great waves. Ive included some shots also.

It was a Tuesday afternoon when I seen the swell on the charts. It was hitting Saturday morning and looked too good to pass up. It’s really hard to predict how good the waves will be at tropical places. Small storms can affect the conditions and what looked like a good day of surf can change within hours to onshore thunderstorms. The swell looked good and the winds were predicted to do the same, so the phone calls began. Mooney was the first. He’d already been keeping a close eye on the swell but could only afford to go if his filmer could make it along. The next 24hrs were spent bouncing back and forth between going and not going, finally the call was made and we were going to sit this swell out, due to the filmer having other arrangements. Due to secrecy, I can’t take just anyone. Wednesday arvo I checked the charts again, the swell had picked up and I knew this certain spot would have to be breaking. Back on the phone trying to hoax my friends into dropping everything and joining me, to no avail. By Wednesday night I was losing my shit. Who knows what this island could be offering on this swell. It could be pumping. Or it could be absolute dog shit. But I couldn’t just sit at home not knowing. Ten o clock wed night I booked a return ticket to the island paradise, solo. Later that night as I was laying in bed, I remembered talking to a photographer friend a few months earlier that had also been to the same island. So I called Brad up and told him my plan. He was on board before I even asked and now all we could think about was what awaits.
Whenever I head to this place, the night before I leave, I can never sleep. So driving to the airport at 430 isn’t the best idea. If it wasn’t for the safety bumps on the side of the road, I doubt I would have made that plane. Anyway I was soon startled when I heard on the radio the volcano was erupting in Indonesia and flights in and out of Jakarta were being delayed and cancelled. Fuck, all I could think of was arriving at the island a day late and missing the swell altogether. What a disaster that would be.
The amount of potential around these parts leaves you with countless possibilities. Stepping on ground where very few white people have been gives a warm fuzzy feeling in your body and thoughts flow freely through your mind. Adventure, exploration and pioneering are the main reasons I surf. These are all things that, to me, make up the perfect surf trip and coming to this part of the world touches on all these things. It’s not smooth sailing to get there. Five flights spanning 30 hrs, then the driving and boats. And once your there, it’s not five star accommodation. Try a hut in the back of a local malaria infested village with no mattress. (The last time I was here I contracted “Dengue fever”, which left me on a drip in hospital for a week). On the way to the village we stock up on rice, vegies, petrol (for the local fishing boat, soon to be our mode of transport) , water and coffee. When travelling to remote parts, the key is to keep things simple. Pack minimally but strategically and if you pack something (not medically speaking) you’re not sure whether you will use, then leave it at home cause most likely u wont. After checking in with the local Police we head off on the 4hr drive along the dirt road at about 15 km/h dodging waist high potholes, we notice a right hander I hadn’t seen break before. 4ft walls with the odd tube, nice little reef pass which definitely screamed potential. Most of this coast can only be accessed by boat, but there are still certain gems out there that if u looked harder enough through the jungle u might be surprised at what u will find.
Once at the village we set up camp in our shelter then walked down to the beach for a surf check. I see lots of familiar faces, same old men eating beetle nut under the same trees. Same teenagers walking into the jungle with their machetes. Same girls sitting in groups pointing and giggling at us and the same kids, supercharged on red syrup, following us down to the beach, showing off every chance they get. The locals go about their business with a serious concentrated look about them, but once u make eye contact and smile, the smile u get in return make s u feel at ease
Friday afternoon the surf is not very big and quite onshore so we decide to go for a short mission down the coast for a bit of search. From on top of a cliff we notice a fast right hander, some waves look amazing while others unsurfable due to the razor sharp coral protruding through the faces. We decide to call it a day and check it from the boat tomoro.The past two days of travelling have taken its toll on me and I fall asleep before finishing one page of my book.
My alarm rings at 5am, leaving us with enough time to get our shit together and sit down and enjoy my favourite drink (half cup strong coffee mixed with half cup condensed milk mmmmmmm) before it gets light enough to make our way out to the line-up. Once at the water’s edge we find the boat high and dry on the reef. The waves look fun, not as big as hoped but 4 ft perfection with no one around is hard to complain about. The main peak is one of the funnest waves I’ve ever surfed. An a-frame take off which u backdoor going left and slot into for as long as possible, depending on how much wall is on the wave. Some are a quick behind the peak, others it’s possible to get 10 second barrels. After getting barrelled at the main peak and a little nugget round the corner, we decided to head down the coast to where we spotted the right hander the day before. As we approached the line-up we could see it spitting and carrying on, but as we got closer we could see that it was leaning more toward the unsurfable side of things. Every now and then one would hit deep on the reef and it looked like you would have enough time to get out before it went dry, so I decided to give it a crack. Not really sure what caused it to change, but once we finally got out there, it was a complete close out. One set came through pushing 8ft, Brad reckons if I turned and went, it would have been a one way ticket to hospital. We waited another half hour hoping one would come through like the ones we seen earlier, but the wave didn’t come our way so we paddled back to the boat with our heads down, gutted, after having such high expectations. Saturday was meant to be the money day and it didn’t deliver. It was time to go on the hunt, so we sat up most of the night going through our potential options and planning our attack.
We wake on Sunday with a plan, surf out the front in the morning then go for a drive to the west side of the island to do a bit of searching. However the day starts off a bit pear shaped. Everyone’s heading to church and is looking down at us for not going with them. I proceed to tell them how that’s their religion, to go to church on Sundays, our religion is to surf. After a brief discussion they come to terms and respect what we do and realise we aren’t trying to change them. Once at the water we find our boat is nowhere to be seen, one of the locals starts going on about how the boats broken and it’s all our fault. They want money for a new boat and there not happy. Meanwhile the surfs pumping and all we could think about was getting out there and getting pitted. So within a couple of mins we have a small canoe, the size of a minimal and two frothing grommet locals ready to paddle us out. A couple of hours and twenty barrels later the tide fills in and we decide it’s time to hit the search.
The road was a disaster, due to some minor flooding, there were bits washed away and tracks going everywhere. It’s hard to believe travelling 10kms can take over an hour. If it wasn’t a thousand degrees you would contemplate walking. The scenery was beautiful. The jungle so thick that in parts, it would cover the road like a long lush green tunnel. We would be driving in the middle of nowhere then all of a sudden a local would scramble onto the road out of the jungle and ask our driver for a lift to the next village, it was classic. Our search dream was short lived when we rounded a corner and noticed the road had been replaced with a pool of mud about 20 metres wide. We watched a truck slip and slide through it, just making it to the other side. There was no way our car was going to make it and the driver wasn’t even thinking about taking the chance. So we turn around and make our way back to camp. On the way back we notice a little left, which we found on my last trip, was doing its best interpretation of a mini “green bush”. I looked at Brad and knew he was thinking the same, “no way I’m going to sit in this sweat pit car any longer, were out there”. It’s one of the easiest, funnest waves I’ve ever come across. A patch of reef about the size of a bus. The take off is more like a slab set up, deep water suddenly hitting super shallow. So it’s an under the ledge backdoor take off, tapering out into a running tube, before closing out onto an extremely shallow end section.
There were many times on this trip that I wished I had someone else surfing with me. Don’t get me wrong, I love surfing by myself, being able to catch any wave I deemed worthy. But there are times when you really want to share the stoke with someone and you want them to be on the same level. I’d go through stages. Barrel, paddle out, short chat with Brad, keep paddling to take off, then I’d sit out the back telling myself “this doesn’t seem real, it’s too good, I only ever dreamed of this”. Then the next time I paddle out, I get out the back and wish I could be hooting someone into the next set and they could feel the same stoke as I have been feeling…
Our last day, we spent the morning surfing the peak out the front. Brad finally joins me in the line-up, borrowing one of my sticks. We both were grinning ear to ear, even though it wasn’t as big as we were hoping, we were still in paradise and still feeling that distance from normality, which you get when travelling in remote areas. Packing up camp is always interesting when we come here as this is the time when we organise the money for the local people. We know the prices for everything they do for us and we pay them accordingly, while always throwing tips to the people that deserve it. But no matter how well you pay, they always want more and come up with the most random reasons why we should pay them. Anyway , this time it has to do with the boat they broke, then decided to blame us for. We had just finished packing our stuff when the boatman approached us talking there language quite aggressively. Our local friend interpreted what they were saying and it was something along the lines of , “pay us $500 for the boat damage or there will be trouble”. Well not only did we know that it wasn’t our fault the damaged there boat, but we actually didn’t have any money, and the closest atm was 4 hrs away. Once they heard this they became even more aggressive and me and brad started looking at each other, not knowing what was going to happen next. Our bags were packed, in the car, ready to go. So I was leaning towards a getaway. Our local mate however, knew that if the issue wasn’t resolved then it wouldn’t be the end of it. A minute later an old guy rocked up on a motorbike screaming at the two men who were hassling us. Our friend said that the guy on the bike was the village boss and he wanted the men to stop the confrontation. The men didn’t seem deterred and started yelling at us again. The old man proceeded to come into the house and pull out his machete, our friend said, “we go now, hurry”. So without hesitation we clambered into the car and waited. Our friend began telling us how the old guy was going to kill those two men if they didn’t stop, then a minute later, all three of the men walked out and approached the car. We apologised for causing such a scene and ended up giving them all our clothes to try and keep the [peace. Before we knew it everyone was smiling, shaking hands and we left waving to everyone out the windows.
That was one of the weirdest experiences I’ve come across and as we were driving , I didn’t really know what to make of it. It was extremely hot in the car, and it seemed that we were going much slower than the drive there. The driver explained that he didn’t want to take any chances with the potholes and damaging the car, as we had no money to fix it. Oh well, he knew the deal, so we rested our eyes and tried to sleep the remainder of our journey. I was awoken suddenly, banging my head against the window, after hitting yet another pothole and I’m sure glad I did. As I looked out my window, I could see the clearest turquoise coloured water and swell lines that looked to be over head high. In the distance I could make out the reef pass which we noticed on the drive there. It was pitting and spitting and my alertness jumped to 100%. we parked the car and I was out the back in minutes. I couldn’t believe what we had found, this a frame right hander that you could compare to cloud nine. I was sweating in the water from paddling so hard trying to get to the peak. The bottom was filled with the most colourful coral, but didn’t look real friendly to land on. The next 2 hrs was spent backdooring barrels and hitting perfectly shaped end sections. I was experiencing the feelings I touched on earlier, about wanting someone else out there to feel the beauty of the place, like I was. A tropical storm was approaching fast, which made the colours of the landscape seem surreal, sunny mountains, clear blue waters and a horizon that was as black as the sky can get. As I’m getting changed the drops of water start falling, 30 secs later its torrential downpour. We timed it perfectly and couldn’t think of a better way to finish off the trip. The last surf was a real highlight, it goes to show there are so many waves out there in this amazing world. This one island has given us a dozen perfect waves and we’re still finding them. And this is one island in a world where there’s thousands. I might not own a big house or flash car, but I have memories and experiences that will last a lifetime and I know very few people on this planet can say the same. Exploration is my lifestyle and I wouldn’t change it for anything.

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Cape Circus from Josh househam on Vimeo.

All photos Ben Newman. Vids by Josh Househam and Darran Franks

The east coast of oz has been going crazy this winter and last weekend i ventured up to Sydney to try duck under a few slabbing lips…
My friend Benny Newman picked me up from the airport with his mate Daz. They were super hung over from a big Saturday night, but were keen as to head over to Cape Solander to take some shots and shoot a few clips. We arrived into the car park at “OURS” and it was by far the most crowded i’d ever seen the arena there. Storm Surfers were shooting there stuff with RCJ and Tommy Carroll and the usual locals were out there getting amongst it. But for how many people that were watching the action, the lineup was pretty uncrowded. Throughout the day there were only a handful of people paddling (sometimes no one) and 2-3 crew towing..
I paddled a few waves to warm up, then “Bones” came over to whip me in. On my first wave it was a bomb, i hadnt really towed “ours” before, so i was a bit sketchy and how to approach it. Ended up hitting the step on take off thinking i had it in the bag, however when i landed my board stopped dead and i proceeded to face plant and get sucked over slamming into the bottom.
It was really slow all day, but when the good ones came it was great. The arvo glassed off and the swell got cleaner and we had an amazing session trading waves with Chalk, Dingo, Bones, Roo and Dom.
I was staying at Dingo’s pad that he shares with Parramatta Eels legend Reni Maitua Fuimaono and Ren’s girlfriend Nat. They were the best hosts ever and during the time i was staying there i met some really great people. Ren’s pad is just behind the beach with a full view of the coastline and the kid surfs pretty damn good too.
Dingo was being his usual self, waking up an hour before dark frothing for surf, we head round to Chalks and wake him, then load the bus for a mish down south. The waves weren’t as good as we had hoped, but we still had heaps of fun pulling into 4-5ft spitting rights and no one else around.
Overall was a great trip with good crew, fun waves and great food. Was great hangin in Maroubra and meeting the people and surfers that make up there community. Cheers everyone that i met and thanks for the hospitality…And big thanks to Reni and Nat and Dingo for lettin my crash at there joint, Bones for whippin me into some nuggs and Chalk for taking me surfing….

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The last two days have been so fun… Shippies was throwing out the goods again with 10-15ft waves yesterday and 8-12ft pits today… Heres a shot from the inside.. I will do a more detailed report with footage and photos the next coupla days……..

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This time of year tassie is cold. Actually its fucking freezing….. With temperatures barely reaching 10 degrees c and the winds gusting an icy 20 knots, not to mention the rain squalls, its hard to find the motivation to get out of bed, let alone jump in the water. Today a little wedge down the road from my house was throwing some fun peaks and was lucky enough to have the cold blooded warrior ( andy chisholm) swimming in the lineup to capture this little grower……

The next coupla days is looking pretty interesting with a string of low pressure systems moving under the island.. This is going to produce plenty of swell, which is going to be accompanied by plenty of cold weather… Check in as the weekend unfolds to see what goes down. Hopefully it wont be a fizzer…..

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Check it
photo Ben Swanson www.beaumaris.yolasite.com

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Nominations for the Billabong xxl awards are out with Mikey Brennan in contention for the Ride Of The Year award and James Hollmer-Cross making the top 5 for Monster Barrell…… Fingers crossed for the lads yeeeeeewwww

www.billabongxxl.com

The nominees for 2011, in alphabetical order:

FIVE BILLABONG XXL RIDE OF THE YEAR AWARD NOMINEES
(Surfer prize $50,000 plus a year lease on a 2012 Toyota Tacoma truck – Video prize $5,000)
Michael Brennan
Danilo Couto
Mark Healey
Benjamin Sanchis
David Scard

FIVE MONSTER PADDLE AWARD NOMINEES
(Surfer prize $15,000 – Photo/video prize $4,000)
Danilo Couto
Shane Dorian
Mark Healey
Sion Milosky
Mark Yazbeck

FIVE BILLABONG XXL BIGGEST WAVE AWARD NOMINEES
(Surfer prize $15,000 – Photo/video prize $4,000)
Eric Akiskalian
Dan Corbett
Rodrigo “Koxa” Augusto Espirito de Santo
Francisco Porcella
Benjamin Sanchis

FIVE MONSTER TUBE AWARD NOMINEES
(Surfer prize $5,000 – Still photography prize $2,000)
Shane Dorian
Tom Dosland
James Hollmer-Cross
Mark Mathews
Eric Rebiere

FIVE SURFLINE BEST PERFORMANCE AWARD NOMINEES
(Surfer prize $5,000)
Kohl Christensen (Kailua, Hawaii, USA)
Danilo Couto (Bahia, Brazil)
Mark Healey (Sunset Beach, Hawaii, USA)
Sion Milosky (Sunset Beach, Hawaii, USA)
Benjamin Sanchis (Hossegor, France)

FIVE BILLABONG GIRLS BEST PERFORMANCE AWARD NOMINEES
(Surfer prize $5,000)
Easkey Britton (Rossnowlagh, Ireland)
Maya Gabeira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Keala Kennelly (Honolulu, Hawaii, USA)
Mercedes Maidana (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Jamilah Star (Santa Cruz, California, USA)

FIVE VERIZON WIPEOUT OF THE YEAR AWARD NOMINEES
(Surfer prize $2,000 and a Samsung Tab by Verizon – Video prize $1,000)
Tiago Candelot
Mark Mathews
Everaldo “Pato” Teixeira
Laurie Towner
Ben Wilkinson

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Heres some clips from winter 2010 shot using my GO PRO HD. Other surfers include Jy “PICKLE” Johannesen and Sandy “SCALLOPS” Ryan.

Winter 2010 from a GO PRO HD from marti paradisis on Vimeo.

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Christmas eve greeted us with 10 ft stern pits and sunny skies. what more could u ask for? How about santa having some time out to enjoy some tube time with the lads………

santa does shippies from marti paradisis on Vimeo.

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The last year while i was living in Victoria, i met a fella named Mick Burnside. Sandy Ryan introduced him to me and we been mates ever since. He has been shooting surf photography for years and is as enthusiastic as any young up and comer whos pics line the magazines these days. Mate, the old kid still shoots film, and he loves every minute of it. He works his hard yakka thru the week and does an extra day every now and then, so when the waves are lookin goods, he can take a day off and do what he loves most. Heres a few shots from a coupla trips Mick, Sandy and I went on.

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The last month or so i been paddling a few waves around oz using my go pro hd. Heres a coupla of frame grabs from those sessions, just a little teaser. Check in soon and il have uploaded the whole clips. peace

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