Java Report: Journey To The Edge Of The World

Scott McKercher reports on his latest mission to Indo with Boujmaa Guilloul and the Severne Sails crew.

Over to Scotty for the full run down on this Indonesian epic…

“So off to Java we went. What a mission. We met Boujmaa Guilloul at Jakarta airport. At 8.00 pm we loaded his gear onto an already stacked van for the 4 hour drive. We'd organized a half way house to see where we woke but figured it was best to reload straight back up and head to, what is called in Indonesian ‘the end of the world’.

Another a hideously bumpy, winding but beautiful track rolled into town. We set up camp in the privative but more than adequate lodgings and were out there that evening for some crystal little waves.

Boujmaa sessioned it on  his surfboard and me on my SUP. It was a short, fast little wave that had some barrel sections and didn’t give you much time to think you’re manoeuvres through! You had to act on instinct!

There was a super cool vibe on the water amongst the surfers that were there, and good times were shared over waves, beers and talks over the coming days. We got a bit of shit for being wind heads, and me being on a SUP, but after a while they were singing our praises, maybe we are not that boring after all!

And by being respectful of the surfers also helps when in the water with them, respecting everyone else on the water and not being wave hogs which is easy to do as a windsurfer.

As always Boujmaa was going for it and managed to break something every session. But that's not hard as the wave was pretty meaty. I was just dead lucky not to break anything, or get more sea urchins in my feet than I did. The reef was littered with them and if you wiped out or got caught behind the section you were assured of a trip over them. One of the more nasty places I've sailed for sure, but also one of the better waves I've sailed as well.

We surfed we sailed and tested boards as time melted into one moment as it does on such trips. It was generally pretty light compared to how it could be there so sailing time was restricted to just a an hour to two a day, but the quality more than made up for it. And the fact it was just me, Boujmaa and maybe one or two surfers made it particularly sweet.

Anyways, we made our way back to Jakarta and made the most of being back in the modern world (Hellooo room service!). Except for Boujmaa that is, we returned at the start of Ramadan, and being a Muslim he couldn't eat during the day, but he got to pig out at night.

Back in Bangkok now and about to head to Japan for a promo contest. Love Japan so looking forward to that.”

Scott McKercher and Boujmaa Guilloul are sponsored by Starboard and Severne.

PWA / Andrew Buchanan