Lagundri Bay
Encyclopedia
Lagundri Bay is a horseshoe shaped bay at the southern end of the island of Nias
off the coast of Sumatra
in Indonesia
.
It is a popular tourist destination and a noted surf break.
.
The surf break was discovered in 1975 by travelling surfers Kevin Lovett and John Giesel together with Peter Troy and W.Adcock. Lovett and Giesel, aged 20 and 22, were travelling through south-east Asia, living rough and pursuing the surfer's dream of perfect uncrowded waves. They were drawn to Nias by a map they saw in a chieftain's house in North Sumatra
. On their final sea leg to the island they found legendary surf traveller Peter Troy & W. Adcock.
On the island and after travelling 15 km through jungle they finally reached the bay and were greeted by, as Lovett put it, "Relentless sets of smokin' 6-to-8 foot almond-eyed waves". (That's 6 to 8 Hawaiian scale
.) They lived there for 3 months surfing it alone.
Giesel and Lovett made a pact to keep the place secret, but word leaked out over the years. Giesel never got to enjoy Lagundri again, he suffered repeated bouts of malaria
he'd contracted on their travels and died of pneumonia
just 7 months later. Lovett maintained his connection with the place, returning many times and getting involved with helping the local people. In around 1995 he learnt from the local siulu (chief and head magician) that the two had actually been in considerable danger from headhunting, which still went on back in 1975.
The 2005 Sumatra earthquake
(28 May 2005) devastated the local village, and caused an uplift up to several metres over much of the island, with some eastern parts of island also reported to have sunk several feet or more in places. A number of structures both within the local village and throughout the island were toppled (with reportedly several thousand deaths, particularly in the north of the island), and a small tsunami also occurred, apparently up to the height of door frames on the first floor at Lagundri Bay, which also caused damage to houses and hotels within the bay. Locals report that the tsunami arrived about 15–20 minutes after the earthquake. A number of people in the local village lost their goods and livelihoods from this earthquake and tsunami. The uplift seems to have been part of a regular cycle of megathrusts followed by gradual sinking. On this occasion the uplift was about 2 feet within the Bay itself, and it has actually improved the main surf break, but reduced the quality of the others. Where previously The Point only broke from about 4 foot and up (Hawaiian scale
) it now breaks from 2 foot and the main section of the tube has lengthened from 7 seconds to perhaps 9 in good conditions, with a second tube section a little further down from the main part of the wave on occasions. On the other side of the bay however The Machine has suffered, needing an even more fickle combination of large swell and higher tides to be surfable.
The wave characteristics of "the Point" have long been considered world-class, and include: a remarkably easy paddle out; a machine-like, jacking, perfect almond-shaped tube (particularly when >4 feet) and which has reportedly held waves up to 15 feet (Hawaiian scale-that's ~30 feet wave faces) since the earthquake; and a sculptured wave face which is partially smoothed out by a weak 'reverse current'- which sucks water from the bay into the wave and acts to 'smooths out' the breaking wave face, even under light onshore wind conditions.
The wave jacks and pitches quickly out of relatively deep water, and has surprising energy and roundness over about 4 feet (Hawaiian scale), particularly since the earthquake, also breaking in relatively deep water (at least for the roundness of the barrel) on all tides. The world-class section of the wave only breaks for about 60-80m, before it dies out in deeper water, afterwards forming a slow moving, low-quality wave which breaks for around another 100m or so ("Kiddies Corner"). The water within the surrounding bay has a sharp and remarkably deep drop-off, and it is likely the peculiar, long and narrow U-shape of the bay acts to focus the incoming swell energy onto the main part of the point, to produce both the weak 'reverse current', and the consistently almond-shaped tubes.
Nias
Nīas is an island off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Nias is also the name of the archipelago, containing the Hinako archipelago....
off the coast of Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
.
It is a popular tourist destination and a noted surf break.
Lagundri Bay surf break
The main break in Lagundri Bay, often also called "The Point," "Soraki Point," or simply "Nias," is a barrelling right-hander breaking over reef along the western side of the bay. The correct name of the point where the wave breaks is "Soraki" (which apparently means "many reefs").A break further out along the bay is called Indicators, which breaks dangerously onto dry reef and is surfed only on rare occasions. On the opposite side of the bay a left-hander called The Machine breaks sometimes, but needs a very high tide and large swells. "Kiddies Corner" is the name of the inside section of the wave at "the Point." All the waves have been affected by recent uplift from the 2005 Sumatra Earthquake2005 Sumatra earthquake
The 2005 Sumatra earthquake, referred to as the Nias Earthquake by the scientific community, was a major earthquake on 28 March 2005, located off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Approximately 1300 people were killed by the earthquake, mostly on the island of Nias...
.
The surf break was discovered in 1975 by travelling surfers Kevin Lovett and John Giesel together with Peter Troy and W.Adcock. Lovett and Giesel, aged 20 and 22, were travelling through south-east Asia, living rough and pursuing the surfer's dream of perfect uncrowded waves. They were drawn to Nias by a map they saw in a chieftain's house in North Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
. On their final sea leg to the island they found legendary surf traveller Peter Troy & W. Adcock.
On the island and after travelling 15 km through jungle they finally reached the bay and were greeted by, as Lovett put it, "Relentless sets of smokin' 6-to-8 foot almond-eyed waves". (That's 6 to 8 Hawaiian scale
Hawaiian scale
Hawaiian scale is the conventional wave height measurement used by surfers in Hawaii, also used in Australia and parts of South Africa.The measurement is always in feet and scaled so the actual height on the face is roughly twice what's quoted. So a 3-foot wave would be head high , or 2-foot...
.) They lived there for 3 months surfing it alone.
Giesel and Lovett made a pact to keep the place secret, but word leaked out over the years. Giesel never got to enjoy Lagundri again, he suffered repeated bouts of malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
he'd contracted on their travels and died of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
just 7 months later. Lovett maintained his connection with the place, returning many times and getting involved with helping the local people. In around 1995 he learnt from the local siulu (chief and head magician) that the two had actually been in considerable danger from headhunting, which still went on back in 1975.
The 2005 Sumatra earthquake
2005 Sumatra earthquake
The 2005 Sumatra earthquake, referred to as the Nias Earthquake by the scientific community, was a major earthquake on 28 March 2005, located off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Approximately 1300 people were killed by the earthquake, mostly on the island of Nias...
(28 May 2005) devastated the local village, and caused an uplift up to several metres over much of the island, with some eastern parts of island also reported to have sunk several feet or more in places. A number of structures both within the local village and throughout the island were toppled (with reportedly several thousand deaths, particularly in the north of the island), and a small tsunami also occurred, apparently up to the height of door frames on the first floor at Lagundri Bay, which also caused damage to houses and hotels within the bay. Locals report that the tsunami arrived about 15–20 minutes after the earthquake. A number of people in the local village lost their goods and livelihoods from this earthquake and tsunami. The uplift seems to have been part of a regular cycle of megathrusts followed by gradual sinking. On this occasion the uplift was about 2 feet within the Bay itself, and it has actually improved the main surf break, but reduced the quality of the others. Where previously The Point only broke from about 4 foot and up (Hawaiian scale
Hawaiian scale
Hawaiian scale is the conventional wave height measurement used by surfers in Hawaii, also used in Australia and parts of South Africa.The measurement is always in feet and scaled so the actual height on the face is roughly twice what's quoted. So a 3-foot wave would be head high , or 2-foot...
) it now breaks from 2 foot and the main section of the tube has lengthened from 7 seconds to perhaps 9 in good conditions, with a second tube section a little further down from the main part of the wave on occasions. On the other side of the bay however The Machine has suffered, needing an even more fickle combination of large swell and higher tides to be surfable.
The wave characteristics of "the Point" have long been considered world-class, and include: a remarkably easy paddle out; a machine-like, jacking, perfect almond-shaped tube (particularly when >4 feet) and which has reportedly held waves up to 15 feet (Hawaiian scale-that's ~30 feet wave faces) since the earthquake; and a sculptured wave face which is partially smoothed out by a weak 'reverse current'- which sucks water from the bay into the wave and acts to 'smooths out' the breaking wave face, even under light onshore wind conditions.
The wave jacks and pitches quickly out of relatively deep water, and has surprising energy and roundness over about 4 feet (Hawaiian scale), particularly since the earthquake, also breaking in relatively deep water (at least for the roundness of the barrel) on all tides. The world-class section of the wave only breaks for about 60-80m, before it dies out in deeper water, afterwards forming a slow moving, low-quality wave which breaks for around another 100m or so ("Kiddies Corner"). The water within the surrounding bay has a sharp and remarkably deep drop-off, and it is likely the peculiar, long and narrow U-shape of the bay acts to focus the incoming swell energy onto the main part of the point, to produce both the weak 'reverse current', and the consistently almond-shaped tubes.