It takes guts to go on a charter or be spoon fed at a camp? Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha and more of that ,onya mate,fair dinkum!

Being the only surfer in the world who has never been to Indo, Rifles is at the top of my bucket list.

I'm not sure I understand the intention of the "article".
Reads like dribble and contradicts itself at every second paragraph.
The place was crazy busy through May and June. I saw 7 boats at thunders, and heard of worse scenarios nearby. 40 guys at HTs on average days. No mention of crowds in the write up. Talks about average joes then shows photos of semi-pros. Reads more like a half cut advitoral avoiding the negatives to encourage people to visit.

Never surfed rifles and would love to, except it's on every single other persons must surf list and it's fickle as fuck.

Pretty sure the point is that you may be able to float around the ments on a boat so luxurious that Captain Stubing would feel inadequate , but that doesn't mean that when the moment comes and you're peering over the edge of maxing HTs with the reef barely covered with water below that you are going to go.

Still a long way from anywhere and if you get hurt you are likely in a very bad situation very rapidly. Some heavy waves up there and there was still empty line ups when I was there a couple of years ago. Whether you want to catch them when the moment arises is up to you .

"And the savvy Captain will always have his own quiver of secret spots for his guests. So secret that quite often, GPS’s and mobile phones are collected from the passengers before you even get near these breaks. These are the spots that still reflect the original spirit of adventure of these islands.

Here, two unknown soldiers paddle out into unridden perfection, sworn to secrecy, somewhere to the south."

This is the kind of thing we believed 15-20 years ago because it was probably true back then, reality is all these so called secret spots are known to all pretty much all charter boat operators who have taken countess guest to these waves so they are not exactly secret, they are just less surfed because Thunders is the last stop for many charters because going further south eats into their fuel budget and the waves are generally a a little more fickle further south anyway.

Just came back from the ments less than a month ago. Yeah the bigger name spots were crowded HT, Maccas Thunders etc, but having a small boat that's been operating there almost since the beginning definitely paid off. We had days were we were the only boat in the water with 4-6ft perfection.
But even on those crowded days the crowd would ebb and flow. At one point we were one of 7 boats out at thunders yet only 8 people in the water, and some boats were even kind when they happened onto us surfing alone they would usually wait 40 odd minutes before paddling out.
Wouldn't change any of it best experience of my life.

Which boat ?

I've never been, but just booked tonight to head up there in September. CWS ebb and flow sounds good as I'm also on a small boat . Doesn't matter where you go these days, there's gunna be a crowd somewhere, but the anticipation of what I might find up there is gunna make my time at work much more enjoyable . Life is a journey and even if I surf crowded HT's or some break I've never heard of, pumping, with no one else around, it will be better than the breaks I get to surf on the east coast between work, kids, sport and family commitments . Thanks for the article Swellnet; it got me pumped and I also got a new board for the trip so I'm stoked

I get the feeling Matt George gets off on his own words.

That said, Scuzz is a flippin' champion.