I’m sure the Indonesian Government would say otherwise….

Fuk… didn’t realise they had x 3 year contract. Had a conversation this morning with a mate who explained the WSL shit show to me. Sounds like there’s a whole lot of the top guys aren’t even surfing it due to being shut out and there’s quite a few lucky amateurs in it. So there’s really only a handful of guys who will really take to it if it’s proper G Land. That’s a shame. Will the woman really keep up with it if it’s proper?.

Building a road in there does not bode well for the future of the park. Roads act as barriers to movement of some wildlife, while traffic threatens others. WSL will I expect try to 'offset' the damage and keep playing their glossy feel-good advertorials, but those are mostly greenwash, as their small elite continue to pollute at levels far beyond anything sustainable. The biggest problem though is that thousands, maybe millions, of young crew aspire to this destructive lifestyle.

Super disappointed with myself that I've never made it there, was all planned to go in 2002 and had to change plans. However I must say I am looking fwd to watching the worlds best out there.
I reckon your mate might need to take a look at the heat draw ED, nothing surprising on there, just the current best in the world that have risen to the challenge through some seriously challenging comps.

Hey Stu > every now and then you write one, like this one, that's so spot-on literally and metaphorically that I wish I'd written it. Ha! It's a real pleasure to read your multi-layered insights, so economically described, on such important socio-political contexts for surfers.

Ah WSL, ripping out trees at Snapper, smashing a road into a remote Indo point, campaigning for a concrete cliff top path at Bells. All while wanking on about our “one ocean” with feel good video of two pros planting a stick of grass to show their “commitment”. Karnts.

After the annual arsefuck that is the Margaret River Pro
and the bane of the locals surfing life here, now to watch the same promotion machine head to my favourite holiday destination ...
Somewhere that has somehow remained a bastion for older (can I say original? or people who have been surfing since before the internet anyhow ) Surfers from around the world. Guys and girls you run into year after year .
What follows is wsl rubbish through the jungle, through the internet and then come the man buns ,mid lengths and the influencers
Wsl you should be fucking ashamed of yourselves
Cunts
Let's here Joe turdpull wank on about the jungle ...
May a rabid monkey tear his balls off

Sad state of affairs really for any surf destination. Too many people want to surf and in the modern era travelling to 'remote' spots has never been easier. Seems to be happening everywhere. Gland hidden in plain sight, first trip in 1990, last in 2019 and a bunch in between. Great waves and meeting great people, glad I had the experience. Mates living in Bali were doing day trips from Kuta last year for Rp 1 million, beers on way home included... Lucky pricks...

Sure it’s back on everyone’s radar, but it never left for those in the know

Its old Skool and not everyone’s cup of tea and here’s hoping it remains that way.

Nice piece Stu! I'm looking forward to this event like no other in ages. Just occurs to me that there are in fact Indonesian laws and decrees governing management and use of Alas Purwo National Park as well as an official management structure and system in place, so your reference to it as a national park in name only is slightly inaccurate. Your comparison with the Australian situation makes more sense to me, although I don't really know, but anyway allow me to recommend this webpage for your information (whack it into your online translator and away you go - it's got zoning maps and everything!): https://tnalaspurwo.org/kelembagaan-taman-nasional-alas-purwo. Semoga dapat ombak bagus, Bli!

https://www.instagram.com/btn_alaspurwo/

I'm torn because even though Ive never been there, I know the reverence that's held in the hearts of those that have.

But, I love pro surfing. There, I said it. And I'm so looking forward to seeing what these one percenters can do on those long, green walls. In fairness to the WSL their production has really stepped up and the cameras are gonna catch it in real time clear as crystal. Sorry to say but I predict It's gonna be visually spectacular.

Now, if Shannon could just somehow be struck down with some jungle illness that prevents her mouth from opening, that's gonna be the cherry.

News Flash "Monkey pox running rampant at WSL G-Land contest, commentator suspected of being virus host. "

I’ve only been there a handful of times but each time is etched into my memory. Such an amazing reef from Kongs to Moneys to speed reef .

Hopefully it’ll maintain it’s semi under the radar status after the circus moves on.

There is a special place in hell reserved for internet surf forecasters

Pause here to think of how this contest's webcast will ignite "the passions" of so many cashed up Brazzo globetrotters who weren't even born when the G-land 90's contests were happening to book a trip to there!

This is a great read Stu, and like someone above said we are lucky there is someone in the surf media who has your take on the industry and the state of surfing.

Personally, not too concerned about G-land... pretty B grade kind of stuff other than Speedies... which wasn't exactly uncrowded. Went in 2018 on a perfect forecast (first mistake) and surfed cooking Speedies with 60 out. Old blokes love it cause they can roll in to waves they couldn't paddle into on most Indo reefs. Luckily, doesn't look like they'll be surfing good speedies with the tides and early season winds.

Biggest issue in my eyes, is that having a WSL comp in Indo just draws the surfing world's attention here, rather than to Fiji, or to Chopes or to that half-wave at Margies main break. Feels like there's been pros gorging on their insta content in all the indo outposts last two weeks from Lakeys to Lombok to South Sumatra to Ments... and places like the Mandiri Beach Fuck Up love to gloat and brag that Jordy Smith's getting barreled out the front.

Might I just add to the above, that while how busy G-Land becomes doesn't concern me too much on a personal level, I do feel for all the crew who hold the place near and dear and consider it an important part of their lives.

For me, the G-Land comp is disturbing and distressing due to the greater evil it represents... The Castle said it best... it's the vibe of the thing.

Not trying to be a dick Stu but I felt a similar conflict internally about surf cam websites when they first evolved, like the road to G land. I'm a junkie now. In part I blame you.

Some great insights into our surfing loves, hates and dilemmas (can't stop watching). Showing my age here (again), but way back in the 70-early 80s, Bill Finnegan and Brian de Salvadore wrote a series of articles for Tracks, called 'Notes from the Paradise Trail' or something similar. They got to Gland in the period after Boyum's original camp had fallen into disrepair and before Bobby Radiasa's and others (Tiger Camp was another one I stayed at in early 90s) got started. Their writings were a very good read at the time, and they noted how Gland bucked the trend of discovery, then losmen / homestay / shops / hotel / airport / surf crowds .. having returned, albeit briefly to the jungle. I was lucky enough to get to Nias in April 1978, as the 1st losmen on the point, called Jamborai 1 from vague memory, was just getting built, following a mini-war between Botahili and Lagundri - a long story that left people dead and Lagundri half burned to the ground. I returned in 1981 by which time there were quite a few losmen on the point. The rest as they say ... But back to the G-land story, there were far less surfers back when Bill and Brian got there, and the whole surf camp / boat industry was in its infancy. The risk now, obviously, with WSL, is that their road, apart from disrupting the wildlife, opens the place up to additional development. How good those Indonesian zoning and management plans are may be put to the test.

lindo -
"The risk now, obviously, with WSL, is that their road, apart from disrupting the wildlife, opens the place up to additional development. How good those Indonesian zoning and management plans are may be put to the test."

Jeez I hope this doesn't come true.

I'm conflicted about this contest, since the first time I heard it was on the schedule I was voicing my disproval.
Like many others on here G-land has been somewhere that I have enjoyed over many years now, ( compared to some older regulars my 17 years of going there is nothing), and I have enjoyed watching other parts of Indo take the lions share of the spotlight while often enjoying some very quiet sessions in the jungle.

Some of my most memorable surfing experiences have been sitting out there and not being able to see another person in the water as far as you can see. Instead its just reeling perfect waves steaming down the reef towards you.

But in saying all that I will be watching the contest, I cant not.

I just hope that it doesn't turn the place in to something I and many others have enjoyed for a long time, and hopefully can enjoy it for years to come.

I've been to G-Land a couple of times, a mate of a mate drove us out there through the jungle track in his VW type 181 Küblewagen. It was a wild old ride, pretty sure it was around 2005. We stayed at an old camp further down the bay. Had to drive another hour to get to the end of the road, the last bit of the road was bamboo matting over sand, then a bit of a walk to get to Speedies.

Having been there a few years before I knew what was going to be waiting for us at the end of our gruelling drive....everyone!
It was an epic journey to get there though. We also drove to other spots around East Java and surfed with no one else.

I don't like the sound of this road widening, paving the way for groomed beared, top knot, cardigan wearing types... You'd have to think there are parts of that peninsula that have never been trodden on, would be nice if it could stay that way.

There's an effing road to everywhere these days, even the North side of Everest, parking lot at 5017m

Whatdya mean “cardigan wearing types”…..I find that offensive.

If it drags a few guys away from the 3 foot onshore beachie at Mona Vale then this is a win for me

So I'm going to feel a sense of guilt tuning in to the comp now I know a shitstorm of cashed up developers are about to plunder the place. Thanks Stu.
If I decided to boycott it's not going to make a skerrick of difference. Is there nothing surfers who give a shit can do? Agitate for World heritage listing?
Keeping Grajagan un-fucked would be a tremendous achievement in this world.

Yeah Baby

View this post on Instagram

Aaargh!

At least no one can strictly claim it as their local, all of us who have been there have been privaledged to do so and might just need to leave it at that.

The truth is that pro surfing is now being run by people who aren't really core surfers, at least the money and the top brass. It's kind of like they are the pimps of surfing, dressing it up in trashy clothes and trying to pull in the Johns. When it comes to who's getting f@#$'d I'm pretty sure I know who that is.

I went there in 2003 and it was cheap as chips for a week given it was a year after the bombings. We drove in then and the road wasn't too bad, although i was asleep for most of it. The place was over run by Javanese high schoolers on day trips trying to learn English off the surfers.

There are a few things that may protect it. If it's macking lower tide Speedies hopefully some pros will lose some skin (it can get pretty vicious). It's actually hard to get tons of waves there if the camps are full, this may discourage a lot of punters. Lots of the cream is picked off by guys with big boards on Launching Pad. Most days you're only surfing for a portion of the day when the tides and wind are right and the water can be fecking cold. There's a reason it's dropped off the radar a little. Give it a bit of time and equilibrium may return.

For me personally I'd give up all of the webcasts if only they'd stop prostituting our sport, trying to tell us it's something we know it's not. Please let Ziff move on from pro surfing I don't really care if it all crumbles. There'll still be good content coming out from free surfers maybe that's all we need.

I have a solution that will make everyone happy. Put a dirty big sign at Chickens which says 'G-land'. Greet the newbies with offers of surf lessons and photo opportunities, rent them foamie mals, sell them t-shirts and vegan smoothies and then send the punters back they way they came, happy in the knowledge they came and conquered.

All jokes aside, a lot of younger crew seems to like places where they can pretend they are practising their airs in easy view of the assembled peanut gallery and close to refreshments and conveniences, and then hang out in a cool internet cafe to update their social media apres surf.

What's the point of sporting a moustache, carefully manicured long hair, matching black board short and t-shirt ensemble and this seasons HPSB if no-one can see you riding it?

Ments and other many places offer more idyll locations, better barrels and are more user friendly and/or cheaper.

A very fundamental part of G-land is hardship, uncompromising reef and jungle and serious beatings.