Swellnet Dispatch The Indo Odyssey in Enganno

In: Swellnet Dispatch Press Release Thu 24th Feb '11

Tags: indo odyssey , jim banks , enganno , sumatra

By Julien Borello:

Of all the islands I explored last year during the Indo Odyssey with Jim Banks, Enganno was one of the wildest. It's a small island located 150 kilometres west of Bengkulu, South Sumatra, and 150 kilometres south of the Mentawai Islands. It's one of Sumatra's most remote and unhabited islands.

Nature is raw and beautiful in Enganno.

Unlike the Mentawais, there's no charter boats or resorts there. If you're lucky, you can see the odd fishing boat from Bengkulu passing through, or maybe a few locals catching fish on their small traditional wooden boats. But that's all.

After a smooth night of sailing from Bengkulu, morning broke when we were a couple of miles away from the island. All we could see around us was deep blue ocean and this mystical, greenish and extremely lush, island on the horizon.

Even though the swell was small when we got there, we found spots to surf as soon as we arrived. The spot we preferred was in a pristine bay, with a lefthander on one side and a righthander on the other side. The mooring was calm and protected, allowing us to enjoy the beautiful scenery of this magical place. It became our home for the next four days.

We had a wonderful time there, the waves were really fun, and best of all, it was only us!

The left was the wave we surfed the most, as it was open to the most swell. It was a really playful wave with a long wall that allowed big carves and manoeuvers. It broke in three disctinctive bowls, all of which linked up on the right occasion.

The special thing about this spot was that every thirty minutes a bomb set came, super square and powerful. At that size it was a completely different wave, more like a fast and hollow barrel that could snap your board in two pieces if you didn't make the take off.

It gave us an idea of what this spot could generate with a solid swell...

The righthander on the other side was smaller, but more protected than the left. We surfed there a couple of time at chest to head high, with nice bowly sections.

Overall, surfing Enganno was an incredible experience, and even though the swell was small the first two days, we surfed every single day. We spotted many reefs here and there that could reveal their true potential with more swell, and there is still a large part of the island that we haven't explored

It really felt like we were somewhere special - this incredible feeling of being so far from civilisation, but at the same time at home!

We're really looking forward to going back there next year. If you're keen to surf Enganno with us, we'll be heading to there on stage 8 of next seasons Indo Odyssey (Enganno & South Mentawai), from August 1 to August 12, 2011. This trip gives access to probably the most remote and best surfing areas of Sumatra.

You'll find all the info about stage 8 here.

Nobody has booked yet, so don't hesitate to contact the Odyssey team if you're keen: surf@indo-odyssey.com