With our SUP boards well-strapped to the inflatable Zodiac boat powered up by a nice 40 HP Yamaha engine we left the dock and started the chase! Surfing a tidal bore is so different than surfing on the ocean not only because of the wave but also due to the fact that you are not sure where and how it will show itself. We expected the Bono to show up at 09:00, the first section near the Island of Pulau Muda just over 1 hour by boat. Everyone was happy and surprise to see us as only Eddie our guide knew that we were coming and had only been notified at the last minute. Tired but full of excitement we went to sleep to be ready the next morning. We arrived at dark and immediately found the group of friendly villagers that we had said goodbye to just a year before. It’s a long trip, even from Bali, a full 13 hour mission. Two flights later we landed in Pekanbaru and headed to the waiting car for the 6 hour drive to Teluk Meranti. With great excitement we left Bali for Sumatra. What a dream: only 2 people to share a wave that goes for hours! After a few phone calls I was able to find someone with time on his hands and signed up my friend Tony from Australia, who’s also been part of the original trip. Then this year in early October I found out that nobody booked for the November trip, scheduled exactly one year after our first trip! So I contacted the guys at Bono Surf plus the locals at Teluk Meranti to find out more information and to make sure that we would not face any surprises there.Īfter receiving the news that nobody else booked or was going to be there I finally got the ticket just 3 days before the Bono supposed to appear. But in the next few months nothing happened as the trips were always solidly booked. I became the Substitute, ready to go if any spot became available. This time I wanted to make sure that I would get the best conditions and the chance to surf without too many people. I had some great long rides but realized these were only a small fraction of what could have been. From the day I came back to Bali I was working on a plan to go and surf the Bono again. Nonetheless all of the guys from our group still got good waves and enjoyed this incredible phenomenon. We had our adventure and conquered the Bono but with so many people on the wave, many boats following us making wakes and messing up rides, our trip was less than perfect. Surely this meant an overcrowded wave! It was too late to change plans and with people from our group already on the way to Bali from Australia we decided to continue. The dream of a lifetime coming true.Įverything was booked and ready for the trip well in advance, and all was proceeding as planned, when just few days before leaving we found out about another expedition going to Teluk Meranti at the same time as us! A government-backed group of surfers was heading out with the objective to film a movie to promote surfing in the Kampar river area. Almost a dozen surfers, long boarders, a body-boarder and SUPer fully equipped with jetskis, rescue boats, media boats and even a helicopter. ![]() This was sometime in March 2011 and within couple of weeks I’d assembled a team of SUPers to follow me on this adventure. I always dreamed of surfing a river wave like the Pororoca in Brazil but the distance and organizational difficulty had always been an insurmountable obstacle. Finding such a marvel so close to home just blew me away. ![]() This was a trip that I started to plan on the day I first watched the Rip Curl video on the web showcasing this unbelievable wave somewhere in Indonesia. A quick internet search brought me to the web site of “Bono Surf”, a company that was already promoting trips to surf the Bono. It was only 1 year ago I returned from my first visit to Teluk Meranti where, together with few friends, I went to Surf the Bono, a tidal bore wave on the Kampar river in Sumatra.
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