One master shaper.
Two great swells.
Eight great guests.
Magic trip.
Let’s meet the legends.

Nev Hyman, Gold Coast QLD. Eternal Grommet – the Legend foam-mower who shaped guests a custom board each for this trip. Super-genuine human with a million stories, and humble about his achievements. Only missed one session all trip. Shall we do this again Nev?

Mark Tull, Newcastle NSW. Tully’s the real-life Captain GoodVibes everyone should have in a surf trip. Laugh-a-minute, won the bar tab, didn’t hold back, paid the Tax Man at GTs, spent time learning Bahasa with the bar staff.

Malcom O’Rielly, Newcastle NSW. Tully’s best mate – they work together in the trucking industry. If Mal wasn’t winding tully up he was cracking jokes at his expense. What’s a best mate for anyway?

Donny, Boston USA. ‘Donny’ was in the Navy Seals as a medic and had never surfed before until this trip. Not many people come all the way to Indo to learn to surf but he wanted to do a surf trip with his best mate Daniel so where better than with us? Humble Donny picked it up startlingly fast.

Daniel Cnossen, Boston USA. We’ve had a lot of legends stay with us over the years at TIL, but none more epic than this fella, Danny – a former Navy SEAL – is a double amputee war veteran thanks to an IED in Afghanistan, but absolutely SENDS IT every day and every way. Danny’s a Winter Paralympic cross-country skiing & biathlon Gold Medallist and probably the fittest human to ever grace the lodge. If that wasn’t enough to blow us away, Danny surfed more than anone, didn’t miss a single session, and CHARGED any wave that came his way – including heaving GT’s, where he remained out with the guides, even after the rest of the crew had returned to the boat to lick their wounds.

Brad Kelley, California USA. Brad scored a serious (20 stitches) cut on his head on his very first wave of the trip. He maintained a great, positive attitude, kept coming on the boat cheering his buddies on, became designated filmer and snuck in a surf on the last day, (against the doctors/wife’s orders). Champion.

Dennis Chung, California USA. Brad’s buddy. Really liked Le Ba and out the front. Hated lefts and said he couldn’t go backhand when he arrived at the lodge. Next minute he’s ripping Max’s Left a new one.

Lance and Tanya Kenny. South Oz. Lance might have been the standout surfer of the trip. Lance scored a lot of solo sessions out the front while everyone was at the left, watched on by Tanya from the crab pot. This super cruisy couple notched up many laps of the island. Was a pleasure having you here Tanya!

Surfwise? Geez it was good. Max’s Right and Le Ba highlights for the natural footers. GTs, Pinnies, Bubble. And we’re calling best Max’s Left of the year, to ourselves and pumping. GTs was hilarious with everyone sending it – Dennis, Danny and Tully especially. 2019 year has seen a lot of unkind South Easterlies In Indo, and this trip was no exception, but as always, we worked around it and everyone left stoked and surfed out.

Huge thanks to Nev for hosting this Shape Escape – the boards are gems! and here’s to doing it again next year.