Catching up with MANY happy wave riders.

Hey look, we’re super careful not to bombard your email inbox too often, so it’s been a while between broadcasts. Maybe too long. Let’s cast back to three recent trips.

Trip one: Finals Season.
Mid-September saw a bunch of Sydney frothers join us. Rivalries ran high as the boys watched the Rugby League knockout semi-final in town. Scott’s team (South Sydney Rabbitohs) versus Shane, Pete and BJ’s team (the Sydney Roosters). As they were about to watch the match, a local was spied walking down the road with two decapitated chickens. It was an ominous sign and Scott came back to Pinnacles beaming. Ultimately, everyone won, however, as the surf pumped and good times were had. Special props to Brenton “BJ” McHatton for filming the lads in action and being a funny fella.

Shane Kilmurray. Return guest royalty. Shane knows how it’s done: surf heaps, laugh lots, make the most of the bar. Particularly stoked to get uncrowded waves at the Left, Shane put his lil’ twinny to good use.

Scott Sweeney. Riding a mid length Hypto Crypto that worked well in all conditions, Scott clocked up a serious wave count at the Left and at Pinnies. Took a while for Scotty’s smile to look like fading after the Rabbitohs’ glorious victory.

Peter Goulding. As keen an angler as a surfer, Pete had a never give up attitude when it came to hooking a monster Tuna. Pete gifted a local boy and his father a special squid jig after they made the two hour journey on their canoe to our location to sell us shells.

Philip Potloff. Hailing from California, Phil’s done multiple trips to the Telos. Phil took no prisoners and ripped every session, coining the nickname Philthy Phil from the Aussie boys.

Trip two: French Froth Fest.
The start of October brought some stormy weather, but nothing could dampen the spirits of these irrepressible French and the single Californian. With a mixture of swell and predominant NW winds it limited options but luckily these were their favourite spots from past trips to the Telos. Some experimental fin setups from Xabi’s company ’S-wing’ kept every session interesting.

Xabi Lafitte. Hailing from Guethary, Xabi brought the full range of his S-wing fins to experiment with and was keen to get out there no matter the conditions. With a competitive resumé including short boards, long boards and SUPs, his mantra is ‘ride different’. 

Mathieu Lafitte. As a goofy, Mathieu’s best session was at empty Max’s left on the trip’s last day. Riding longer boards throughout the trip, Mathieu discovered the potential speed and drive once he got a chance to ride it on his forehand.

Olivier Assalit. Olivier was the quiet achiever of the trip, sliding gracefully under the radar, riding mid length boards, with some sublime sessions at kindies and schoolyards.

Phillippe Mauro. The man loves Schoolyards! Seeing his yellow board racing against the blue hues of schoolyards and kindies was a real crowd pleaser. Philippe could speak very good Bahasa Indonesia from his time teaching in Surabaya during French military service.

Christophe Gueydan.Another quiet achiever, often scoring the biggest and longest rides out at Schoolyards, racing through sections on his bonzer. Accustomed to reading long right walls, not dissimilar to his home break out the front of his restaurant in Guethary.

Baptiste Caulonque. Another Schoolyards aficionado. Preferring the longer, section-racing style of surfing it offers. Always first in the water and often last out, Baptiste’s strategy paid off with multiple bombs all the way through schoolies. Prior to the trip Baptiste visited one of his wave tech pools to catch 90 waves in an hour, and it showed in his surfing.

Dave Bedell. San Diego-based Dave regaled us with 50 years of surf and fishing tales. Always first up and often last at the bar, Dave was keen to get on the boat so he could earn a couple of beers for his efforts. Along with Xabi, Dave provided a lot of positive energy the stormy days.

Trip three: Rock ‘n’ Roll!
Mid-October became Rocktober as one of the guests, Coops, hired a local band from a nearby village for a couple of nights of revelry: live karaoke with all the staff and guests having a go on the mic! Oh and many waves were ridden.

Brett Cooper, Wollongong. A long time guest at the lodge, Coops was the main instigator of good times on a daily basis, including re arranging the lounge to make “crab pot version 2.0” – and hiring the band as mentioned above. Yeah Coops!

Charles Emery, Cronulla. Another return guest, ‘Chuck’ was stoked to be back in the Telos. Frothing to get amongst some empty waves and cold beers. Another keeper of the night watch!

Treaven Martinus (Sydney) Along with mates Craig and Toby, this was Trev’s first surf trip to Indo. Trev was often the first and last in the water, frothing to surf in any conditions, especially if it was a left!

Craig Boothroyd. Boots scored easily the best waves of his life out at Schoolyards, with two of his best mates, Toby and Trev watching on. How’s that for an Indo debut! Never without a smile on his face, Boots was the most stoked bloke of the trip.

Toby Briggs. Another Indo rookie, a wisecrack and one of the better blokes you could hope to meet. Tobes was up for a cold tin, empty waves and a late night session.

Paul Teitzel. Another return guest, ‘Pablo’ was the dark horse of the trip, with the Sydneysider often scoring the best waves of the session, then picking up the guitar to shred some blues riffs. Fella’s got talent.

Dan Corbett, Perth. Veteran surf guide, former manager at Telo Lodge, and all round big-wave maniac, Dan taught Coops how to surf on his first trip to the Telos back in the day. Dan helped guide this trip and scored some good waves himself. Not scared of the mic, Dan got up multiple times to perform a song in Indonesian and old favourites from Foo Fighters and Offspring.

Rick Shaw. Hailing from Kauai, Rick and his pal Lon arrived straight off the back of a trip to Tenggara. Being a goofy footer, Rick loved surfing Max’s left and ER on his mid length Hypto Crypto. He also got up on the mic to perform a classic rendition of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love”.

Lon Maddox. At 72 years young, “Long Dong” Lon, made it look easy paddling in with his blue longboard. Happy to wait for the right time to surf he cruised with the ease of a Hawaiian local. Lon’s best sessions were at Schoolyards and Pinnacles. An honour to host you, good sir.