Surfers stay away after Nias quake

Surfers stay away after Nias quake

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post/Teluk Dalam, Nias

Sorake beach in Southern Nias is like heaven for surfers due to
its waves that characteristically break from right to left,
creating a long tube.

However, since the March 28 earthquake, nobody but a few
local boys has ridden the waves.

Most of the shacks dotted along the beach were wrecked by the
quake.

Amid the destruction, Jafet Laia, 60, the owner of Yuni Losmen
at Sorake, combed through the debris of his shake, finding only a
mat and a pillow.

In the unforgiving heat of the day he unrolled the mat under a
coconut tree, put the pillow on it and rested his head, staring
at the white sand as it was swept up by the wind.

"There were about 20 foreign surfers staying here at the time
of the quake. We all ran in time, so we were saved. We took
refugee in a village uphill," Laia recalled.

He said the surfers abandoned the beach the following day.

"They won't come back here I guess. I think they must be
afraid there will be more quakes," he added.

C.H.J. Gultom, the owner of Boraspati Express, a tours and
travel agent specializing in extreme sports like surfing, said
foreign surfers had been turned off by predictions of a string of
quakes on the island.

"Of course the tourism sector will slow down. Cancellations up
until the end of this month have reached 100 percent," he told
The Jakarta Post.

However, he believes the surfers will come back. The
temptation of perfect waves is not easy to turn down, he added.

"Moreover, surfers are different from other tourists. They are
more adventurous," he said.

Gultom said that a T-shirt for surfers that reads "I've been
surfing at tsunami point" has sold well.

"Besides, they love discovery. It's a glorious treasure for
them if they can find a secret spot for surfing alone without
having to take turns," he said.

Gultom said surfers were willing to travel far to remote
places for "secret" spots.

His agency has taken many surfers to small islands around Nias
to find surfing spots other than the 11 well-known points.

"I still have some reservations for May this year. They have
not canceled them yet," he said.

Thomas Lafon, 25, a surfer from France, who was at Sorake when
the quake hit the beach, said he would like to come back to Nias
some day.

"But in the meantime, my family told me to go far away from
Sumatra. I will probably continue surfing in the eastern part of
Indonesia," he told the Post at Binaka Airport, where he was
about to depart for Medan, 10 days after the quake.

Nias' famous surfing spots are scattered and not always easy
to reach.

Some surfers set up camp on islands like Bawa and Asu. Surfers
tend to stay for months in a surfing area, living modestly in
shacks or even residents' houses.

They spend more money on necessities, like boats and boards.

"I get any job I can in France to save money to travel for
months to surf," Lafon said.

"I've been to the Mentawai Islands and I loved it. I want to
go back. Probably later," he said.