Hi, yes, I’ll take 100 of these lefts please. Jon Weiand Photo


I finally made the mission out to Medewi late last week, and boy was it worth while. Morgan (my friend from home), myself, plus three new friends we met at our hostel woke up at 5:30 to prepare for our long day. After our driver showed up, we did some finagling with the board racks and were on our way. When we arrived after our two hour journey, we hopped out of the car and were greeted by the sight of endless peeling lefts. I’d heard of Medewi before and had done some research, but I really wasn’t expecting the wave to be so unbelievably ideal for a longboard. We fueled up on some banana pancakes and then paddled out.

I chose to go leashless, just because the waves looked friendly enough, but I started to get nervous when I looked in and saw how fast the waves were slamming against the rocks. I paddled wide when sets came and hoped for the best on every wave. Eventually, I got more comfortable and was able to sit deep with the shortboarders. The machine-like wave just needed some getting used to! Of course, there was the occasional sweeper set that left the lessons going on on the inside looking like a yard sale, but I was able to escape out the back without getting too pummeled.

After about two hours in the water, I heard someone say “Stephanie!,” and was surprised to run into Jon Weiand , a surf photographer from San Diego! Jon had been in Bali for a while as well, and it was great to catch up and get some water shots on such a perfect day. It’s amazing how many San Diegans I’ve run into over here!

On Saturday, we headed over to Bingin, on the beautiful Bukit Peninsula. Canggu was heaps of fun, but it's so nice to relax and just surf all day. The swell has been pretty minimal for the past few days, so I’m hoping it picks up soon so I have an excuse to break out the shortboard and stop riding my log!