Mentawais Vs Maldives

[Elmako]

Created this post 4 + years ago and just wanted to revive it as I did went to the Mentawis on June 2010 and now I am heading to the Maldives in early June.

Please bear with me as I am having a couple of cold ones while I write.

Thanks to those that gave me some feedback back then and I am reaching for some advice again, specially on what sort of boards to take and also forecasting the week before I go to see if I take 2 or 3 boards.

Summary of my Mentawis trip, on board of the Nusa Dewata for 12 days.

Atypical winds for the time of year favouring the rights so we sailed between BankVaults and HT's for most of the trip, and a few left handers in between when winds ok, Telescopes, eBay, 7 palm Point, Lances Left, etc.

The waves were pretty heavy and fast for most of the trip, certainly pumping/firing all day, the smallest we had was 4 foot rifles, where I got some decent ones. not a lot of waves but 4 waves that were life changing, true barrells. Biggest was double overhead Lances left with a side shore wind (gnarls), 1 guy out, I think it was Bruce Irons from another boat. When winds do no cooperate, easy to find 4 boats anchored on the same spot.

Very crowded and bad vibes in the line ups generally, unfortunately. Even the same dudes on my boat were overfrothing over waves, c'mon!... great waves though.

I do recommend it, maybe on shoulder season, to avoid the Rip Curl boat with all the pros...

Took a 6'4 fishy + 6'8 epoxy + 7'0 epoxy, never took the 7'0 out of the boardbag, and surfed the 6'8 most of the time,, the 6'4 once, surfing the 6'8 really helped with getting early onto the waves, almost feeling too long for the cylinders..however great for crowd control, sat outside and waited for the sets, and the extra flotation saw me catching a few gems, I surfed early and then left the lions fight for the rest of the day, it seems there are a lot of land camps and surfers come out of the woods in herds after 8 am.

Maldives: 11 days on a special edition trip on the Hamathi, special edition as it sails from Male and travels south for 11 days following the swell to the most southern point on the maldives and then they fly you back to Male on a small plane, so for the 11 days you sail away from the busiest towards the more empty lineups.

Would love some feedback from those of you that have sailed across the Maldives and please give me some feedback on equipment and forecasting before going, I am pretty good with Windguru + Magicseaweed, etc, etc, so maybe names of spots along the way to narrow down my forecasting spots.

Thinking of taking:
6'1 + 6'5 + 6'8, considering leaving the 6'1, which is the board I use here in Sydney from 1 to 4 foot surf. 2 boards is easier to travel with, however if forecast is showing smallness at some point, then maybe I will take it.

Thanks in advance for yuor input,

cheers

J

[channels]

I would leave the shortest one at home and take the two larger ones. When I went to the Maldives many years back, the heat and the water temp was really draining on the energy levels ( for me anyway) and that combined with the two or three sessions a day meant I was always thankful for the extra float and paddle power.

[Donweather]

What time of year are you doing the Maldives charter?

I'd take ya regular shorty and leave the biggest board at home. The Maldives is nowhere near as heavy as the Ments and their waves are some of the easiest to paddle into so even at 4-5ft you can easily ride your typical Ozzie short board. So you'd then just need your step up for the bigger 5-6ft+ days.

Also, how far south do you end up? Beacons? Again this will all come down to what time of year you're going.

[Donweather]

To me if you've ridden your 5'10" in double overhead surf here then you won't need anything bigger in the Male Atolls. Take offs are one of the easiest I've experienced. Very easy and predictable take offs.

[Donweather]

No worries Tonks. Just sing out.

[rmb]

Don I have read through the maldives thread in the travel section and now here you are a wealth of knowledge so thank's for sharing.
If you don't mind me asking what's your background in the maldives and surf forecasting how do you know all this stuff?

[Donweather]

Don I have read through the maldives thread in the travel section and now here you are a wealth of knowledge so thank's for sharing.
If you don't mind me asking what's your background in the maldives and surf forecasting how do you know all this stuff?

I've done 2 surf trips to the Maldives and a hell of a lot of research into surf forecasting/hindcasting there. It's a surf destination that I dearly love but so wish the crowds were now like they were back in 2000 when I'd did my first trip there.

[Elmako]

Thanks guys, hey Don I may trouble you closer to the date (sail the first of June). The boat (The Hamathi), will be going from Male to Laamu and anything in between for 11 days and fly back to Male, I am hoping that once we move away from the Male area the crowds will thin down.

cheers

J