Never Been To G-Land? Never even been to Indo? Well, this interview with Dr Johan Vorster from the Surfing Doctors will put it all into perspective. From Mossel Bay in South Africa, into some proper carnage on the G-Land reef. This interview is a great and entertaining read for anyone considering a first-time trip to the jungle.

1. First time in Indo? What are your feelings about the place now?

My first time in Indo has been epic so far! The people are incredibly friendly, the water is warm, the waves are amazing, and the food is delicious.

2. First time in G-Land. How was the boat ride out?

The boat ride out was surreal. Driving alongside the Javan jungle for quite a while and then seeing the waves running on the point for the first time was just beautiful.

3. What are your feelings about the set-up/camp, infirmary, etc, at Jawa Jiwa?

The camp at Jawa Jiwa is pretty nice. The rooms are comfortable with air conditioning. They were still putting the finishing touches on the recently built clinic when I left.

4. How have the waves been? I heard one day it got a bit bigger every set for a few hours. It gets pretty gnarly down that side of the world.

The waves were definitely the gnarliest I’ve ever surfed. Being there for a whole month, I experienced everything from completely flat conditions to triple overhead barrels. My best waves were just overhead with an extremely long period swell – it seems to thrive on that longer period.

5. Have you had any memorable waves yet? Do you have any good barrels?

I had the best lefts of my life and also my first proper left-handed barrels. I would’ve gotten barreled even more if I were goofy-footed, but I learned a lot about surfing hollow waves on my backhand. My good friend Dr. Louis Wilsdorf, a dentist from South Africa who is a goofy footer, visited me for 2 weeks and got barreled more times than he could count!

6. Is everything good with the final chop? What happened there?

The first hectic injury I saw was a puncture wound to the lower leg from a surfboard nose. That wound healed pretty well with stitches, and the guy was back out surfing two weeks later.

7. You were involved with and helped during what sounded like quite a serious head injury. What went down?

The serious head injury happened during the biggest swell of the trip. It was absolutely pumping down at Speedys, but unfortunately, it was a neapish tide, so the water was much lower than ideal for that section. I was surfing the same section as the guy who got injured, and I had a pretty hectic wipeout not too long before it happened. I pulled into a barrel, ended up too high on the face, got slung over the falls, and was pressed down against the reef. Subsequantly, I was held under for what felt like an extremely long time. As I reached up, trying to get back to the surface, my hand grabbed a pinnacle of rock above me. Obviously I fell into a gully and just missed getting hit by the reef sticking out right beside me.

I barely made it back out to the backline and was still recovering when I saw Donny Lopez, the photographer from Bobby’s, and another surfer dragging someone into the boat in the channel. I made my way out of the water, trying to avoid getting mauled by the set waves. As they were passing Joyo’s camp on their way to the clinic at Bobby’s, another doctor, Dr. Paul Meara (a MaxFax surgeon) from Australia, joined them.

“…better for me to be on standby for any emergencies. ‘”

I hitched a scooter ride from Joyo’s to Bobby’s. Dr. Meara was already assessing the wound and applying pressure to stop the bleeding with the help of medical student Matt Larsson. It was essentially a large descalping injury over the right parietal/occipital area. You could almost fit your hand onto the skull under the skin flap, which gives you an idea of the size. Luckily, the patient was conscious, with no skull fractures or any neurological issues. Dr. Meara had brought a staple gun with him, which made the job a lot easier. The patient went to Bali the next day and, I believe, flew back to Australia the day after.

The swell was still going strong for the next two days, and it would be better for me to be on standby for any emergencies. Either that, or I just didn’t have the guts to paddle back out!

8. How’s the crowds?

On the smaller days, I did snorkelling and spearfishing. One day, a large Dugong/Manatee came right up to me and pretty much just hung out with me for a good ten minutes – maybe it was just curious or looking for some free fish. I gave most of the fish to the local kitchen staff at Jawa Jiwa, but I did enjoy some beautiful sashimi from a bluefin trevally.

I took a quick motorbike trip with medical student Matt Larsson to Grajagan town on the other side of the bay. Driving through the national park on a bike is an epic experience.

There’s also a short hike to the shipwreck, located just around the corner, which is about a one-hour hike with nice scenery.

Regarding the crowds, they are fairly manageable. There are always busier times of the day, for example, the last three hours of the day. On smaller days, you can also surf pretty far up at Kongs and almost get your own little peak. It’s the heavy days down at the bottom section of Money Trees where it can get crowded although there are still plenty of bombs going unridden. It’s challenging to paddle into gnarly, heavy drops if you’re doubting what others around you are doing.

I also surfed Tiger Tracks quite often, just for a change-up to something a bit more chilled. It’s a nice A-frame reef break further down the bay. There are a lot of learners and surf instructors pushing people into waves, so timing your session between the groups of learners is vital.

9. What boards did you take, and were they the right ones? Could you have gone a bit bigger, etc?

I took three boards:

1. Gonzo shapes 6’4″ step-up thruster.
2. Gonzo shapes 6’9″ twin fin with channels.
3. Spider/Safari shapes 6’0″ Gringo – almost like a fat, short minimal (fun board), mostly surfed Tiger Tracks with this one.

Bringing two of my bigger/longer boards definitely paid off. It helped a lot with getting in earlier and making the takeoff easier. With that being said, there were many good surfers getting the best and biggest barrels on way shorter boards.

I still felt slightly undergunned on the biggest days, but I think that had more to do with being in the right position and committing to the takeoff, as well as just being confident and having the appropriate level of skill for that type of wave, more than having a bigger board. Having more volume (or too much) would definitely come back to haunt you when you had to duck dive the monster sets out the back or even trying to navigate better through a barrel. So, definitely need to find a good balance.

I am excited for the next time I get to surf similar types of waves and conditions because I’ve become way more comfortable over the month that I’ve surfed G-Land.

Special thanks to Surfing Doctors (Phill and, Dave) and Matt from Jawa Jiwa for the opportunity to volunteer at G-Land! 🤘🏼