Gallery: West of Indo with Chippa Wilson, Asher Pacey, Luke Hynd, Toby Mossop, Billy Kean, Parker Coffin and Balaram Stack

Intro by Luke Hynd / All photos by Simon ‘Swilly’ Williams

A boat trip through a tropical archipelago is still the best surf trip / vacation money can buy. Nothing can really beat it. A bunch of like-minded humans together for 10 days staying on a floating pub, sailing around a tropical paradise and doing what we all love the most. It’s a detoxification from our phone addictions and the stress of everyday life.  The best kind of Groundhog Day with pumping waves, eating as much as you want, fishing and good old-fashioned story telling fuelled by unlimited beer.

This trip was extra refreshing in the fact nobody was competitive. Everyone had their own unique style in the way they surfed a wave and that was celebrated. Simple pleasures of taking turns on sets and calling each other into waves reminded me of how much fun surfing really is. So much so we even found ourselves laughing and smiling on waves when watching the footage back. Everyone was able to tap into their eternal grommet froth!

The crew getting ready for a lubricated session under the full-,oom. Photo: Swilly

Out there! Photo: Swilly

Thinking back to a highlight of this trip, it’s hard to beat the full moon night session. It was early in the trip when the winds were unfavourable, leaving us anchored in a protected bay at a beginner type wave. The beers began flowing early afternoon and group moral continued to increase as the evening went on. As the full moon rose over the horizon, a night-sesh suggestion was thrown out there and Chippa insisted everyone had to paddle out. The vibe was unreal! Everyone was in absolute hysterics, calling each other into waves and surfing them together. We happened to luck into a full pulse and we were treated to over an hour of non-stop fun right-handers. I remember thinking there’s nobody else in the world at this moment that is having as much fun as we are right now. Swilly backed up my thought by going on to say the full moon shred session was in the top three best experiences of his life!

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