“We checked Thunders early and decided we’d head back north after a great few days of waves,” Steve Sewell, the owner and skipper of The Huey 1 told Tracks back in port at Padang. “The plan was to stop at Maccas for a couple of hours and then keep going for the early arvo for a shot at a few waves on the Peninsula.”
The Huey arrived around 11 am, and there were two boats on the mooring. Since 2010, local villagers have implemented a system requiring visiting boats to book one of two moorings. On this morning those boats had not booked believing, like Sewell, that booking gives credence to a system that is both flawed and illegal. The Huey anchored in the channel to check the surf. “It was two-three foot slop,” was Sewell’s surf report.
“At 11:15 the officers that man the boats to enforce the two boat rule come out and as usual I expected to hand over $30 or so to let my guys catch a few waves,” continues Sewell. “They said we can give a donation, but we still have to leave.” Sewell refused to give a donation or to leave. He also asked them to leave his boat and refused to leave the channel for a second time.
“They then raced off in their dinghy to get more heavies, so I tell my guys to go surfing,” said Sewell. “Two of my guests went surfing and the rest go and chill out. The next thing I hear this horrendously loud bang and race out to the back deck where my deckie and my oldest guest, 67-year-old Freddo (Fred Annesley) from Margaret River, are visibly shaken. Freddy told me the guy in the red shirt had just let off a firearm. I ask then asked Randi my number 1 decky who the guy in the red shirt is and he tells me he’s the police.”
Sewell then had to reassess his decision to stay. “I’m thinking an alleged police officer, not in uniform, is firing guns on behalf of the Macaronis Surf Camp in the direction of my vessel. Maybe it’s time we fucked off,” he says. “I would have stayed and sorted the mess out, but when you are running a business and your guests are in your duty of care, you always look after what is in their best interests.”
Subsequent reports in The Australian Newspaper quoted the Macaronis Surf Camp as saying that Sewell had had brought the incident on himself by abusing the local officials. The report quoted the camp as saying, “He mouthed off at a police officer.” Sewell denies this wholeheartedly. “That’s absolute bullshit,” were his exact terms. “And more importantly, why does the camp think it has the right to control or own the waves or reef which is about 800 metres from their rented land?”
Of course that question lies at the bigger issue here of the role of exclusivity at Maccas and the Mentawais in general. It’s been boiling for a while, as more land camps open in the islands and the conflict between camp owners and boat operators (and their guests) intensifies. However when guns are getting involved, shit is obviously getting out of hand. Sewell reported the incident to police in Padang but has yet to receive an official reply. Perhaps the last word should go to Freddo though, the man who was closest to the smoking gun… “If you get to a break and there are guys out, you just wait until someone paddles in because you can surf all day,” he told The Australian. “Nobody should have exclusive access to a wave. It’s the ocean.”
