Oney Anwar, screams through a high speed frontside grab somewhere in Indo, and it’s beautiful. Pic: Sparksphoto.comThis week marks the 10th anniversary of the Bali bombings. On October 12, the local Balinese and those tourists who were caught up in the devastating Sari Club blast, once again re-live the horror. In 2002 there was no warning of such a large-scale attack from terror cells in Indonesia. Thankfully, due to a close healthy relationship between the Indonesian and Australian police force’s a successful joint investigation identified the nut-jobs responsible and they were found guilty. Still 202 people died – no one can ever bring them back. Their families will never fully recover.
Over the last five years Bali has again become the choice destination for surfers and tourists from around the world. At no other time has as many ex-pats called the Island home as they do know. Business is again booming and the appearance of new hotels (like the Komune Resort at Keramus) is a sure sign of a return to confidence. It was quiet for a time – not any more.
While all this financial and political restructuring was going on the local kids kept surfing; in fact, thanks to guys like Rizal Tanjung, Lee Wilson and our Mondayitis featured surfer Oney Anwar (from Lakey Peak), there’s more local surfers than ever. These pros are inspiring the grommets of Indo to not only hit the water – but also thrive on the possibility that surfing could be a way to provide for their families in the future. Being paid to surf is always a pipe dream (pardon the pun), but compared to wanting to be an accountant it’s a damn fun one. If anyone deserves to benefit from the popularity of surfing it’s the Balinese (and Indonesian people).
Since the seventies they’ve been the host with the most – when it comes to surf travel – and to see the local ISC tour flourish is a great positive to focus on this week.
That and the fact that the country is still as welcoming as ever and the level of surfing from the locals are now off the hook.
