SANUR 2026: Guiding is Thriving

The world of guiding visiting surfers in Sanur’s line-ups clearly defies surfing’s traditional etiquette, which gives the right of way to the surfer closest to the peak (a time honered system that allows the best surfers to get the best waves as lesser surfers pay their dues as they attempt to climb up the ladder). But on one of the happiest islands in the world, surf guiding, or rather, hiring a local to strong arm waves for you, usually leaves a bad aftertaste with visitors. Is it fair? To the locals, certainly. They are making a living using their local resources. But from the visitor’s point of view, is it exclusive of those with the financial means to pay for waves?

Let’s call him Wayan. He was born in Sanur, and he runs his own guiding program now after working for foreign-owned surf camps and hotels his entire life. He and his apprentice, we’ll call him Ketut, met while surf guiding for a camp that catered mostly to German surfers. When Wayan was encouraged by his elders to start his own business, he took the risk.



“I tell my guests, I will give you a sign, so watch me,” says Wayan. “If the wave is a right-hander, I can go to left, allowing my guest to go right. Or we take the second wave of the set from the inside. Block the guy closest to the curl and give my guest the wave. Sometimes I’m at the peak and I give my priority to the guest. Sometimes two guides work together, even if we have two different groups. If I’m too far from the take-off point, he can block. Or if he’s too far, I can. Or I’ll just paddle in front of someone so they cannot go.”

Wayan has strong masculine features. He laughs and pantomimes holding someone struggling under water while we’re surfing and explains why he guides from a local perspective. “At Sanur Reef we try to protect our spot. In one year the wave might break properly three times. We get the best waves on the island, so many people know the spot. Normally the wave looks like a pointbreak, wrapping really nice. Really long. And visitors figured out how it works. That’s how we started to be tough and angry at the invasion. Because improperly trained or rude tourists tried to constantly drop in on us. One, time, okay. Second time, no. So we guide not only to make a living but to keep order in our Sanur line-ups. It’s nothing evil. Imagine if we went to Australia and started dropping in on everybody. The surfers there would get just as organized”.



Guiding in Bali originated out of cooperation between Japanese and Balinese surfers. The Japanese surf community was well established by the early ’90s and when its members came to Bali they injected money into the local community by hiring guides off the beach and generally being lively with their yen. The Balinese wanted to make sure their Japanese friends got waves and surf guiding on Bali was born.

Wayan himself has taught and guided mostly Europeans and Australians, as well as some Hawaiians a while back. The Hawaiian’s were an early influence, explaining how things really work on the famed North Shore of O’ahu. However, the Sanur guiding community, unlike the Hawaiians, stop short of violence.

With a swell rising, I paddle out with Wayan, Ketut, and their client for the day. Bob is from Canada and works in human resources for an oil company in Dubai. He is here on vacation with his two kids. Bob might have his own challenges in life, but today, getting waves is not one of them. When we first paddle out, the three of them all gravitate to the less crowded right, where two surfers are waiting at the peak. Wayan starts doing his thing, hustling the pack to the inside as Bob takes off on a bigger set. Soon, one guy starts reprimanding Wayan, waving his arms around in frustration. The guy takes the next wave in. “He was so stressed!” Wayan says when I ask him about the exchange. “Yeah” I say, “I bet he was”.



Surf guiding is one of the most controversial subjects in lineups all over Bali. A few of the island’s prominent guides and a number of local surfers declined to speak on the record for this story. In a sense, guiding is merely one outgrowth of the larger issue of unchecked development on the island. As many Balinese are cut out of the financial rewards that come with these changes to their home, some argue that local surfers are entitled to run such businesses to benefit from the influx of tourists to support themselves and their families. Still others say that surf guides, often charging between $50 to $100 60 per day for two successful sessions, give wealthier visiting surfers an unfair advantage over others who deserve equal access. If traditional surf etiquette has its flaws, guiding presents an imperfect solution to wave-hoarding by tourists and overcrowding.

I ask Ketut what he has learned from Wayan and he says, “You know, with Wayan we learn from each other. It doesn’t go just one way. Mostly we just share our experiences. That’s what’s most important to me about my job, good surfing experience, getting waves, and having fun.” Wayan and Ketut don’t abide by traditional surf etiquette, but they have created their own set of surf ethics in the lineup. Both of them say they only really block people who are already getting too many waves in the lineup. Ketut explains, “I actually feel less bad about blocking some greedy guy. A lot of greedy people want to take all the waves and blocking is a way I can help my customer get waves. I only use it when it’s difficult to get waves.”

Another Balinese surfer who has worked in the surf industry for years describes having mixed feelings about the business of guiding. On the one hand, “It’s all about money,” he says, adding, “For the Balinese, if you don’t know the guide, there could be a clash.

If the client drops in, Balinese surfers are going to be angry. The surf guide might say sorry or tell the client not to do it again. This happens a lot at crowded spots. But if you’re friends, you understand each other and it’s no problem.”

Wayan and Ketut often work together with other surf schools in the water. Wayan says, “With the locals we meet in the water, private guiding or private coaching, we respect each other. We’ll talk about how many people we each have and try to be fair and help each other.”

For all the different types of guiding going on, for people who should be able to get their own waves and for those who are still learning, somewhere on the island perfect waves are going unridden; Bali is bubbling over with empty waves for those who want to look. But for now Wayan and Ketut are content to make a local living working the crowd with that island smile. “Surf guiding is just a fact of life now” says Wayan, “with today’s crowded line-ups, everybody deserves a chance. It’s just not that complicated. Not for us locals, anyway”.

Photography by Dobby