Surftime Magazine

“A Departure, the last professional sight of land, is always good, or at least good enough. For, even if the weather be thick, and the waves imposing, it does not matter much to a ship having all the open sea before her bows.” ― Joseph Conrad, The Mirror of the Sea

“Everyone had their own addiction problem. Everyone was hiding it. We all just turned into these closet-case, drug-addict monsters.” For us humans, the truth is often really tough to accept. Especially when that honesty requires a higher level of self-examination: when families have been destroyed or people have died due to reckless lifestyles. Bruce Irons’ quote, above, from the 2018 documentary, Andy Irons: Kissed by God, drips with tragic honesty, as he weaves his family’s story without pretense or bullshit, while interview cuts from surfing royalty corroborate his sordid tale. Remembering that Bruce narrated the documentary with that level of honesty unnerved me. After watching it again I almost wanted to tap out in the middle of it. It’s like a Greek tragedy, supported by a cast of gifted players. Only these players weren’t acting. They lived it in the most painful of ways. There is no blaming others in Bruce Irons’ narrative, as he blatantly states. No asking why there wa...

“Under water, time takes the shape of waves. I listen to the clash and the silence mingling beneath the surface. I end up looking at what the eye cannot see: the states of matter; the hidden folds of the wave; the ever-changing schemes of the sea.” -Ben Thouard- You can purchase Ben Thouard’s fine art book, Aqua Obscura and others at http://benthouard.com Photographer Ben Thouard’s

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 ...

Kya Heuer got beat up. It happened while she was paddling out into a heavy set at a harrowing Eastside wave that rarely, if ever, sees women in its line-up. But Kya is no ordinary woman. Trained literally since birth in the pounding, below sea level barrels of the Mentawai, (Kandui Lefts is in her front yard), Kya is a fearless surfer with a fine tuned ability in gaping eight foot barrels. But accidents do happen. And when she found herself driven face first into the reef that day on the Eastside, she came up with what could have been a life-changing wound on the side of her face. But, staying calm amid all the blood and the pain and the rescue from her friends, Kya and her cohort made it to the hospital and into a special plastic surgery theatre that, quite frankly, saved her considerable beauty. Immediately following surgery, we found Kya Heuer sitting up in her hospital bed in her normal clothes, with over one hundred stitches on the side of her face, sitting up as if what hap...

Sanur’s east side turned it on for Magic Shootout 2026, with nearly 80 athletes representing Boardrider clubs from across Bali charging solid 4–6ft swell at Pantai Segara. Hosted by Sanur Middle Coast, the contest ran in clean conditions with hollow takeoffs and longcarving walls down the reef. Barrels were on offer through the inside bowl, while steep sections invited committed snaps and well-timed aerial attempts across all divisions. In the Open Men, Raul Bormann claimed victory with a combination of deep tube riding and critical pocket turns. I Nyoman Mega Artana secured second, followed by Kadek Murtika in third and Kalani Ryan in fourth after a tightly contested final. The Open Women saw Jasmine Studer take top honors with powerful rail work and smart wave selection. Kailani Johnson finished runner-up, with Georgie-May Hicks in third andLune van Dijk in fourth. The Pro Junior division highlighted Bali’s rising talent, with Muhammad Satrio earning the win through explo...

“My name is Manu Miguelez and I was born in Asturias, a small region on the North West Coast of Spain. Since I can remember the ocean has always been my passion. This passion has made me travel around the world in the search of the best waves. My dream has come true. I now guide surfers on their quest for the best waves on this planet in the Mentawai. And then I have the privilege of immortalizing those magical moments”. FOR PHOTOGRAPHER MANU MIGUELEZ, VISION IS THE ART OF SEEING INVISIBLE POSSIBILITIES

“Larry Bertlemann’s obsession with image and commercialism put him on the wrong side of surfing purists in 1978. Always fashion conscious, instantly recognizable by his neatly tended Afro hairstyle, Bertlemann frequently surfed and skateboarded in color-coordinated outfits, and at one point took to the waves at Pipeline wearing a customized blue-and-red bell-bottom wetsuit. A pioneer in surf world corporate sponsorship, Bertlemann by the late ‘70s was plastering his boards with oversize stickers from Pepsi, United Airlines, and Toyota, and even adopted the Pepsi swirl emblem for his board’s design motif. “I get off on promoting things,” the easy-smiling eighth-grade dropout once said. “I keep my sponsors happy, and they keep me in business.”

Nostalgia is not a simple recall of facts but an emotional state tied to an idealized past, where emotion, not memory, is the key. It is a mix of positive and negative emotions. Joy from the memory, but sadness because it can’t be relived. The positive effect often prevails, but the yearning is always present. Nostalgia can act as an existential intervention, helping us find meaning in our lives by connecting our past, present, and future and inspiring a sense of self-continuity. Nostalgia can be a source of hope for change, strengthening us during difficult times and propelling us toward the future. While personal, nostalgia is also deeply social, fostering a sense of belonging and connection to others through shared experiences and cultural touchstones. This nostalgic emotion is frequently exploited by marketers to sell products, music, and other goods by tapping into a desire for a past era. But nostalgia can also be a force for positive change. But then again it can also be ...

Bingin 1985-2025 Rest In Peace In remembrance from when its people allowed her to became a surfer’s place.

It’s a meeting point of music, craft, and community. The name reflects a double meaning: from the English “second” and from the Balinese “seken” (meaning wholehearted). True to its name, Seken is built on second chances, genuine effort, and real hospitality. Behind Seken is a collective of creatives, bartenders, and music lovers who saw the need for a jazz-driven venue in Seminyak. At the helm of the bar program is Charles Richard, Founding Bartender and winner of Diageo World Class Indonesia 2025, who brings 20 years of experience to cocktails that are bold, soulful, and full of story. At Seken, cocktails move with a jazz rhythm, layered, unexpected, and built on rare spirits, local botanicals, and minimalist precision. Among the Signature Cocktails, highlights include the Salak Serenade (white rum, fermented salak purée, calamansi, mace, egg white), a tropical sour that spotlights Bali’s unique snake fruit; and the Late Night Riff (dark rum, Kintamani cold brew, dark crème de c...

Finals Day of the Bintang Liga Surfing Indonesia 2025 presented by Earth Island delivered a historic finish at Pererenan River Mouth, as clean morning conditions greeted athletes and spectators for the final showdown of Indonesia’s premier national surf series. With the swell easing and the tide lining up perfectly, competition kicked off at 9:00 AM on a single peak—setting the stage for an unforgettable day of surfing. The Masters Division opened the action, showcasing timeless style and experience from Indonesia’s veteran surfers. Cheers erupted from the local crowd as hometown favorite Made Aru (I Made Nuada) claimed the win with calm, precise surfing, securing the first-ever national title for Pererenan Surf Club. In the Junior Women’s Shortboard, tricky winds challenged the field, but Jasmine Studer (Legian Boardriders Club) rose above the pack. Her powerful backside surfing carried her through both the Semifinal and Final, earning her a well-deserved national crown. The Juni...

The Rip Curl GromSearch National Final 2025 returned with electrifying energy on Kuta Beach. Over two days of intense competition and high-performance surfing, Indonesia’s brightest young athletes battled fiercely for national titles and the chance of a lifetime. With the stakes higher than ever Rip Curl awarded the U-16 Boys and Girls champions an exclusive ticket to represent Indonesia at the prestigious International Final in France. This year, Aditya Somiya and Jasmine Studer claimed the national titles in the U-16 Boys and Girls divisions, securing their place to proudly carry the Indonesian flag at the Rip Curl GromSearch International Final 2025. “Rip Curl Indonesia is proud to support the next generation of Indonesian surfers, said Harrison Mann, Head of Marketing at Rip Curl. “This year’s National Final, celebrated talent, dedication, and the spirit of surfing.” The Rip Curl GromSearch International has proven to be a launching pad for surfing’s biggest names, two-third...

Uluwatu proved once again why it stands as one of the world’s most iconic surf arenas, as the 6th Annual Single Fin Classic turned the cliffs into a festival of surf, music, and community. Over the weekend, fans, surfers, and locals came together to celebrate the timeless spirit of surfing, with flawless waves and an electric atmosphere from start to finish. The energy kicked off with Friday’s opening ceremony before rolling straight into two days of non-stop action. From sunrise to sunset, the reef came alive with clean, powerful sets that tested both style and grit. Spectators lined the cliffs, cheering every drop, carve, and wipeout, while Single Fin’s decks became a hub of music, laughter, and stories shared between heats. The stoke carried through each moment, blending competition with the unmistakable laid-back vibe of Uluwatu. The highlight of the weekend, as always, was the surfing itself. The Masters division saw Joe De Santis claim the win with smooth, powerful lines, ...

By Rio Waida (The following is the entire narration transcript for PERTAMA, the new short film featuring the life of Rio Waida. After a number of popular premieres on the island, Surftime is honored to offer these heartfelt words from Rio in hopes that they will inspire the next generation). “I am Rio Waida. The first Indonesian surfer in history to make it to the world stage of professional competition surfing”. “I knew pro surfing. Would happen to me. My dreams were too powerful for it not to happen”. “I never dreamed that I would carry the Olympic flag for my country on the biggest athletic stage in the world”. “Entering the Olympic stadium. I felt like I was walking on a cloud. But I also felt the weight of Indonesia on my shoulders. And all I could think of was to stand up straight and try not to weep with pride”. “I know that I must carry the spirit of my past into the future. The spirit of my struggles, the spirit of my family, of my dreams, of my island, of my country....

Photography by Pete Frieden • Words by Michael Ciaramella What was the moment in your 2025 championship year where you felt the most doubt? Yago : I think it was at Pipe at the beginning of the year. I had all the preparation. I was feeling ready. And then going into that event, which is one I really like, I love surfing Pipe, the waves were terrible for my first few rounds and I ended up losing in the elimination round. It’s just tough to start like that after preparing so well and feeling so ready to start the season. It was bad, but I think it also set me up for the rest of the year in a weird way. What was the moment where you thought, “This is my year to become the best in the world”? Yago : I felt like that before the year even started. But during this season, I think it was after the Portugal win. I didn’t start the season that well in the past, but I’d have some really big results in the back half of the season. But to start the season with the win and a couple othe...

Photography by Pete Frieden World Champion Bronson Meidy is not listening. Not to anyone. Anyone that tells him what is possible and what is not. He is not quietly defining what is possible, he is screaming what is possible every time he paddles out. Has he turned the wipe-out into a maneuver? With his whiplash turns that start out unlikely, then progress to the misunderstood and then finish with the insane? Is it about not ever giving up on the maneuver, or is it about not giving up on oneself? Small wave performance is a vital to today’s surfing scene as any big wave antics. The greats are tuberiding as deep as it can go. So what is the new frontier? Limitless surfing in smaller waves? Remember, it’s the small wave maneuvers that find themselves eventually into the big stuff. Is what Bronson is doing at lightning speed going to find itself on the face of heavy water in the future? It feels inevitable. And what can be said is that Bronson is on to something here. He...

As told by Tai Buddha Graham • Photography by Harve There’s a particular kind of freedom that only comes from loading up a boat with a pile of boards, a few of your closest mates, and a loose plan built around tides, wind lines, and gut instinct. You step onboard, switch the world off (or try too), look at the horizon, and feel that little spark flick on inside your chest again. This trip was that spark, turned into a fire. THE IDEA WAS SIMPLE Take a hand-selected crew of friends who each know waves and equipment inside-out, take thirty-odd JS surfboards, jump aboard the infamous MV Bintang, and point the bow toward the Mentawai. Not to film a clip. Not to tick off a bucket list. But to ask a single question: What is the ultimate quiver for the Ments? SETTING SAIL The Bintang vessel is a beast. A big monohull sailing sloop with soul, history and enough character to fill a book. When she’s loaded with boards and pointing west, you can feel a sense of score certainty. Day one ...

Photography by Manu Miguelez and Pete Frieden Words by Matt George So far their lives have not been measured by clocks, but by the tides. Our free range youth of the Indonesian surf culture. But the thing is kids think they know better. And they don’t. Think they are in control. And they’re not. And they think they have all the time in the world. And they don’t. In reality, time has them. And the clock is ticking. And if they do not use the brief power of youth wisely, that ticking becomes the sound of a time bomb. It is one of the premiere issues of the free range children conundrum of the surfing scene in Bali. With perfect surf year round, rides to the beach from single mom’s since birth, new boards on tap, club contests every weekend, vague parental supervision and no real thought toward any formal education, paradise becomes a paradox. A situation that appears self-contradictory but may hold a deeper truth. The truth of what reality awaits these young surfers when they...

In honor of the 2025 Rip Curl Cup, Surftime asked Bali’s resident surfing artist Gene Kreyd for a spontaneous take on a surf spot he has been calling home for many years: “I’ve been surfing Padang since 1985. I first came to Bali to experience the Padang Padang tube and the Bali vibe. I met so many great lifelong friends surfing this wave. Having beers on the beach after the surf and watching the sunset. So many beautiful experiences. I was blessed to have so many amazing, mind-altering rides over the years. And even though I don’t surf as much like before, I am still in love with the Queen of the Coast. The world changed big time, and so has Bali, but “The song Remains The Same”. The Padang Padang magic is as strong as ever. Mystical, beautiful, and timeless. This sacred place will be in our hearts forever. I really enjoy the contests at Padang Padang and watching some of the world best tube riders get barreled. The 2025 event was unreal. Padang Padang generously offers the gifts...