Hainan Surf Blog

One of my buddies that runs a surf rental and tour service on the island had shown me a spot not too far to the east of us where there are a few spots that catch swell. One spot in particular is a right point break that peels heavily off a rocky reef and breaks for more than 200 yards along a shallow live reef. Termed by its discoverer as "Matoes" it is definitely in another class of wave from the spots up at Shimei Bay and Dadonghai, as it jacks up heavily from open water to a sizable triple-overhead at its peak, and throws heavy sections as it churns down the reef.

With Darci's parents visiting for Chinese New Years, I decided to show them what surfing looked like, and drove out through the countryside and through the small village that leads to the hidden break. After a short walk through a deteriorating demilitarized army base, I reached the break and suited up in my 4/3 wetsuit. Donning my booties, I climbed up to a jump-off point and timed a dive into a small set- careful to avoid the larger sets that would have tossed me about 5 feet down off the rock into a shallow tide pool.

The sets were coming in at about 7-8 feet, with clean faces and long shoulders. Still, with a 6'1" stick under me, I was under-gunned for the speed at which the waves were approaching (and I'm sure it didn't help that I'm not exactly in the best shape as I haven't surfed in about a month).

After attempting a few late-drops, and taking a few eye-opening wipeouts, I woke me up to the fact that this place was no cakewalk. I managed to race a few faces to the shoulder, but was still getting off on the wave a bit too late, and not very confident in approaching the peak.

I managed to sack up and paddle out to the main peak to wait for a decent sized wave, and when my chance came, pulled into a nice wedge- made the shoulder, and headed down the line for a solid 100 yards before failing to make a section and getting overtaken by the whitewash.

I was too tired to paddle all the way back out, and had the sense that Darci's parents wanted to head home, but very stoked on surfing a new spot, and I can't wait to see what this place has in store.