In 1974, Indonesia was a vastly different place. It had not been discovered by the surf world yet, and the tourism industry had not yet taken hold. It was pristine—a paradise untouched by the grasping fingers of Western society. “We discovered the biggest candy store for surf there could ever be,” Gerry Lopez said. “We were completely and utterly just blown away by not only the quality but the consistency of the surf and the lack of people.”
In 1975, Lopez was joined by Rory Russell to make a film. The surfing world was just beginning to sit up and take notice of Indonesia, but it had yet to turn into the zoo it can sometimes be now. The footage above comes from Chasing The Lotus, a film that every surfer on earth needs to watch. “The surf was there every day,” Lopez remembered. “It was perfect. There was no one around… it was like a dream.”
