Balint Hambalko rarely misses a good day at Nias, so when he sends an email saying he has footage of the biggest day of the year at the iconic right hander, it’s worth an open. The catch here, of course, is that August isn’t exactly the slow season in Indonesia. At the same time, most eyes and ears in the region were focused on free surf warm-ups for the Rip Curl Cup Padang Padang. Padang delivered. And Nias really delivered.
“Eighteen-second period, straight south swell, high tide in the morning,” Hambilko described. “Very raw, almost out of control sets.”
“Almost out of the control” and Nias are an intriguing combination. So Hambilko aimed his camera at the lineup for a solid six hours and came away with a lot of footage from one of the wildest barrels at its best.
