Donkey Patrol | Surfing Travel | Surf Resort | Kandui Mentawai Islands Indonesia | San Diego

The storm track has fired back up after a brief layoff and we had two decent storm move through the SW Indian Ocean and now we are expecting a stronger series of storms to move into the South/Central Indian Ocean and they should crank out some major surf. We will be calling for our first SW groundswell to kick in for Sunday with some head high to overhead surf and the late Sunday/Monday, July 7th, looks to bring a much stronger and well overhead SW groundswell with an even larger SW swell setting up to build in for late Monday and into Tuesday, July 8th. The long range models are showing more solid SW swell activity for later in that week.

Surfing History is being made, and it is happening right now. I have known about this for about a month or so but could not share it with all of you until now. I was unsure if the information was secret or not but some details of the trip have now been posted HERE.

3 world champions are at Kandui Resort right now as part of a photo trip for Transworld Surf. They will be departing from the mentawais resort 3 days prior to our arrival.

Kelly Slater – 8 World Titles (soon to be 9)
Andy Irons – 3 World Titles
Martin Potter – 1 World Title

Despite the media hype, Kelly and Andy are friendly with each other and it is apparent that AI has matured quite a bit compared to a few years back. I am actually stoked to be a fan of AI again, and I have been told he is like a new man. He and I did have a conflict at Lowers a few years back and I was so bummed because at the time he was one of my favorite surfers. Andy has finally learned how to be a true champion. Thanks AI, I’m glad to have you back.

Someone at Costco corporate must be a avid reader of www.donkeypatrol.com because today I received an email from them offering corporate sponsorship for our surfing trip to kandui resort in mentawais indonesia.

Basicly anything we don’t have for the trip: like digital cameras, video cameras, noise canceling headphones, PSP… Simply run on over to costco pick up what you need.I got a digital camera and a sony psp and as part of our sponsorship deal. We can buy anything we want that is electronic, take it on or trip, and return it within 90 days for a full refund.Thanks Costco, I sure will enjoy playing tiger woods golf at 40,000 ft over the indian ocean, and my friends and family will love the pictures I email them from my vacation. You are the best!!

So Im short on cash for our indo trip and have decided to sell some of my boards..

Ive got a nice 6′9 Spider, shaped by Ian Wright, great for big indo..

Also got another 6′9 Aftermath, shaped again by Ian Wright (has kind of a gay spray paint job my friend put on bottom)..

Finally, I got a NICE 6′6 Firewire, flexfire…

All boards are in MINT condition, I will give the donkeys first priority and a GREAT deal, make me an offer!!!

Get em before they end up on craigslist..

Ok, I have done this countless times so I wanted to share what I have learned with all of you. In advance, I do need to give credit to Stefan of www.ca2pr.com, who taught me some of the advanced techniques.

In my example I will be packing 4 surfboards.

What you will need:

1. Travel board bag (1) with 4 board capacity
2. Individual surfboard day bags (2)
3. Blue painters tape
4. Cardboard boxes (bubble wrap works too.. but is expensive, and free boxes work better)
5. Zip ties

Step #1
Clean all boards of wax and debris, apply fresh basecoat temp wax in advance if you want a quick strike after landing. Remember basecoat and tropical are the two hardest waxes so you can use tropical as a basecoat for colder temp waxes if basecoat wax is not available.

Step #2
Cut down the corner of the sidewall of the cardboard box, this will make it a long piece of cardboard now with flappy sides where the box used to piece together to form a square.

Step #3
Overlay the cardboard box on the nose of the board so that the nose is in the crease of the fold in the box and so that the box covers about 1ft of the nose on top and bottom. Use utility scissors and cut of the excess box that hangs out from the tapering of the board. You want some excess so that the top and bottom overlap but not too much. You can now tape the top and bottom of the box together creating a cardboard mold for the nose of your board.

Step #4
Do the same thing for the tail of your board but make sure the the entire fin box is protected.

Step #5
Tape the cardboard molds to your board using the BLUE painters tape. The reason you use the painters tape is because when you peel it off it does not leave any residue on the board that you will need to clean off. I lent a board to someone one time and they used duct tape and the board still has that crap all over it.

Step #6
Find a piece of cardboard maybe 1 ft wide and a few feet long and place it along the stringer of the board between your nose and tail molds. Now place your second board on top of board #1.

Step #7
Use left over cardboard boxes and pieces to make a rail wrap, again use the natural crease of the cardboard on the rail so the card board easily wraps around the rails of both boards. You do not need to individually rail wrap the boards, use 1 rail wrap to cover both boards. use painters tape again to tape in place.

Step #8
Slide surfboards into the day bag, you can add additional cardboard to the deck of the top board and the bottom of the bottom board if there is sufficient room in the day bag for added coverage. But generally airlines will snap a nose, ding a rail, or ding the tail/fin box area which we have already sufficiently protected. Keep in mind by using cardboard we are providing cushion for impact but also adding rigidity which specifically helps with the nose snaps. Bubble wrap does not provide rigidity. Zip the day bag shut (if you can) and zip tie the zippers together.

Step #9
Do the same with the other 2 boards as well and now you should have four well packed boards inside of two day bags (that also add protection). Having 2 boards in one day bag also minimizes risk when the airline wants to count your boards. When you open the big travel bag it only looks like you have two boards instead of four.

Step #10
Place the day bags inside the big coffin travel bag, add any other little stuff like trunks, rash guards and snorkel equipment and zip up the big bag. Again use a zip tie to seal the zippers shut. TSA likes the zip ties because they can cut them off if they need to get in your bag, and I use them as an excuse as why I don’t want to open my bag for the airline counter agent. I say “oh I zip tied this shut, and I don’t have anymore to zip it up or a knife to open it with, can you cut me a break on this one?”

Step #11
Land safe, unpack pristine boards, save your parts for the way home (another reason why bubble wrap sucks), and go surfing.

FCS / Future Fins
This how to is written with removable fin systems in mind. You would be hard pressed to fit two boards with glass ons into a day bag. It’s very important to not only remove your fins, but also to be sure to screw the fin screw back into the recess of the fin plug so that the the fin screws do not damage other boards in the bag.

This is going to be a list of things to remember for our trip. Please use the comment feature on the site (do not reply to the donkey email address) to add additional things to bring. Your suggestions are appreciated.

SURF

1. boards
2. leashes: 3 extra regular size 6ft , 2 big wave 8-9ft
3. tropical wax: figure 1 bar for every 2 days + initial wax job= 8bars
4. sunscreen : 8, 15, 30, 45 w/ zinc and some of that spray on stuff 2 cans
5. travel board bag + day bags
6. rashguards (tank-top, short sleeve, and long sleeve with high spf rating)
7. rash shorts (spandex surf shorts you wear under boardshorts)
8. fins and fin keys
9. wax comb
10. surf trunks – 5 pair
11. GU Gels – 1 case of 24: electrolyte replacement packet for pocket of trunks

PLANE

1. Passport (make 2 copies of your passport and your tickets, and put them in separate bags)
2. Travel insurance (again print a few copies)
3. ipod, battery backup as needed
4. headphones (noise canceling and regular)
5. PSP or other personal gaming device
6. playing cards or other group game
7. books, mags
8. Ambien or other sleeping aid

MISC.

1. T-shirts : a handfull
2. 2 pair of regular shorts
3. 2 pair of flip flops, 1 pair of shoes
4. Hat
5. Sunglasses (polarized)
6. Snorkel gear
7. Longsleeve linen shirt, light long pants (to wear at night, prevent mosquito bites)
8. Small medical kit with Liquid Bandage, super glue added (good for cuts, foot problems)
9. General medications: Cipro, Asprin, Swimmers Ear wash
10. Camera, video camera, batteries, chargers, tapes and storage
11. Protein powder – proven to speed recovery of muscles from extensive workouts
12. toiletries