Ghosts of epic ’97 Quiksilver Pro set to haunt upcoming G-Land contest, “For two weeks, Grajagan was soaked with waves ranging from ‘very good’ to ‘call the wife and kids, tell ‘em I ain’t coming home!'”

Derek Ho severed a tendon on a drainer, Slater toyed with 10-foot double-ups, Machado and Egan surfed one of the highest scoring heats ever.

If you follow my eponymous, sporadically intriguing surf nostalgia account @surfads on Instagram you would have seen a few recent posts celebrating the Quik G-Land ‘97 Pro.

That infamous, pre-internet jungle slam that cooked up one of the most memorable CT events of all time.

Up there with Bells in ‘81, Pipe in ‘95, Mexico in ‘05 or Fiji in 2012. An entire competition window blessed with primo swell at one of the best waves in the world. A draw sporting names like Tom Carroll, Vetea David, Martin Potter, Rob Machado, Mark Occhilupo, Rizal Tanjung, Matt Hoy, and eventual winner Luke Egan.

All documented by Dick Hoole, Don King and the brothers Carroll with a nineties Handycam.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by surfads (@surfads)

Fucken nuts.

Indonesia in 1997 was a wild time, man.

The county was smashed by the ‘97 Asian financial crisis. The political situation tidak bagus. After decades of autocratic rule the US-backed strongman President Suharto was finally coming undone. A swelling of democratic support not seen since the days of Sukarno had the country on a knife edge.

Set to that backdrop, it’s a miracle the comp even went ahead.

The current WSL and its abundance of caution wouldn’t go near that shit with a ten-foot selfie stick if it was going down today.

But, to quote surf journalism doyen Nick Carroll, this was a time when companies had cool ideas and sorta just did ‘em. Pre internet. Pre long-range forecast. No worries.

The Indian Ocean wasn’t paying any attention to domestik politik either. For two weeks, Grajagan was soaked with waves ranging from “very good” to “call the wife and kids, tell ‘em I ain’t coming home.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by surfads (@surfads)

Derek Ho severed his patellar tendon on a Speedies drainer before the comp even started. Slater toyed with ten-foot double-ups like it was two-foot Macaronis. Machado and Egan surfed one of the highest scoring heats of all time. Fourteen ten-point rides dropped across the comp in total.

Egan bulldozing the lot to take his maiden ‘CT win.

Watch these clips.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by surfads (@surfads)

Tell me how much tube riding technique has progressed in the last quarter century. How many of these surfers would hold a candle to the current crop.

Or still do, in Slater’s case.

The VHS released to surf shops worldwide later that year sold for $9.95 a pop, and instantly became a cult classic for those who got a hold of it. Easily in my top three movies of all time.

For a long time the film, only ever released on VHS, lay dormant.

In the ensuing years its legend only grew. But Quiksilver have recently digitised the movie and pulled together some of the primo clips you see here.

Dunno if it’s gonna be made publicly available but good on ‘em regardless.

We all know how the rest of the song goes.

Suharto finally fell in early ‘98 and the subsequent comp was canned by Quik (another story in itself).

The wave fell off the tour completely until its recent Covid-delayed resurrection.

So how’s the 2022 redux gonna compare?

The forecast for the comp window is looking promising, though as Swellnet points out, tidewise it’s been planned on the wrong side of the lunar cycle, and the wrong time of the day. Grajagan wants as much tide as you can get, preferable around early afternoon.

Most of the window falls on early morning, low new-moon highs.

But still, it’s hard to miss at G Land.

A new, leaner CT.

Plus Gabby.

Plus chicks.

It’s gonna be an instant classic, right? Right?