“Uluwatu is horrendous. Instructors taking over and pushing low level surfers that are struggling to paddle let alone catch a wave.”
A surf spot that shone brightly in the nineties before dimming slightly is Cloud 9, a shallow righthander and short left on the Philippine island of Siargao.
Longtime followers of the surf game will remember when John Callahan, now a BeachGrit habitué, took Taylor Knox and Evan Slater there for a Surfer magazine spread in 19992, the hitherto unknown wave, threading the empty barrels under Hollywood blue skies and a grapefruit sun.
Difficult place to get to, plane ride to Manila, to Cebu, to Surigao City, then a boat to Siargao and, specifically, General Luna. And if you ain’t there when a typhoon is doing its thing, and you’ll only get ‘em September through March, it’ll be flat.
Think New Jersey. When it’s on it’s on, dozens of spots turning on. When it’s off, well, read a book, examine navel, stare at telephone.
But, like everywhere else that’s been in a magazine Cloud 9 soon turned into something very different to what John, Taylor and Ev enjoyed.
These days it has become quite a home for the northern hemisphere kook. And, it has gotten so bad, a local photographer called Bryan Waverider has announced a ban on beginner surf lessons there and a rule that surfboards are not to be rented to kooks unless under the watchful eye of a master surfer.
“With the new local government in place and the emergence of dedicated surf leaders within our community, it is time we uphold a higher standard of professional surfing – one grounded in respect, discipline, and genuine value for our home, Siargao,” Bryan Waverider, which may or may not be his birth name, writes. “Together, let’s protect the spirit of surfing and ensure it reflects the pride and professionalism our island deserves.”
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Obvs, the comments lit up, universally in favour of the ban.
INSTRUCTORS PLEASE NOTE: if your students can’t paddle and catch their own waves and need to be pushed they should NOT be surfing more advanced locations like Cloud 9. Uluwatu in Bali is horrendous for this. Instructors taking over the line up, pushing low level surfers that are struggling to paddle let alone catch a wave. This scenario takes away everything that makes these locations so special when you finally do become good enough to surf them. If they can actually paddle and catch their own waves by all means guide and coach them through the process so they can become better and more efficient surfers. If they can’t choose a location out of harms way to dial in their wave entry skills before progressing. Believe me they’ll appreciate your coaching a lot more in the long run
I was burned several times by kooks pushed by their “instructors” while going from the peak and entering racetracks in that between section which is “softer”!
I understand that people want to surf cloud9, uluwatu, imsouane… welp I also want to surf teahupoo and green bush and I can’t… or I want to play the champions league final and I can’t that too.. it’s life!
It might be helpful to assign a senior instructor at every surf spot to oversee and check the licenses of those who are teaching. it’s important that only legitimate and qualified instructors are allowed to teach students.
there are cases where some people pretend to be instructors, but they can’t even catch their own waves properly yet they are already teaching others. this could affect the quality and safety of the learning experience for beginners, and also harm the reputation of our surf community.
If youre a grown man and youre getting pushed into waves you need to take a long hard look at your life.
I think more the merrier, share the stoke and so on. You?
i thought it was over hyped aswell, some guy on drugs babbling
replied to one of your deleted posts….but here it is anyway………..
OK so a Japanese guy says you have no honor because he pays the locals to help him surf.It’s part of a local economy where the Indos actually make $’s for going surfing……so he is part of a business that helps the Indo’s!
As far as rock bottom surfing culture……really it’s their culture now, the Indo’s are trying to make a living off surfing , so that’s their call….not trying to impose an Australian cultur on them.
As for the Japanese, well their surfing culture is completely different again, very localized , and really strict on who can surf where…but it’s all about being invited to a spot, especially the the rivermouths……respect their culture!
That’s not the original movie. That’s been edited by Martin. Oblowitz version was much more salacious.
I’m tryna work out how a foreigner photographer has the right/ability/balls/power to make this call? Like, in simple English, who the fuck is he in the Cloud 9 hierarchy? In the last Insta post in Dez’s article above, he says, “The future looks bright. Thank you @sisa.siargao.” Checked out the @sisa.siargao page and they haven’t posted anything about it. Fuck, they haven’t posted anything since 2022!
Would love to do it myself. Lived in Japan 20 years, my local spot down south here 16 years. I can imagine splashing the same kinda message all over Insta. All the surf schools and locals would laugh and tell me, “yeah, nah, Stanislav. You don’t make the rules champ.” I bet they’d give me a “champ” too. Maybe even a “pal”.
Tangential question. Can a foreigner ever become a “local” that can tell others to fuck off?
Lash clone was the best!
Its just aquatic yoga. Discovered that when I went to Costa Rica a few years ago. Post COVID it’s spread to Australia and the van life crowd.
good thing is they don’t know how to surf nor how to get the set waves so their main problem is just getting in the way. Noosa and Byron must suck though.
Awesome now ulus will be completely empty !
Yep they will be all spread out between main breakwater n southsides for you to enjoy SF
Already like that , from October to may
Thank fuck for terrible weather
More the merrier? No!! Beginners need to go to the beginner beach, EOS.
Went surfing in San Diego recently and it felt like Apocalypse Now.
Couldn’t believe all the kooks/ beginners when I got to Barra. And La Punta in Puerto? Shit show. I could throw Malibu in there but it’s been a shit show since the beginning of time so kinda par for the course.
Must be weird as fuck finally getting to a Mexican, paradise, point break only to find dozens and dozens of beginners ….on top of the likely hundreds of local rippers. That would break my heart.
Had a buddy get to Nicaragua for a week a few years ago. He said that it was 5-6 days of fun lineups and on his last day a group of a dozen spongers arrived at the break. If my day 1 at a break had a dozen spongers fighting on a peak I would never leave home for a recognised surf destination again. He got lucky as fuck to get a week without them.
Cloud 9-ball…
Good. This should be standard operating procedure. Beginners should be sent to beginner waves until you can make 19/20 drop ins.
Just a side note here: (we’ve all heard)
“A subsequent smuggling misadventure in French Caledonia eventually saw Boyum do 4 years in jail in Noumea, as told in Sea of Darkness.
Following his release, Boyum is said to have been laying low in Bali, thinking of his next move, when he met two surfers, Steve Jones and Tony Arroza, who’d been the first surf explorers to Siargao in the early 80’s.
Some reports state that Jones & Arroza called the reef at Tuason Point, now known as Cloud 9, ‘Jacking Horse’ although such claims are disputed elsewhere.
Whatever they didn’t or didn’t call it, they imparted enough information to inspire Boyum.
In December ’88 an American traveller called Max Walker arrived at
the Siargao town of General Luna carrying a battered surfboard, asking the local mayor permission to camp at the deserted Tuason Point, some 3km away. According to excerpts from his diaries, later published in The Surfer’s Journal, after spending a few months meditating and following a macrobiotic diet,
Walker embarked on a 40 day cleansing fast from his hut on the beach overlooking the wave.While subsequent rumours flew about that Boyum had in fact faked his own death, or that the Maui mafia (from whom he reportedly stole a million dollars) had caught up with him, locals can still point to the spot where Boyum’s unmarked grave lies, just a few hundred yards from what is now a bustling international surf destination.”
just yet ‘another’ small interesting story in surfing’s multifaceted past (outside of the law) etc
PS
anybody know where I can get an original bootlegged “Sea of Darkness” vid?
They don’t exist unless you have an in with MD.
there’s quite a lot more to the boyum story…..or as he was known in Bali in 72…Mushroom Mike……bad habit and also he ratted on some good people….and was not the first to surf or see G-land….spent a few weeks with him in 73 as we were the only 2 surfers on the island…….took a heap of mushrooms one day at Ulu’s…got really big…mike went in and I said,”ah I ‘ll paddle home back to kuta”…took all day but got there and mike no-where to be seen….
Shrooms back in the day were more beef Wellington than green smoothie
actually mike made smoothies in a blender that were blue with lemon…..poor old wellington wanted to beef?
We know so much about Mike Boyum because he was a very bad drug smuggler – completely inept, caught many times, convicted and imprisoned. We don’t know anything about the people who were good at it, who have been enjoying nice lives for decades in Bali, Hawaii, Peru, Brasil, Uruguay and elsewhere.
While Mike may have seen the wave later known as Cloud 9 breaking, it is not documented if he he ever surfed there, as it IS documented that he did not have any surfboards with him when he arrived on Siargao in January of 1989 under the nom de guerre of “Max Walker” and it is very unlikely there were any surfboards on Siargao Island at that time.
No, Tony and Steve were not the first surfers to travel to Siargao to look for waves – Steve, the US Navy kid from Subic, who advised Francis Ford Coppola to go to Baler for waves to film for Apocalypse Now in 1976, travelled to Siargao to surf in 1978.
Tony Arruza and Steve Jones never went north of Tuason Point as they had no swell – was dead flat, so they never went to nor did they surf at the wave I named “Cloud 9” after our first trip to Siargao in 1992.
If you want to know the “Original Cloud 9” story, there is a big chapter on The Philippines in my new book, surfEXPLORE: Discovering New Surfing Locations Worldwide, out at the end of September from Schiffer Publishing.
maybe you don’t know the people around Boyum who were good at it….but there are still quite a few who do.
The Brotherhood of eternal light….ring a bell??? Well Bali was where they were avoiding their 7 year indictment’s…in the early 70’s…Mike was an underling but knew a lot……he did rat on a few people…..
as for cloud 9….who really cares about who named it…Mikes story is a shit load more interesting, did he or didn’t he surf…..wouldn’t the locals know???
The fact is – I named it “Cloud 9” – you didn’t.
The whole story of “Original Cloud 9” is in my new book – have you pre-ordered your copy, so when you comment about these things, you can do so accurately?
Yes, we know all about the Brotherhood – many people died, many others went to prison, some are still around today. Johnny Gale was a good businessman, if he was in a legitimate business, he would have done very well.
Mike Boyum’s story isn’t particularly interesting – just some haole drug dealer, out of prison and on the run from the Maui mafia who wanted to kill him.
Little is known of his brief time on Siargao as he was out at Tuason Point; which at the time, was quite remote and not used for anything other than copra production. There was no road to the beach in 1989, we did all our transportation by boat.
There were no locals surfing on Siargao Island at all on our first trip in 1992 – we would have met them, if there were.
AAagh I think I was there 91 and it was cloud 9 then. The booze does reak havoc with my memory…but pretty sure.
No chance – our feature in SURFER Magazine was published at the end of 1992 with the magazine cover date of March, 1993
Better lay off the booze and the weed, mate – it’s affecting your cognitive abilites.
That 2nd paragraph is correct. But that’s all I’m giving ya
who the fuck cares about the naming of a surf spot…..as you have already said , there were other surfers before you….did you actually surf out there?
No you don’t know all about the brotherhood……..especially the affect they had on Bali…..
Mikes story not interesting……FFS JSC……surfed travelled pioneered , dealt/smuggled burnt people…G -Land anyone…..and it wasn’t the Mauii mafia….who were they do you know?
but did the local people interact with Mike?
Hmmmmm – interesting.
Telling other people what they know and what they don’t know – ha ha.
Take up reading as a hobby, rather than talking bullshit with bullshitters –
I already said – Mike was out at Tuason Point, which was quite remote at the time. So no, other than the General Luna former Mayor Jaime Rusillon, not much contact with locals.
No one has ever confirmed seeing Boyum with a surfboard or surfing on Siargao – and no, just another dope dealer on the run from people who want to kill him for another stupid thing he has done is not very inateresting.
On the other hand, the story of “Original Cloud 9” as recounted in my new book, surfEXPLORE: Discovering New Surfing Locations Worldwide is very interesting indeed – you can pre-order your copy on Amazon now
If you knew anything at all about Siargao, you would know the basic facts, which clearly you don’t –
you weren’t there I was….so you don’t know the full story….it’s so funny in all the years working in surfing I had never heard of you until BG….
that’s why I wonder who what and where you came from and I am interested as I feel I missed something….so who confirmed Mike was at Tuason pt?
just another dope dealer oh FFS really…..do you have any idea what went on in the 60’s/70’s/80’s…..do you even know how movies were financed , surf co’s etc…….
For you Cloud 9 is interesting , because you named it …other than that……just another surf spot in the tropics……it’s a bit like being interested in who invented the pintail…..??……..who cares
siarago …Ok waht about drouyns island in the Philippines?
“I had never heard of you until BG….”
That’s on you, not me. I don’t hang around Australian car parks, talking bullshit with derelicts – you seem very reliant on oral history rather than written history for your “knowledge”, most of which is rubbish.
I have not published as much in Australia as in the US or Japan, but there has been plenty in SW and ASL –
I have had an entry in Warshaw’s Encyclopaedia of Surfing for years –
“so who confirmed Mike was at Tuason pt?” Mayor Russilon, for one – Max/Mike had a fellow bringing him food every few days, but other than that, Mike stayed out of town.
No one on Siargao knew his name was actually Mike Boyum, everyone knew him as “Max Walker” as obviously, he wanted to lie low. They only learned his real name after he died, as his USA passport was in a bin liner buried under the house, along with traveller’s cheques, airline receipts in the name “Michael John Boyum” etc.
“Ok waht about drouyns island in the Philippines?” Badoc Island was a hype job from the beginning – this is Peter Drouyn, FFS. A decent left and right off the ends of the island, but hardly a world class wave.
The south China Sea doesn’t get that much swell and once their airplane crashed after takeoff from Manila with several surfers on board, the resort was doomed. They closed after receiving threats from local Ilocano gangsters, who shot up their van after a supply run from Laoag City – no one was hurt but it was a message to start paying, or else.
The resort was on the mainland – anyone can go out to Badoc Island and surf now, some locals and visitors do – easy to get a banca boat for the day.
I can feel your hate for elders…….I actually read 4- 5 hrs everyday……I love my history especially biblical………so my knowledge is rubbish…fair enough…….it feels like a compliment coming from you….as for your publishing I very rarely read or watch surf stuff as it’s usually a bit vanilla for me…and good onya for being in matts encyclopedia……
My question about Mike surfing at Siaragao….did anyone ask the mayor if they saw a surfboard?
Good to see the locals standing up for themselves and taxing the white man………yeah petey was a bit ahead of his time…great fiery bloke, very creative mind……but from what i have seen…Philipines looks like a great small wave haven…..and well done naming the spot…..
I think you would have a more productive discussion with a lump of coal at least a lump of coal doesnt have an ego to get in the way of said productivity of conversation
“this once noble sport has been turned into a big soggy cartoon”.
tbk
Did you really have to give Cunty Callahan some sort of segue into telling us how great he is and that he named the place? Such a narcissistic piece of shit. He didn’t “discover” the place but he named it? Just fuck off Cunty. SurfExploitation coming to you soon. Hopefully somebody gives him some severe slaps at one of the places he decides to exploit.
JSC even had the temerity to post below.
Guess he’s one of those ‘closet’ BG fans…..
Ps
true true
according to ancient surf-lore, the person first discovering or riding a break has rights to name it —and that was NOT Callahan…..
Callahan doesnt surf, he just exploits the abilities of others to pump his own ego.
Cloud 9 was known before 1992. My mate went there late 80s.
That’s what they all say – but when you aske them for documentation, like photos, receipts, ect. they don’t have anything.
Why so defensive? Even the wiki says it was surfed in the 80s).
Sounds like that time the surfing mag made a fake name for a spot near me. Called it “Easter reef” even though it had been surfed (long) before under a different name. Next minute all the guys coming to Victoria are calling it by the wrong name.
I can’t tell you how many people have told me “I was surfing at Cloud 9 years before you went there!
When you asked them for documentation, like images or receipts, some evidence to support their assertions, they never have anyting, brah –
Why do you even care if they have receipts or not. You didn’t discover the wave. You and Ben Marcus should hang out.
I ask for images and receipts because it is inappropriate to make claims if you cannot prove your assertions.
I do not make claims I cannot prove –
Do you claim to have discovered the break now known as Cloud 9?
I do not and I never have – we were not aware there was a wave in this area before our first trip. We found the wave motoring around in the boat, after Evan and Taylor said they were bored going left and we should pull the anchor and “look around for a right” –
There was no one surfing on Siargao on our first trip except us and two surfers from Australia, Kevin Davidson and Dave Motbey, with whom we shared a boat to Tuason Point for a few sessions. No local surfers at all, or we would have met them.
We never saw anyone surfing at Cloud 9 – there was no road to the beach then, no one went out there for any reason other than to harvest coconuts for copra.
We only learned later that the partially collapsed nipa hut on the beach in front of Cloud 9 belonged to “Max Walker”, Mike Boyum’s nom de guerre and that it was a known wave.
The entire “Original Cloud 9” story is a big chapter in my new book surfEXPLORE: Discovering New Surfing Locations Worldwide, scheduled for release at the end of September!
How do you get “burned” by a fucken kook? Have some respect for yourself and run them the fuck over. But only outside US, don’t want no litigation or criminal charges!
I almost agreed with you. But on an outer reef you may kill someone if you injure them bad enough and they can’t get to appropriate medical care. Wouldn’t want that on my mind just because I got angry at a beginner kook.
what beginner kook is at an outer reef
According to this article? Lots of them. Entire surf schools of them.
too true!
Perfectly reasonable – Cloud 9 is NOT a beginner spot and there are other waves in the area more suitable for surf lessons.
We didn’t have any crowd issues on our first trip to Siargao in 1992, when I named the wave “Cloud 9”, because there was never anyone surfing, but times have changed and everyone wants a piece of the action.
Tell your instructor you want to learn the ropes at easier spots BEFORE you try to paddle out at Cloud 9, where you will just be getting in the way of better surfers and potentially hurting yourself or someone else –
Sure seems reasonable.
Nothing reasonable cums out of Cunty Callahan.
Just playing good ol devils advocate here for a moment – you don’t splash out (or save for months on end) a few thousand bucks to go surf ‘the crappy wave next to cloud 9’. Fuck other surfers. You paid for cloud 9, so you reserve the right to get a picture taken at the spot, with the right location pin.
If is not on social media, it didn’t happen.
Old mate John Semen Cunt g’day! Aren’t you in the business of blowing places out and bringing the masses in!? Anyway I hope you like it here and get some rad bumfingering tips, or maybe you can show us a thing or two!
Xox
An undisclosed bum-fingering location!
I thought the ear hole was a myth?
He is such a bumhole fingering cunt. I wish Negs would ban him and his self promoting bullshit but that ain’t Matty’s style, better to just keep trolling the cunty cuntface.
Japanese paying local Balinese to block for them and fight everyone in the line up. It is an ethical dilemma. Balinese guides need to make a living but they are massive cunts to everyone in the water (except the guided surfers who they laugh and carry on like school girls). And the Japanese I thought you were people of honour? Who needs personal security to catch a wave? But perhaps the guided experience is the way to go.
The dudes with hats and Gopro’s getting pushed into set waves at Bingin you need to have a look at yourself. Mind you I doubt they are reading Beach Grit so what is the point.
What’s worse? The wave pool kook that bought their waves with absolute zero ocean knowledge or the ability to even duck dive?
Actually, thats a better option for the VAL than lineups full of people.
Look all I am really saying is that this new guard never surfed out of the way places ripping cones while on the dole and avoiding hierarchy to develop basic skills and it really shows.
Xox
I was so jealous of all the dole bludgers in Indo. While we were doing visa runs to Malaysia/KL, Singapore, Thailand, WA or anywhere else cheap to fly to, they just jumped back home real quick to sign some stuff and return to Indo, all while getting paid to do so.
Edit: the billy’s made of a coke bottle, papaya stem, and cone rolled from a semi-circle cut from an aluminium can were epic as well.
The papaya bong was epic!
Xox
I got paid for signing a mates dole diary who lived in indo in weed while I was travelling around Oz, all the while I was signing my own diary while on holidays visiting the east coast, snow fields etc. Arrg the good old days.
the more the merrier etc.
Came home from essentially a bong smoking tour of the east coast as it was the worst run ever seen and sheepishly lodged my form, next 4k cheque clears in my account and I’m off again haha, my days.
Xox
I did see grown men on shortboards
Getting pushed into 3 foot ulus when I was there last. Russians, man.
Oh you are mistaken, these are overgrown babies. Common mistake though.
Xox