Lost At Sea In Mentawai: Surf Trips Gone Horribly Right

Featuring Big Wave Surfer Raquel Heckert | Images, Words & Video by Megan Costello

Beater Cars and Bad Weather

It was about 3pm when my turbulence-ridden spacecraft blasted into Sumatran airspace. I was on my way to Mentawai to shoot a surf charter with friend and big wave surfer Raquel Heckert. I lugged my gear filled bags to the curb as a small man came up to me. “English no, Indonesian yes,” he said.

He grabbed my bags and placed them in a vehicle that would only have passed inspection on Pluto. As we drove to my boat, the walls of the car fluttered in the afternoon breeze and the duct taped stick shift struggled to hold on for dear life.

The Crossing

We motored through a thunder and lightning storm. With no life vests on board, I spent the next 10 hours downing ginger tablets and hugging my swim fins.

Barrel-O-Clock

We make it to the land of perfect barrels, razor sharp reef and water snakes.

Day 1. Our dinghy nearly flips as the engine stalls and we drift like flotsam.

Day 2. Raquel gets barreled.

Day 5. Raquel gets cheese gratered at Hollow Trees.

Day 8. We see majestic island but are told we can’t go on it as there has just been a murder.

Day 10. Raquel gets lost in the blue dream machine. We think about staying forever.

Day 12. We head to port. The captain remembers there are too many people on the boat. 2 of us hide in the pirate hole.

We make it back to Sumatra. Our feet forget they’re on land with our minds still in the waves.

The life and death of a fantasy.

“Lost At Sea” Video