Isaac In Indo: “A Krui & A”

Up until June of this year, Isaac Dakin’s team surf trips for Cord had consisted primarily of getting a lift down to Porthleven with head shaper Markie Lascelles when a winter swell hits. It was quite the step-up then to jump on a team trip to Sumatra with Markie and Cord heavy-hitters Noah Lane and Conor Maguire, but as a lad who loves lefts and who already has a lot more Indo pedigree than most surfers under his belt, Isaac was an absolute asset on this trip and scored some great waves.

We recently sat down with Isaac to do a Q&A about his trip to Krui with Markie, Noah and Conor: A “Krui & A”

This was your first Cord team trip but not your first time in Indonesia. Can you tell us about your relationship with surfing in Indonesia?

I first started going to Bali with my family in 2011 or 2012, staying at Ulus, and then we went back most years until COVID. My first trip outside of Bali was to Java in 2018, to a lovely little right-hander. It's really cool to experience because of Dad's trips to the Banyaks in the 90s and stuff [Isaac’s dad Rab is one of the adventurous Aggie crew who pioneered the Banyaks through the 90s, returning winter after winter to dirt-bag it in pursuit of perfect barrels way off the beaten path] so it was pretty rad to experience something slightly similar - definitely not as hardcore as they did it but I think it was something he really wanted us to do.

Then I went on my first trip to Sumatra this year back in March, to an island just off the north of mainland Sumatra. That journey was hectic. Our flights got cancelled then substituted for like a 15-hour ferry, sleeping in the cabin next to the engine and stinking of oil!

I really love Indonesia. I feel really comfortable there now just because I've spent quite a bit of time there over the years. It's always daunting, surfing over the reefs there, because the water is always crystal clear compared to back home - just seeing the reef when you're taking off can be a little bit scary, but then it pushes you because I’m like, “well, I really don't want to fall off!” I’ve ended up getting some of the best waves of my life there.

Tell us about this team trip to Krui with Markie, Noah and Conor…

Going on a trip with these guys was incredible, really. All of them are so good and they all surf so differently so it pushed me the whole time because I just wanted to keep up with them!

Noah's been someone who I've really looked up to with his style and riding more alternative craft and twin fins. He’s inspired me to branch out from my shortboard slightly but like still keep that performance mindset that keeps things interesting. And then Conor obviously just charges so he's also always been a massive inspiration to me. Watching that crazy wave he got towed into at Mullaghmore was just incredible. That's pushed me to want to try and surf bigger waves and yeah, I hope I get to go over to Ireland this winter and maybe give some proper waves a crack.

And yeah, Markie… If there's any big days at home and you only see one person out, you already know who it's going to be – it’ll be Markie. He'll be packing the heaviest kegs at low tide Aggie and has probably had some of the best waves ever ridden there, which is super inspiring. The guy charges so hard.

Those guys were great the whole trip, really showing me a different perspective like how it's possible to take off later with different lines I could take that I wouldn’t even have thought to have taken. Where they sit and the way they read the waves is also super cool to see because those three are definitely heavy water specialists. They also absolutely schooled me at cards and on the pool table in the evenings!

How was the mission to get to Krui?

I didn't think it was too bad! It was my first proper team trip, so I was absolutely frothing to be there. I flew out to Bali and met Marky, and then the next morning we went and picked up Andy Potts our filmer and photographer. We all flew straight to Jakarta to meet Noah, but Connor had been delayed for a few hours. Once we’d all met up we departed to Bandar Lampung att he southern end of Sumatra. From there we had a six hour drive. We found a great nasi place to eat on the way but there were loads of fish or something jumping in a pond behind us and I was so delirious from all of the travel that I was freaking out.

Our good friend James Hendy [another of the original Aggie crew who used to work for Chops, who now lives on Bali] told us that one of us should stay up all night as some of the drivers can be a little bit sketchy, and Markie heard that there were tigers around so was pretty eager to be on the lookout. He stayed up for ages but never saw a tiger…

“I’ve got no idea why, but Markie loves those neck travelling pillows”

We arrived at Mandiri Beach Club pretty early on in the morning, about 2am, but when we woke up there were cooking waves straight out the front which was just incredible to see. I’ve never really stayed in a place that has got pumping waves a two minute walk from the place.

What boards did you take?

The first surfboard I put in my bag was a 6’1” Otter – 6’1” x 18 ½” and about 30 liters. That's my step up. It’s a lovely board with nice thinned out rails made for my small frame! I probably had the best way of my life on it. I was super frothing on that, and then a 6’0” Ark was the second board I packed, a super trusty shape that I’d had some great waves on over the winter at home.

Then I had my 5'8” shortboard, a standard high performance model that I can’t fault at all! I think it's something you've got to have it in your bag really for when the waves are perfect. And then finally, a little twinny that I've been working on with Markie this year. It’s designed for smaller waves back home but it just seems to excel in all waves, including when it's absolutely cranking, and it goes great on my backhand too which has surprised me a bit!

I've been running the new core prototype fins that Markie has been working on with Futures on all of the boards. They're great, nice and stiff with a nice stiff tip for driving off the bottom and a wide base so they hold super well.

After the trip to Krui I was going down to Bali and there was a huge swell on the forecast. My biggest board was the 6’1” Otter and I wasn’t sure if it was going to big enough but Conor really kindly stepped in and gave me a 6’6” of his and I got by far the biggest waves of my life on it. It was probably three times overhead at Ulu’s Outside Corner. The 6’6” was perfect for it – it felt like I was snowboarding, just gliding down the face on this board. I think it had been made for big PMPA in Ireland but it was just perfect at Ulus. Thank you so much, Conor, for lending me a board, fins, leash – everything! I’m forever grateful for that.

Have you been there or to that area before? Can you tell us about that zone for any surfer who’s not familiar with it – what are the different waves and what are they like?

I’d never been to Krui before, although I’d been to Sumatra a couple of times. There are some more mellow waves around there but they get pretty busy, and the rest of the waves are not very user-friendly at all - they’ve either got a really difficult entry point across the reef to get into the line-up, or they’re super slabby and pretty scary. We ended up surfing those spots and they were definitely the scariest waves I’ve surfed in Indo, for sure. The crowd factor at those scary waves is super mellow, though. Other than us there was just a handful of Australian bodyboarders who were charging them.

Did you guys have a daily routine to maximise surf, or was every day different?

We didn’t really have a set routine. We probably got up at about 6ish most mornings. The beach break straight out in front was a super sick wave. It was normally a bit out of control but that was a good spot to gauge what the swell was doing, and depending on that we’d either shoot up the coast to somewhere like Jimmy’s, or we’d go into the Krui Bay, or we’d head a bit further down south.

We were surfing two or three times every day. The heat’s pretty intense. But the meals and service at the Mandiri Beach Club was perfect and really accommodating, which allowed us to just surf our brains out.

What was your favourite session of the trip, and why?

That’s quite a difficult question! All of the sessions were super sick but there were one or two that stick out the most. We had a really good afternoon session up at Honey Smacks. We just rolled the dice and thought maybe the wind would hold off and play ball, and it did. We had solid six foot Honey Smacks with just the four of us out trading kegs, which was super fun. Then the Billabong crew turned up and they just waited on the beach and gave us some time out there by ourselves, which was super rad. I think that’s where we all had our best waves of the trip.

Then The Point, for me, was a really memorable session.  The swell was picking up and it was packed. Some proper sets started coming through and the crowd really thinned out. There were endless long left hand walls. I probably surfed for about three hours with just a handful of guys out. We got out and the boys decided to go and check another spot, but myself and Andy our photographer stayed behind and I had flawless 5-6ft Point with only a couple of other guys out, just before dark. That was really cool to experience. You don’t get those moments very often any more, and it was sick to have Andy capture that session on the drone.

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