When Peter Laing graduated from the London School of Economics recently, he did something a lot of people dream about doing: he sold everything he owned and pulled the trigger on a one-way flight to Indonesia. He hoped, of course, to catch the best wave of his life. Nothing on a surf trip is guaranteed. But when he got to Greenbush, he caught a single wave that he’ll remember forever.
Laing, a 21-year-old Scottish surfer, is a little more used to the chilly waters of his home country, but an open-ended trip to surfing’s promised land was an itch he had to scratch. It was during COVID times, so his trip was more akin to those exploratory days when Indonesia wasn’t a hyper-crowded surf destination — and that only made it more appealing.
“To be here amid lockdowns is an utter privilege,” he explained. “The recent lack of Bintang-fueled Canggu all-nighters has definitely been made up for with empty lineups and traffic-less roads. So far, this has been without a doubt, the trip of a lifetime.”
For the last month, Laing has been posted up on the Sibon Jaya, a 70-foot catamaran dedicated to putting charter guests into the best waves of their lives. And for Laing, that dedication paid off in spades. The charter captain told him that Greenbush, that perfect, thick-lipped hollow left in the southern Mentawais, was going to be the call in the morning.
“Hoping for the best, I set my alarm to be ready for first light,” Laing said. “With a mixture of nerves and excitement, I woke up an hour before my alarm went off and immediately checked the wave. Through the rain, I could see that the wind seemed promising but not much was coming through.”
It’s a long trip, though, and despite the fact that it didn’t initially seem to be as perfect as they might have expected, Laing and two others on the boat, Ryan and Evan, decided to take a leap of faith and hope for the best. Laing pulled out his 6’3″ Pyzel Ghost and paddled into the lineup.
“I sat in the water relatively clueless about positioning or how big the set would be,” he said. “It was very slow, which gave me time to think – something that can be a burden when surfing heavy waves. Your mind starts playing games and planting seeds of doubt. This time, I was so thrilled to be surfing the spot of my dreams that the only thing which echoed in my head was the few words of advice given to me by the boat’s co-owner, Icaro Ronchi: ‘just pull in.'”
After a long wait, Laing saw an indicator that a set was headed their way. There were only three of them in the water — a dream situation at a wave like Greenbush — but none of them were super familiar with the lineup or where to position themselves.
“Me, Ryan and Evan, still somewhat clueless, paddled deeper,” Laing remembered. “The first wave came, and Evan, who was farthest on the inside, went. I continued to paddle deeper, thinking the second wave would be bigger.”
As Laing paddled over the first wave, it was immediately clear that the wave behind it was indeed bigger. With Ronchi’s advice echoing in his head, he spun around and dug hard.
“The drop was tricky, and it took everything to engage my toe-side rail,” he said. “When it clicked into place, the wave had already thrown. It was so flawless I never even had to pump — just hold the line and try not to botch it in front of all the crew watching from the boat.”
It was a wave years in the making. Laing, who explained that he’d been inspired by a handful of Greenbush edits, most notably from Torren Martyn and Nic von Rupp, had been visualizing this moment for a long time. As he pulled in, his focus narrowed and everything slowed down.
“It was surreal to be inside a wave there,” he said. As is generally the case with barrels of any real consequence, the exit is never guaranteed. “As my questionable claim shows, I was fucking relieved to make it,” Laing continued.
After his wave, he decided to go back to the boat and have a beer. It was the best wave of his life, and he needed time to register what just happened. The rest of the boat paddled out, expecting more of the same. But, as the ocean is wont to do, the waves went flat.
For the rest of the morning, not another set came through. Luckily for Laing, the best wave of his life was caught on camera by Ricky Nomad, a photographer and tour-boat operator well-versed in capturing the best waves of traveling surfers’ lives.
“To summarize,” Laing finished, “I only surfed one wave at Greenbush… and it was the best moment of my life so far.”
