Waves don’t get better than this. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
If you’re going to rob a bank, you should always hit the vault. There’s more risk, yeah, but a hell of a lot more of a reward. That’s likely why Bank Vaults is named Bank Vaults, and on May 28, it was about as good as it can get. Hell, it was about as good as any wave can get.
“Good” in surfing is a bit subjective. My ideal wave might not be yours. You might prefer a punchy beachbreak while I like a long point. You might prefer a left over a right. You might prefer a wave so big it can kill you, while I like my waves just big enough to give me a bit of a quickened heartbeat. But I think we can all safely agree that the waves during this session at Bank Vaults were, well… they were perfect.
The reef that the wave trips over there in the Mentawai Islands is a steep one. It rises up from the open ocean to trip up the incoming swell, producing a thick, heavy tube. It’s not flat all that often, either, but when it really shines is when those bigger, long-period swells are tracking towards it.
Like most good barrels, Bank Vaults doles out a steep take off over an almost-dry slab of coral reef. If you make the drop, you’re basically in the right spot for one of the best barrels of your life — if you make the drop.
