Grajagan Bay, better known as G-Land, in East Java has been in the news of late for its addition to the 2020 World Surf League Championship Tour schedule. It enjoyed a brief two year run on tour in the 1990s, changing the entire concept of what professional surfing could be, ushering in the era of the Dream Tour. Whereas previously (in those pre-internet days) the sport was concerned with getting asses in the sand to watch the top pros, the 1995 Quiksilver Pro G-Land changed everything. Only a handful of spectators watched as the world’s best surfers competed on what is by all accounts one of the world’s best waves. And we can thank Grajagan Bay for turning the tide toward the WSL’s oft-touted mantra, “Best surfers, best waves.”
But one year prior to the inaugural Quiksilver Pro G-Land, East Java was devastated by a tsunami caused by a 7.2 magnitude quake deep in the Java Trench.
Traveling surfers, including former Championship Tour surfer Rob Bain, were among those who woke up in the wee hours of the morning pinned by the weight of shelters that had collapsed on them, only to realize they were underwater.
“Something just took over, it was this incredible fight to survive,” remembers Bain who survived along with those who were on the trip with him.
All told, the tsunami killed over 200 people.
Now, 25 years after that day, Bain has returned to G-Land with his son Billy to revisit, face the trauma head on, and reconnect with the wave and the people.
