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Surf and Spirits
Summary
The story of how surfing at G-Land, off the coast of Java, transformed Bobby Radiasa's life, and how he found both myth and magic in the waves there
Review
David McGillivray
In the late 1960s, Kuta, a seaside village in Bali, was home to young Bobby Radiasa whose mother told him about magic in the water. It seemed to be true as Bobby and his friends watched white foreigners who didn’t seem to be swimming. “We go wow! These people can fly!” says Bobby, now in his late 70s.
He was in fact watching American and Australian surfers cresting waves in what was to become G-Land, a celebrated surfers’ paradise. Bobby still runs a base in ancient Javanese forest that may have been the world’s first surf camp.
Rebecca Henschke, who until 2019 was the BBC’s Indonesia correspondent, heard about Bobby, who was happy to invite her into his world. This is the story of a boy who became a free spirit.
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