A long, playful right-hand reef point in the Playgrounds that switches on when the heavier North Mentawai reefs go flat.
Burgerworld is a right-hand, point-style reef break in the Playgrounds, the cluster of waves at the northern end of the Mentawai chain. It peels off the end of a small palm-covered island, with a left called McDonalds breaking off the other side of that same island. The name describes exactly what the wave does when it gets too much swell: the wall fattens, the sections join up and the whole thing burgers out.
Its reputation is straightforward. Burgers is where you go when the forecast drops and the heavy reefs nearby have gone quiet. Rifles and Bank Vaults want real swell before they are worth the trip; this one wants the opposite. On a small, clean day it runs down the coral with long open faces while much of the region sits flat. It is also one of the prettiest lineups in the north.
The wave
The take-off is the sharpest part of it. On a good day it comes in steep at the top of the reef and will throw a short hood before opening out. From there it behaves like a point, the wall running down the coral for a hundred metres and more on the better sets, long enough that the paddle back is part of the deal.
What sits in between is an open face made for turns. This is a cutback wave more than a barrel wave, with two or three distinct sections that let you set up, hit the lip and reconnect. There is a quicker bit down near the rocks that will stand up and offer a cover-up on a lower tide, but nobody comes here hunting tubes.
Size and tide change it more than anything. Waist to head high is close to ideal and a foot overhead is still very good. Past that it burgers, the wall goes soft and the sections run away from you. The lower half of the tide generally sharpens it up, while a full high can take the edge off and leave it drifting. Dead low over the shallow inside is when the coral starts to matter.
Conditions at a glance
- Wave type: Right-hand point-style reef break
- Best swell: South-west through west swell, small to moderate. Long-range lines with period in them beat raw size.
- Best wind: West through north-west. Anything with west in it cleans the wall up.
- Best tide: Rideable across most of the tide, sharper through the lower half. Care at dead low over the inside reef.
- Best size: Waist high to a foot overhead. Head high is the sweet spot. Much more and it burgers out and goes fat.
- Season: Works year round. April to October is the main Mentawai season, but Burgers is at its best on the smaller days inside it and through the shoulders.
- Crowd: Usually mellow, with very little localism, and on a quiet week you can have it close to empty. The catch is that it is everyone's small-day option, so when the heavier North Mentawai reefs shut down the whole area tends to arrive at once.
- Where: Playgrounds area, North Mentawai
Who it suits
This is one of the more welcoming waves in the northern Mentawai. A confident intermediate who can paddle into a moving wall and make the first section will get a lot out of it. The face is forgiving, the reef is gentler than the slabs around it and the lineup is usually mellow with little localism. Extra volume pays here too: fish, funboards and fuller shortboards will all get you more waves on the small days.
Be honest with yourself all the same. It is still a coral reef in a remote place, boat access only and a long way from help. The inside gets shallow at lower tides, and reef cuts go septic fast in warm water, so treat everything properly. Genuine beginners should be learning with sand under them, not here. In peak season expect company as well, because when the rest of the north goes small this is where everyone ends up.
How to surf Burgerworld with WaveBorn
Burgerworld is boat access only, and both of our charters reach it. Ombak Kabau is our live-aboard, up to 10 guests across 11 nights and 10 surf days, roaming the entire Mentawai chain and following whatever the swell is doing. Odyssey Mentawai is our 46ft catamaran, up to 8 guests, with a surf pro on board who knows which Playgrounds reefs will be worth the tide on a given morning. Odyssey Mentawai also pushes north into the quieter Tello Islands when the conditions suit.
In practice you surf this one on a call, not a schedule. The skippers watch the charts and slot Burgers into the smaller mornings, sometimes between bigger days on the heavier reefs, sometimes as a long glassy afternoon when there is west in the wind. Our villa and our Krui camp are too far away to reach it, so if the Playgrounds are high on your list, the charters are the way in.
Trips that reach it: Ombak Kabau and Odyssey Mentawai .
Nearby breaks
Burgerworld sits within easy reach of McDonalds, Pitstops, Nipussi and Bank Vaults , which is what makes this part of the archipelago so productive: if the wind or swell does not suit one reef, another is usually working a short ride away.
More breaks in North Mentawai
- Rifles : A machine-like right that runs for hundreds of metres and is widely rated one of the best on earth.
- Kandui : A hollow, mechanical left in the northern Playgrounds, often called the Mentawai answer to Teahupoo in miniature.
- E-Bay : A fickle, world-class left in the Playgrounds that barrels from start to finish when the swell has enough west in it.
- Hideaways : A world-class Playgrounds left that opens with a hollow ledge and runs into a long rippable wall, over reef that punishes greed.
Conditions here are a guide, not a guarantee. Our crew reads the swell, wind and tide each morning and puts you on the break that matches your surfing that day. See the full Mentawai surf spots guide or browse every break we surf.