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Central Mentawai · Surf Spot

Lance's Right

6 MIN READ · MENTAWAI WAVEBORN

WAVE
Right
LEVEL
ADV
BEST SIZE
4ft to 10ft
SEASON
May to September

A perfect, photogenic right-hand barrel and probably the most photographed wave in Indonesia.

Also known as Hollow Trees, HTs.

Lance's Right, known to most people as Hollow Trees or simply HTs, is the wave that put the Mentawais on the map. If you have seen a photograph of a surfer standing tall inside a flawless Indonesian barrel with palm trees behind them, there is a good chance you were looking at this reef.

It is a right-hander that breaks over a shallow coral shelf off Sipora, and it produces one of the most mechanically perfect tubes in surfing. It is also genuinely serious, which is part of the appeal.

The wave

The wave has three recognised sections. The take-off zone gives you a steep but makeable drop, then it runs into a long, tapering barrel section that is the reason people travel here. The final and most dangerous section, known as the Office, throws over water so shallow that the reef is often visible through the wave face.

At head-high it is a fast, fun, very makeable barrel. Between four and six feet it is close to perfect. Beyond that it becomes a legitimate test of nerve, with real consequences for a bad decision.

The wave is remarkably consistent through the main season and holds its shape in a wide band of swell directions, which is why boats plan whole trips around being nearby when it fires.

Conditions at a glance

History and reputation

The wave is named after a real person and the story holds up. In early 1991 an Australian ship's captain called Lance Knight, who had spent years surveying the Great Barrier Reef and running cargo out to Lord Howe Island, went looking for the Mentawai after hearing Peter Troy talk about finding Nias. He got as far as Padang and could not find a boat that would take him across, so he paid about fifty dollars for a seat on a medical flight to Sipora. He landed with one board, a bottle of water and a bag of rice, then talked a local into running him around the coast in a canoe with an outboard on the back. He found the left near the south-west tip first, then the right in front of Katiet village. He surfed it alone for about two weeks, watched by villagers from the trees, before Martin Daly's boat came around the bottom of the island expecting to be the first there. Daly asked him what he wanted it called. Both waves have carried his name since. Most retellings give the date of that meeting as 12 March 1991.

Hollow Trees, shortened to HTs, came later, from a tree at the point that is long gone. Accounts disagree on whether it was one dead tree lodged on the reef or a stand of them along the shore, so hold that detail loosely. The short name spread through American magazines and videos in the 2000s and it is what most people say now, though plenty of the old Indo charter crowd will tell you Lance's Right is the only name it should have. Word had got out well before that. Photographs from a 1992 charter carrying Tom Carroll, Ross Clarke-Jones and Martin Potter reached the surf press, and after that the Mentawai stopped being a rumour.

It has been photographed and filmed about as heavily as any right in Indonesia since. The Rip Curl Mentawai Pro ran here twice, won by Oney Anwar in 2013 and by Chris Zaffis in 2016. Katiet changed along with it. A village that had never seen a surfer now has land camps along the beach, charter boats still anchor off the point, and the Mentawai regency charges every visiting surfer a levy. The amount has gone up more than once, so check what it currently costs before you travel.

Who it suits

Advanced surfers who are comfortable riding in the barrel and taking off under the lip. Confident intermediates can enjoy it on a smaller, gentler swell, but the Office section should be treated with respect at any size.

If you are still building confidence in hollow waves, this is a wave to watch and study on your first visit. There is no shortage of friendlier options a short boat ride away.

Surfing Lance's Right well

Bring more board than you think

The drop is rarely what beats people here. It is the speed afterwards, because the wall keeps running and you need to already be there. Most visitors who struggle are on the small, loose board they ride at home. A normal shortboard is fine when it is small, but from about four foot up bring the step-up, and once it is six foot and over bring the board you keep for serious days. Pack spare leashes and fins too. This reef goes through both, and Katiet is not somewhere you can replace a broken board.

Read the point before you paddle out

HTs wraps around a coral point, so what looks like one peak from the boat is really a run of takeoff zones that shift with swell size and direction. The outside section, the Office, is the quick steep drop. The main peak in the middle is the open wall most people come for. From there it runs onto the shallow inside. Sit in the channel, watch a few sets, and pick a mark on the land, because from the water one stretch of point looks much like the next. Wide ones are easier to catch and do not line up. The sets swinging through from further out are the ones that barrel.

Let the tide make the call

Tide changes this wave more than anything else does. As it drains, the shallow inside section, the Surgeon's Table, comes close to dry, and it earned that name from the cuts people collect there. On the fuller half of the tide there is more water over the whole reef, the barrel is more forgiving, and the paddle back is less of a gamble. If you do surf it thin, decide early and get off the wave before the inside rather than squeezing out one more turn. Coral cuts here go bad quickly, and the nearest hospital worth the name is hours away by boat.

Take the long way back

The most common visitor mistake is paddling straight back over the inside because it looks quicker. It is, right up until a set lands on you in knee deep water. Go around through the deeper channel even when it costs you a few minutes, which also keeps you out of the way of anyone riding through. The same patience pays in the lineup. HTs takes charter crews and land camp guests at the same time, so a quiet dawn can become a full peak by mid morning with everyone on one small piece of reef. Paddle around the pack rather than through it, and stay clear of the photo boats sitting off the end section, which people call the Cage.

How to surf Lance's Right with WaveBorn

HTs sits in central Mentawai near Sipora, within reach of the main charter routes. Timing is everything: the wave rewards being in position at dawn before the wind swings and the line-up fills.

Our charters anchor close by when the forecast lines up, so you are paddling out at first light rather than arriving mid-morning to a crowd. Our guides also read when it is worth staying and when the swell is better spent elsewhere.

Trips that reach it: Ombak Kabau and Odyssey Mentawai .

Nearby breaks

Lance's Right sits within easy reach of Lance's Left, Bintangs and Nipussi , 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 Central Mentawai

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.