A sectiony right-hand reef off North Sipora that picks up swell on the smaller days and rarely carries a crowd.
Also known as Sleeping Waves.
Ombak Tidur sits off the northern end of Sipora in the central Mentawai, a short run down the reef from Icelands. The name translates as sleeping wave and it is known locally as Sleepers. It is a right-hander, which on this stretch of coast makes it unusual before you even look at it. The reefs either side are famous for their lefts, and most of the fleet is here for those.
The name is a poor description of how it behaves. Ombak Tidur takes swell readily, so it will show a rideable wave on days that are too small for some of its neighbours, and it holds size when the swell is genuinely up. What keeps it quiet is mostly traffic rather than any settled verdict on quality. The boats point at Telescopes and Icelands, and Tidur takes the overflow.
The wave
Seen from the channel it looks like one long wall running the length of the reef, and people compare the view to J-Bay on a good day. Get closer and it comes apart. The reef has gaps in it, and what looked like a single wave is a run of separate right-hand sections that rarely join into one continuous ride. Working out where those gaps sit is most of the job here.
The peak at the top of the reef is the most predictable place to sit. It throws fast walls and the odd pit as the wave shifts along the ledge, and on a glassy overhead morning it hands out makeable barrels between long racing sections. Most reports put the working range at roughly three to eight feet, and one guide stretches the top end nearer ten. Mid to high is the usual call for when it carries real punch, though guides differ and one resort reckons it works right through the tide. What nobody argues with is that the coral gets shallower as the water drains, so the lower the tide the less room you have for error.
It wants a groundswell with west in it. South and south-west get it going, but the more west in the swell the better those walls hold shape. Wind is the other half of the story and the real reason to know this wave. North to north-east is offshore here, while the lefts either side want south-east to east, so on a morning when a northerly has ruined Telescopes this can be the one clean option in reach. The catch is the paddle back. Pick the wrong wave at the start of a set and the reef gives you no shoulder to escape through.
Conditions at a glance
- Wave type: Right-hand reef break
- Best swell: South through west groundswell, and the more west in it the better the walls hold shape
- Best wind: North to north-east, which is the offshore direction here. The neighbouring lefts want south-east to east, so a bit of north in the wind is what puts Tidur in play
- Best tide: Guides disagree. Mid to high is the common call, some prefer a dropping tide, and it will break through the tide
- Best size: Roughly three to eight feet on most reports, with one guide stretching the top end nearer ten. It shows a wave on small days and holds well overhead
- Season: April to October, with the mid-year months most reliable. It picks up swell outside that window too
- Crowd: Usually quiet. One guide puts it at five to twenty surfers, because the charter fleet is here for the lefts and Tidur takes the overflow. It fills quickly when a swell lands or when north in the wind shuts the neighbouring breaks down.
- Where: North Sipora, Central Mentawai
Who it suits
Confident intermediates and up. It asks for reading more than courage. If you can make a steep drop over coral, hold a rail through a section that is trying to leave you behind, and take a beating without losing your head, you will get plenty out of it. Regular-footers tend to love the place. After a week of backhand on the lefts of North Sipora, a proper forehand right feels like a day off.
Be clear-eyed about the cost of getting it wrong. The coral is sharp and shallows as the tide drains, the rips run hard enough to matter, and sections shut down on top of you with nowhere to go. You are a long way from a hospital and reef cuts infect fast in the tropics, so wear booties and treat anything that opens the skin the same day. If reef breaks are new to you, surf it on a fuller tide at a modest size first.
How to surf Ombak Tidur with WaveBorn
Ombak Tidur is one of the nine named breaks on the Sunset Surf Villas list. The villa is private, on the beach at Pulau Simakakang in the central Mentawai, sleeps up to six and runs its own dedicated boat. Those nine breaks all sit within a 15 to 25 minute run, so this is a short hop rather than a day out. That counts for a lot at a break this changeable. Look at it at dawn, surf Icelands or Scarecrows while the tide moves, then come back when the wind swings north.
Both charters cover this coast as well. Ombak Kabau takes up to ten guests for eleven nights and ten surf days, roaming the whole Mentawai chain plus the Tello Islands and the northern route to the Hinako Islands off Nias, so it sits wherever the forecast is strongest. Odyssey Mentawai is our 46ft catamaran for up to eight guests, with a surf pro on board and the same range. On either boat the call to surf Tidur usually comes down to the wind rather than the swell.
Trips that reach it: Sunset Surf Villas , Ombak Kabau and Odyssey Mentawai .
Nearby breaks
Ombak Tidur sits within easy reach of Icelands, Scarecrows, Telescopes and Tikus , 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
- Lance's Right : A perfect, photogenic right-hand barrel and probably the most photographed wave in Indonesia.
- Lance's Left : A long, consistent left that wraps down the reef at Katiet in three sections, from a shallow barrel up top to rippable walls on the inside.
- Suicides : A fickle, fast barrelling left off north-west Sipora that stays empty because most crews take one look at it and keep going.
- Doughnuts : A fickle, expert-only left off North Sipora that barrels hard over shallow coral on the rare days it switches on.
- Bintangs : A short, dredging right across the channel from Lance's Left that turns on when the north wind ruins everything else in the bay.
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.