Lance's Right (also known as HT's) is a surf reef break located in Indonesia, off Sipore Island, part of Sumatra's Mentawai Island chain. A reef break is an area in the ocean where waves start to break once they reach the shallows of a reef. Lance's Right is known as one of the most perfect waves, and the crown jewel of the Mentawai Isles. [1]
It is known as a right, which means the wave breaks from right to left from the perspective of a watcher on shore. The break, along with the neighbouring left (Lance's Left) are named after the first person to surf both waves, Lance Knight.
Lance is an Australian shipsmaster who in 1990 set off around the world searching for a new ship (The MV Island Trader) for the residents of Lord Howe Island and who due to a combination of both meeting legendary surf explorer Peter Troy and inheriting old Dutch charts of the archipelago from his late uncle, Lance Ellis, decided to go looking for waves on Sipora to fulfil a life long dream of finding an island with a perfect Right and Lefthander. [2]
Originally heading to what is now Lance's Left on the South-Western tip of the island, Lance hitched a lift with a local boat man known only as 'Pak Brasur'. Rough conditions brought them into the village of Katiet, where Lance chanced upon the iconic righthander. [3]
Lance would stay with village elder Pak Hosein, his wife Ida and there children. A few days later Pak Hosein beckoned Lance follow him through the jungle to Lance’s Left.
[4] Salvage vessel Indies Trader had just finished working a dive job in Tupajet on the North-East of Sipora when they decided to go looking for surf. They first stopped at Lance's Left before coming around to Katiet where they found Lance surfing alone. The captain of the Indies Trader, Martin Daly, named the waves Lance's Right and Left in honour of the first person to surf them. They made a pact to keep the place a secret and Martin offered Lance passage back to Jakarta. [5]
The other name, HTs, is an abbreviation for Hollow Trees, because of a hollow tree that was on the point but has since washed away. Many charter boat operators consider calling the wave 'Hts' disrespectful to the history of the wave and how it came to be renowned.
The break at Lance's Right is a deceptively shallow reef, with an inside section known as the "surgeon's table", for the common injuries that happen to surfers who get stuck and cut on the flat section of the reef. The end section is known as The Cage, where many photographers sit in boats and take photos of the surfers.
In April 2016, the Rip Curl Mentawai Pro was held as a World Surf League (WSL) and Asian Surfing Championship (ASC) event at Lance's Right. [6] Australian Chris Zaffis won the title, beating Indonesian surfer Dede Suryana in the final round. [7]
The event had also been previously won in 2013 by Sumbawa local and professional surfer, Oney Anwar. [8]
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