Local ripper and really nice guy Din.
Season: November to March
Types of waves, beach break, a point and for the absolutely insane a couple of rivermouths. The quality of the waves usually surprise most people.
Most regularly surfed spots: Pantai Tungku (Jerudong) and Pantai Panaga (Serasa).
Crowd factor: Extremely low. Maybe 2 dozen Locals surf regularly and about a dozen Ex-pats. Traveling surfers are unheard of. Vibes are positive, long may they remain so.
Wind: Mornings are best, light on shores come up some mornings around 11ish but nothing too dramatic.
Best boards: a fish, mid-lengths and longboards go best unless your small and light. The waves can at times be a little fat, or small...if you have a longboard, there are quite a few days when only you will be getting waves and that includes out of season.
Risks; Saltwater crocodiles are not too far from anyone´s minds (hence the rivermouth comment), the heat is fierce, sandflies can be a pain, and the whole set up is very raw. The beaches are hardly visited, some of them have paths cut into the jungle to find....there´s nowhere else quite like surfing Brunei.
Surfing infastructure: There´s no surf shops in Brunei, you need to bring everything, not just boards but leashes, wax, boardshorts and a surf hat.
Days like this a very common from November to March, but the rest of the year is a millpond. It all relies on the monsoon season. Dan Stirling, long term ex-pat resident riding his Puddle Jumper.
Local surfer Izzy, everybody sharing the stoke.
Surfing in Brunei is unique, few places deliver such consistent , quality, clean, beach break waves, with low crowd, high vibe factor enjoyed in your boardshorts surrounded by the jungle and its multitude of residents.
The season is eagerly awaited and the charts scanned, waiting for the distant monsoon season to kick in, as the first pulses light up the banks in Brunei in October or November. An eclectic bunch of vehicles abandoned outside the locked gates of Pantai Tungku, signal the first waves of the season and the socio economic disparities of the surfing tribe who leave their status on the coastal highway, hop the barrier and disappear down the jungle path. Entering a different world as they leave the roars of the passing motors behind. A world of rampant firns, murky puddles, slippery mudslides and thick canopy ensue before the beach is reached. A beach that is a world to a few fisherman, the odd dog walker and a group of steadfast surfers who are always pleased to see you. The water is warm but the colour of mud soup and the waves are clean and inviting. once about a foot,, the quality improves and a couple of peaks open up., sometimes hammered by a rip but mostly not. From November to March this is how the 30 odd surfers of Brunei live, stealing as many surfs as they can, knowing that when the monsoon tap is turned off, the feast changes to famine in a singular moment. The season exists in isolation, no foreplay, or post coital just main course and finished.
When I moved to Brunei, I was unaware of the surf, I researched, I hunted, I questioned and quizzed but to no avail, I arrived with a longboard hoping to get lucky. I was more than satisfied and down sized my boards rapidly.
What keeps surfing in Brunei such a secretive joy? Well, there are several heavily limiting factors. Firstly, there is almost no tourism in Brunei, there is no real infastructure for it, which is a shame because it has so much to offer but no tourists is the best form of conservation, To travel the river of Temburong is to view the world without human effects.....if you can find it and a boat. Secondly, there are Saltwater crocodiles and you must cut your cloth accordingly, our surf whatsapp group is called ¨Safety in Numbers¨, seldom scene but never far from ones thoughts and thirdly, an islamic country with little interest in beach life has kept many of Brunei´s beautiful beaches, undiscovered and difficult to access. Every season a group of us, clear paths to spots like the aptly named Drain Pipes with parangs (a malay form of a machete) so that these spots can be ridden. The heat is profuse, sand flies on the beach can be profligate and the distance from amenities mean that for most non surfing partners the tax is just too high. During the pandemic, the beach was the only place where I met with others, smuggling surfs in front of the jungle with a couple of trusted souls. It was our sanity, it was a gift from the aptly named Abode of Peace.
Brunei is an absolute monarchy, which has shown no interest in developing its coastline to tourism, in the Jerudong area there are no buildings on the beaches at all, there are no condo´s just big tropical hardwood trees, crawling with snakes, monkeys, millions of ants and some super stoked waveriders......it has been forsaken by development and no one is happier than us.
