Watch: A Maldives interlude

Stu Nettle picture
Stu Nettle (stunet)
Swellnet Dispatch

It's mid-arvo, you've had a busy day, so put the spreadsheet away and lose yourself in some tropical visuals.

The next four minutes is brought to you by The Perfect Wave, who you can reach right here if you want to take this moment one step further.

And remember, you're the king of your domain, which means your keyboard, specifically the mute button. So you can fly in silence if you wish, or you can levitate like a believer.

Comments

donweather's picture
donweather's picture
donweather Tuesday, 7 May 2019 at 4:00pm

Seriously............great footage, but hardly any of an actual wave being ridden.

P'tai's picture
P'tai's picture
P'tai Tuesday, 7 May 2019 at 7:55pm

Nothing but a promo

Solitude's picture
Solitude's picture
Solitude Tuesday, 7 May 2019 at 9:01pm

What was the point of that?
Slow news day? That sunsets exist in the Maldives?
Was that backed by Nickleback?
.........so many questions left unanswered

lost's picture
lost's picture
lost Tuesday, 7 May 2019 at 9:19pm

Seriously guys, fishing, snorkeling, jumping off boats and sunsets are things that are only done when there is no surf. WTF was that boat driving away from the waves for and why only a second of someone on a wave. Were all those line ups 1/2 foot than needed the optics of drone and nonsurfers to make them look that good ?

Timmy49's picture
Timmy49's picture
Timmy49 Tuesday, 7 May 2019 at 9:53pm

Who cares. Just love seeing any thing to do with surf. Even if it was a wake of a boat running down a sand bank I'd still mind surf it. Have you ever done that or is me. Have you dived the reefs you surf on? Did you notice all the channels in the reef? I did, or am I simple or are you. Who cares if was a promo!!!!!

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Wednesday, 8 May 2019 at 8:15am

Notice how the finger channels in the opening scene, and also in the still pulled above, all run at right angles to the wave energy and are arrayed around the point? Looks amazing.

n!ck's picture
n!ck's picture
n!ck Wednesday, 8 May 2019 at 7:56am

I’m with Timmy49. I liked it. Reminds me of my trip to the Maldives, that’s exactly the vibe.

eel's picture
eel's picture
eel Wednesday, 8 May 2019 at 12:42pm

Any progress on a Maldives forecast/model yet? I'm sure last year it was stated that it was in the works....

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Wednesday, 8 May 2019 at 12:49pm

Hopefully in the next few months (in association with a global wave/weather model upgrade). Pretty excited to get it up on the site though, been a while coming.

carpetman's picture
carpetman's picture
carpetman Wednesday, 8 May 2019 at 1:34pm

Great news. Any idea when they're gonna roll out the upgrade? Looks exciting. I assume there will be no changes to WW3... Apart from the direct impacts of the higher grid resolution of GFS?

eel's picture
eel's picture
eel Wednesday, 8 May 2019 at 6:24pm

Nice! If you could have it rolled out prior to July 8 that would be tops. Many thanks

carpetman's picture
carpetman's picture
carpetman Thursday, 11 Jul 2019 at 2:10pm

Hey Ben,

Any updates on this? Will there be any other new regions? Or were you referring to SN traveler?

I'm doing a trip in the next few weeks. Will choose where based on the forecast so if expanded forecast regions are coming it may be very helpful.

Thanks

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Thursday, 11 Jul 2019 at 5:08pm

No updates at the moment. There's an enomous level of complexity in getting our new stuff integrated into the website, so it's (unfortunately) not as easy as 'adding another location' (though, the new system we have built will have that kind of flexibility, once it's live).

As for new regions - we've got around 5,000 surf spots mapped worldwide and 2,400 primary surf forecast regions. So we'll have you covered no matter where you want to go.

carpetman's picture
carpetman's picture
carpetman Thursday, 11 Jul 2019 at 6:00pm

Ok, thanks Ben. Look forward to the new additions when they come.

lindo's picture
lindo's picture
lindo Wednesday, 8 May 2019 at 2:41pm

Stu, those fingers and channels are called 'spur and groove systems', caused by erosion - movement of coral rubble in the grooves - and are characteristic of reefs exposed to consistent wave action globally. The few glimpses of the reefs themselves are pretty depressing though, another characteristic of many reefs globally, as confirmed by numerous peer-reviewed reports, including yesterday's. Also unfortunate to be pulling large site-attached reef fishes off those reefs. The whole thing is emblematic of our oblivious disconnect and lack of concern - classic. Nero would have been proud.

akthommo's picture
akthommo's picture
akthommo Wednesday, 8 May 2019 at 5:03pm

Lindo wait till the Chinese start demanding some kickbacks for the bridge they built. There'll be chinese fishing boats all over the place just ripping the shit out of every reef, channels, deep water fish or anything with a scale. It's what they're doing all over the Atlantic and the Pacific.

akthommo's picture
akthommo's picture
akthommo Wednesday, 8 May 2019 at 4:59pm

20 secs of surfing in a four minute promo for surfing in the Maldives doesn't inspire me to rush out and book a ticket. Must have had only a day to shoot. No waves that day.

lindo's picture
lindo's picture
lindo Wednesday, 8 May 2019 at 5:16pm

yep akthommo, as Dougal Hine of the Dark Mountain Project put it in 'After we stop pretending': "We are living through a tragedy whose measure exceeds our comprehension and most of us are implicated in this tragedy. We were born into this situation and there is no simple way to free ourselves from it. The grand summits, the uplifting rhetoric of leaders, the protests at the summit gates: none of this will make it go away. The changes we make to our lifestyles, the meat we don’t eat, the flights we don’t take: none of this will be enough. We will not make this way of living sustainable, nor anything like this way of living ...'

gavanclark's picture
gavanclark's picture
gavanclark Wednesday, 8 May 2019 at 7:49pm

Just back from an epic trip to those breaks and as for the footage, Bob the drone operators main roll is that of a surf guide. Perfect Wave employ me to train their guides to look after their guests and thats what he does best as he is one of the most experienced guides in the Maldives. His other passion is photography so when he is not guiding he is shooting photos or movies. If that footage makes you not want to book to go there thats good as you wont be there when we go back next year :-)
Gav Clark ( First Aid/CPR/Surfer Rescue trainer )

Shaggydagz's picture
Shaggydagz's picture
Shaggydagz Wednesday, 8 May 2019 at 11:18pm

Not even Nickleback like Nickleback....

Hokey Pokey's picture
Hokey Pokey's picture
Hokey Pokey Thursday, 9 May 2019 at 10:37am

Im calling bullshit on the Perfect Wave and their promos. They operate under the premise of chasing swells etc but in my experience that ain't the case. The northern/central atolls are stunning and some great waves, but it's an absolute shitshow with the crowds, unless you are staying at an 'exclusive' resort. The perfect wave have no problem with 2 or 3 of their own boats showing up at the same location. Then throw in few dozen Isralies and some clueless euros in the water and the whole scene is pretty farked.

Greenfrog's picture
Greenfrog's picture
Greenfrog Thursday, 9 May 2019 at 2:48pm

Gee tough crowd. Ok the music was a bit lame and the surf isn't huge, but hows the clarity of the water, the light offshores and the uncrowded lineups. I liked it. Looks fun.

Robo's picture
Robo's picture
Robo Friday, 10 May 2019 at 9:01am

Glad i did my 2 trips 20 years ago with minimal crowds, the place is paradise.
First trip 2 weeks at pasta point, 4-8ft the whole time, day i arrived surfed Jails all afternoon with 4 guys 4-6ft.
2nd trip did the southern atolls on a boat with atoll adventures 11 nights, with the guide from pasta point and me doing most of the surfing at 3-6ft, the 2 yanks on board didn't surf unless it was 5-6ft and 1 spaniard that came for the sun baking lol.
That area was untouched paradise, saw one other boat from world surfaris at one session the whole 11 days.
Great times.

ddrew's picture
ddrew's picture
ddrew Saturday, 11 May 2019 at 10:57am

Dreadful song. Dull promo vid.