Yallingup goofy footer Barry ‘Baz’ Young has been going on surf trips to the wave rich Maldives atolls for over 30 years.
Baz and two WA surf mates made their first surf trip to the Maldives in 1988, long before the Maldives became a major surf destination.
This is Baz’s Maldives story: –
Bob Monkman, Ross Wilson and I did the first surf trip to the Maldives of any of the WA crew, I am pretty sure in 1988 ( 31 years ago ). I was the rep for Brian Cregan’s “ Ocean and Earth “ label along with Quiksilver and Rip Curl at the time and he said he had flown over the Maldives on his way back from London and saw waves pouring around islands everywhere and suggested he and I do an investigative trip.
I asked Bob and Ross if they would like to come, so we went for 10 days. We surfed all the breaks now known as Pasta Point, Sultan’s, Honkey’s and Jails, but never saw another surfer for the first 5 days and didn’t know the names of the breaks.
Image: Brian Gregan ‘Ocean and Earth’ surfing Pasta Point.
Then this small Dhoni boat sailed up to us as we surfed a great right hander ( we later discovered was ‘Sultan’s’ ). Skippered by a white man and two Maldivians with surfboards on the deck. He introduced himself as Tony Hinde, originally from Sydney but now living in the Maldives. It turned out he had married a local girl ( Zulfa ) and had converted to Islam faith and changed his name to Hussein to abide with local law, and they were raising a young son ( Ash ) and a new born daughter ( Mishal ). They lived on the island which also had a prison for Tamil Guerrillas and another really good right we had surfed a few days earlier which Tony had nicknamed ‘Jail’s’.
He made his living importing exotic shells from other countries and getting local craftsmen to engrave “ Maldives Atolls “ on them. He sold them through a little souvenir shop he had on the island plus a couple of resorts, to tourists who were just starting to filter through the Maldives.
Image: 1988 Tony “Hussein” Hinde surfing Sultan’s.
Image: 1988 Tony “Hussein” Hinde rehydrating in the Maldives.
He later on invited us to visit his home and family for a meal and we were surprised at the simple and sparse life he had chosen to surf his Nirvana. He reminded me of a Robinson Crusoe type character at the time. After all, he had been shipwrecked when the yacht he was crewing on hit a reef while heading to Reunion Islands from Sri Lanka. ( Yallingup resident Alan Mc Kay had spent time with Tony in Sri Lanka whilst surfing there in the very early seventies ). After spending two months salvaging what they could of the yacht, the rest of the crew went their various ways, however, Tony seeing the empty waves peeling around some of the 2,000 atolls that make up the Maldives realised he had to stay longer.
Prior to seeing us, the last travelling surfers he had seen was 15 months previously, so he was keen to catch up on anything Australian, being a surfer from Cronulla in Sydney. Footy, politics and music especially…he was like a sponge!
Anyway, the last 4 days there he picked us up from the island we were staying on and made sure we were always at the right spot at the right time…for a fee, which was fine by us as we had been paying a boat hire place a ridiculous price and didn’t really know where to go except explore. We would hang out all day on this little Dhoni just floating next to the breaks, drinking coconut milk and bananas. Tony set up a sail shade as that Maldivian sun was relentless.
The Dhoni was so small with everyone on it between surfs, that the boards were linked by their leg ropes and left in the water.
Image: 1988 Bob Monkman, Ross Wilson and Baz on Tony Hinde’s Dhoni with surfboards trailing behind the boat.
We got great mid-size waves the whole 10 days and have great memories between us. As we all know, the anticipation and excitement of discovery, and then to have it rewarded, doesn’t always happen on a surf trip.
Image: 1998 Bob Monkman surfing Sultan’s
Image: 1988 Baz, Ross and Bob on the Dhoni.
Image: 1988 Caught in a monsoonal rain squall on the Dhoni.
Image: 1988 Glad to be off the Dhoni after rain squall.
Image: 1988 End of Maldives surf trip at Male Airport.
Tony had taught two local Maldivians to surf, just so he had company but he said finding two that could swim and wanted to surf too wasn’t easy!
I left Tony some cassettes of the Stones and The Loved Ones ( remember them? ), plus my cassette player when we left and he was so stoked to have music .
There is a well-documented and great video called “Serendipity “ which chronicles in more detail Tony’s amazing story and is worth the $10 asking price. It is available on-line at Amazon.com if you are interested.
I started going to Tavarua in Fiji in ’89 as I loved the power of Cloudbreak and didn’t return to the Maldives until ’95 by which time Tony was starting to reluctantly start a surf travel company. In the seven years since that first trip, it was slowly getting known for having waves and Tony couldn’t hold the tide back. Guess he figured if he didn’t start something, someone else would.
Before he died of a heart attack which happened while he was surfing a wave at Pasta Point (he collapsed into the water at the end of the wave). What an exit!…. he had set up his family pretty well with property in Australia and in the Maldives plus an ongoing business. His son Ash now heads the operation at Pasta Point with Atoll Travel. They are now one of the premier travel companies offering surf travel all over the world and it all started with a hippie surfer living the dream in the Maldives.
Image: Vale Tony “Honky” Hussein Hinde 1953-2008
This shot of me with Tony Hinde (who introduced surfing to the Maldives) was taken about 8 months before his passing. I had known Tony for nearly 25 years until he passed away in May 2008.
Image: 2007 Sept. Baz and the late Tony Hinde in the Maldives. Baz pic.
Thanks Baz for sharing your Maldives story and images.
Coming soon Barry Young’s Maldives surf trip images 2010-2018
Yallingup goofy footer Barry ‘Baz’ Young has been going on surf trips to the wave rich Maldives atolls for over 30 years.
Baz and two WA surf mates made their first surf trip to the Maldives in 1988, long before the Maldives became a major surf destination.
This is Baz’s Maldives story: –
Bob Monkman, Ross Wilson and I did the first surf trip to the Maldives of any of the WA crew, I am pretty sure in 1988 ( 31 years ago ). I was the rep for Brian Cregan’s “ Ocean and Earth “ label along with Quiksilver and Rip Curl at the time and he said he had flown over the Maldives on his way back from London and saw waves pouring around islands everywhere and suggested he and I do an investigative trip.
I asked Bob and Ross if they would like to come, so we went for 10 days. We surfed all the breaks now known as Pasta Point, Sultan’s, Honkey’s and Jails, but never saw another surfer for the first 5 days and didn’t know the names of the breaks.
Image: Brian Gregan ‘Ocean and Earth’ surfing Pasta Point.
Then this small Dhoni boat sailed up to us as we surfed a great right hander ( we later discovered was ‘Sultan’s’ ). Skippered by a white man and two Maldivians with surfboards on the deck. He introduced himself as Tony Hinde, originally from Sydney but now living in the Maldives. It turned out he had married a local girl ( Zulfa ) and had converted to Islam faith and changed his name to Hussein to abide with local law, and they were raising a young son ( Ash ) and a new born daughter ( Mishal ). They lived on the island which also had a prison for Tamil Guerrillas and another really good right we had surfed a few days earlier which Tony had nicknamed ‘Jail’s’.
He made his living importing exotic shells from other countries and getting local craftsmen to engrave “ Maldives Atolls “ on them. He sold them through a little souvenir shop he had on the island plus a couple of resorts, to tourists who were just starting to filter through the Maldives.
Image: 1988 Tony “Hussein” Hinde surfing Sultan’s.
Image: 1988 Tony “Hussein” Hinde rehydrating in the Maldives.
He later on invited us to visit his home and family for a meal and we were surprised at the simple and sparse life he had chosen to surf his Nirvana. He reminded me of a Robinson Crusoe type character at the time. After all, he had been shipwrecked when the yacht he was crewing on hit a reef while heading to Reunion Islands from Sri Lanka. ( Yallingup resident Alan Mc Kay had spent time with Tony in Sri Lanka whilst surfing there in the very early seventies ). After spending two months salvaging what they could of the yacht, the rest of the crew went their various ways, however, Tony seeing the empty waves peeling around some of the 2,000 atolls that make up the Maldives realised he had to stay longer.
Prior to seeing us, the last travelling surfers he had seen was 15 months previously, so he was keen to catch up on anything Australian, being a surfer from Cronulla in Sydney. Footy, politics and music especially…he was like a sponge!
Anyway, the last 4 days there he picked us up from the island we were staying on and made sure we were always at the right spot at the right time…for a fee, which was fine by us as we had been paying a boat hire place a ridiculous price and didn’t really know where to go except explore. We would hang out all day on this little Dhoni just floating next to the breaks, drinking coconut milk and bananas. Tony set up a sail shade as that Maldivian sun was relentless.
The Dhoni was so small with everyone on it between surfs, that the boards were linked by their leg ropes and left in the water.
Image: 1988 Bob Monkman, Ross Wilson and Baz on Tony Hinde’s Dhoni with surfboards trailing behind the boat.
We got great mid-size waves the whole 10 days and have great memories between us. As we all know, the anticipation and excitement of discovery, and then to have it rewarded, doesn’t always happen on a surf trip.
Image: 1998 Bob Monkman surfing Sultan’s
Image: 1988 Baz, Ross and Bob on the Dhoni.
Image: 1988 Caught in a monsoonal rain squall on the Dhoni.
Image: 1988 Glad to be off the Dhoni after rain squall.
Image: 1988 End of Maldives surf trip at Male Airport.
Tony had taught two local Maldivians to surf, just so he had company but he said finding two that could swim and wanted to surf too wasn’t easy!
I left Tony some cassettes of the Stones and The Loved Ones ( remember them? ), plus my cassette player when we left and he was so stoked to have music .
There is a well-documented and great video called “Serendipity “ which chronicles in more detail Tony’s amazing story and is worth the $10 asking price. It is available on-line at Amazon.com if you are interested.
I started going to Tavarua in Fiji in ’89 as I loved the power of Cloudbreak and didn’t return to the Maldives until ’95 by which time Tony was starting to reluctantly start a surf travel company. In the seven years since that first trip, it was slowly getting known for having waves and Tony couldn’t hold the tide back. Guess he figured if he didn’t start something, someone else would.
Before he died of a heart attack which happened while he was surfing a wave at Pasta Point (he collapsed into the water at the end of the wave). What an exit!…. he had set up his family pretty well with property in Australia and in the Maldives plus an ongoing business. His son Ash now heads the operation at Pasta Point with Atoll Travel. They are now one of the premier travel companies offering surf travel all over the world and it all started with a hippie surfer living the dream in the Maldives.
Image: Vale Tony “Honky” Hussein Hinde 1953-2008
This shot of me with Tony Hinde (who introduced surfing to the Maldives) was taken about 8 months before his passing. I had known Tony for nearly 25 years until he passed away in May 2008.
Image: 2007 Sept. Baz and the late Tony Hinde in the Maldives. Baz pic.
Thanks Baz for sharing your Maldives story and images.
Coming soon Barry Young’s Maldives surf trip images 2010-2018
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