Boats: Why we don’t like them
We know this is controversial but here goes !! Boat-based surfers pay money to some operator in Bali and expect to surf the waves on outer islands without helping the people who live on those islands. For many, the surfbreak is their only real asset. All the money taken off the tourists goes into the pocket of the distant Bali operator. The boat surfers simply pirate and crowd the waves and then move on. They don’t see the country, meet the locals or have any interaction with Indonesia except for the Bali minders on the boat.
On the contrary, the land-based surfers actually help the locals. HOTPlanet employs some 40 local people (25 full time and 15 casuals and tradesmen), and about 80% are from the local village. These people rely on guests coming to south-east Lombok in order to keep their jobs. We also fund village development projects while nurturing and sponsoring environmental improvement.
A classic example is west Sumbawa. We take land tours there and put our guests in the local Sumbawa hotels. But all too often, 3 or 4 boats come into the break and our guests want to go home to “Heaven”. The west Sumbawa locals lose the hotel business and all other income. This totally buggers surfing-based economic development in the outer islands. Those poor people really need the income for food, schooling of their kids and improvements in village health and lifestyle. It’s no wonder the Scar Reef locals attacked a surfing boat with machetes a little while ago.
We don’t get too many boats in Ekas Bay, but the Bali crews steal the coral from our reefs and take it back to Bali for extra income. One boat had 18 surfers on board. You’ve got to be kidding. Of course, there are exceptions. In places with no hotels or roads (like much of the Mentawai Islands) boats are an essential means of transport. And probably many of us, including our team, have enjoyed the pleasure of moving between several breaks on a boat. But they certainly don’t help the locals. Instead, they cripple land development by crowding out the breaks.