Underground Charger Scores Perfect Mentawais On Magic Boards

Originally posted on SURFER | By Chris Dodds | Last updated Apr 9, 2025 12:04 AM ET

Every now and then the Surf Gods throw you a major blessing, you know, one of those too-good-to-be-true situations where you're pinching yourself and asking, 'is this real life?'. That's exactly what happened to the underground Peruvian charger that is Rafael Wille, only the blessing at first came in disguise.

After many visits to Indonesia over the years, Rafa decided to post up permanently after falling in love with the Mentawai's, especially with the wave at HTs in "all shapes and sizes". Nowadays, he has a small house right there by the wave he loves so much and, by the looks of it, his dedication is paying off.

"That day was the biggest day of the year so far, this was around June. The swell was peaking that day and I had a spot on the boat to Greenbush with the boys from HTs. It was a solid crew of Hawaiians staying there, including Nathan Florence. But I had to give up my spot on the boat because I had some work pop up, I was so bummed. The waves were huge at HTs but the wind was onshore..."

It almost seemed as if Rafa was destined not to surf on the biggest day of the year, that is, until his fortune changed that afternoon. "Right around the time the boat came back from Greenbush, the winds switched and everything went calm and glassy. They were all tired from the morning session so I paddled out to pumping and perfect HTs with no one else out. I had it to myself for about 30 minutes until Nathan Florence rallied from his morning session and joined me. It was just us trading waves for about 30 minutes or so until Gabriel Villaran, who I know from Peru, joined us. We had the peak conditions at HTs--glassy and double overhead--to ourselves for another hour or so until people joined for the end of the day. By that time, the tide had switched and it was still good, but we had it perfect between 3 or 4 of us for a magic window."

What does one ride during an all-time session at one of the world's best waves? Well, good thing you asked, because it's a perfect layup for another underground legend, Josh Peterson. Peterson has been honing his skills for years on Oahu's North Shore, where he posts up every winter and makes killer boards of all kinds.

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"Josh had shaped me a 5'8 quad, it's the red one in the film, that I ride all the time, it goes so good on the waves here. And he also made me a 6'1 quad, which is like a super mega step-up for me (laughs) and that's what I rode when it was really pumping and it was perfect. He can speak about their design elements better than I can, but whatever it is, they're perfect. No doubts at all when the waves pick up and things are really firing. His boards are magic."

This article first appeared on SURFER and was syndicated with permission.

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