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Access to international surfing magazines has always been difficult for Latin surfers, photographers and journalists, especially 20 years ago.

Every so often, miracles happened, Magnum, Otto and Kalle, for example, were on the cover of Surfer, but these historical events were exceptions that confirmed the rule.

If you will, for a Uruguayan, a country with less surfing tradition, far from the eyes of Californians, the task was more difficult.

You had to be very lucky and dive in headfirst when the opportunity presented itself. This was exactly what Luisma Iturria did in these gigantic sessions that took place in the mythical Ombak Tujuh on the island of Java.

It was a success; he was featured on the page of Transworld and on the poster of Tracks. At a local level he made the cover of Mareas and made several pages.

In those years, it was a kind of mini-revolution in Uruguay. The same young man who was seen breaking waves in Punta del Este had put his name and that of the country in the most prestigious magazines in the world, surfing huge waves.

This story, which has now come of age since its occurrence, is revived in this month's edition of The Great Wave.

How many times had you been to Indo at that time?
It was my third time in Indonesia, that was in 2002 and it was the year that I traveled and saw the most in Indo, I went on a boat trip to Dessert Point and Scar Reef, I went to G Land and to this wave in Java called Ombak Tujuh, which translated into Spanish means Seven Waves.

I had no idea this wave existed, nor where it was, nor what it was like, I was simply lucky and received a great invitation from Alejandro “Pupi” Berger who grabbed me by the hair and took me with him.

How did the trip come about and how did it develop?
It came about completely by surprise, Pupi was linked to several American and Australian photographers,  filming and working with good surfers.

Dustin Humphrey, his friend, photographer for the North American magazine Transworld Surf (now founder of the Deus brand), had organized a surf trip to the wave and  invited Alex to film. He accepted the invitation and invited me.

He grabbed me and said: “Pack a backpack and your boards because we’re going on a trip with some pros.”

I had no idea where we were going but I was obviously excited to be on a surf trip to a little-explored wave in Indonesia, with cameras and amazing surfers.

So we flew from Bali to Jakarta with Made “Bol” Adi Putra, an Indonesian pro at the time who was surfing really well, and we met up with Jamie Sterling from Hawaii, Rusty Long from the US, both of whom are big riders, and Travis Potter, also from the US, who is well known for finding waves in Indo.

There I was, hanging out with these tigers (laughs).
We arrived in Jakarta, spent the night, and the next day drove 10 hours south to a small, cute town. Back then, you couldn't see the wave forecasts on your cell phone, in fact, we didn't have cell phones, you just looked at some websites that showed the storms, but the reports weren't as complete as they are today.

We only knew that a good sea was coming in those days, I didn't know what size, period or wind; well, the wind in Indo during the dry season is almost always offshore.

We slept in some rustic little houses in a fishing village and the next day we had breakfast ready, packed lunch and there were seven Indonesians with motorbikes to take us to the wave. Each one on a motorbike with a driver, we started to go through the middle of the jungle, on paths between the trees and crossing small streams for 1 hour or more, because we couldn't go fast but it was the only access to that beach.

When we reached the area of ​​the much desired wave, the bikes stopped behind a small green hill or mound and we left everything there. As we climbed the hill we could already hear the sea roar and when we got to see the wave it was a spectacle of a place, a small bay with a point of stone towards the south side and the waves that broke one after the other; those peaks of turquoise water rose with a radiant sun.

I was excited and scared because the waves were quite large, the kind that are more scary than exciting, knowing that you have to go into the water and surf alongside my travel companions, and what companions they were!

Inside I thought: “This is so salty, mommy” (laughs).

So we all got into the water and the waves were pretty perfect, so you could go in with dry hair and stay in the channel where the waves weren't breaking.

You had a seven something that was too short, tell more about that.
You were with Rusty Long and Jamie Sterling, how did it feel with those monsters in the water?

Yes,  It was a 7'3 board that belonged to Alex and thanks to that board I was able to surf those days because  I was 6'0 and 6'6, nothing more. It was certainly not easy to surf those waves because it was a well-defined peak and you had to know how to take the counter-peak to get down the tube, and that was not something I had done before in that size of waves.

So I stayed on the shoulder and slowly got closer to the peak. Jamie Sterling was on an 8'0, Rusty Long on an 8'6, Travis Potter on a 7'8 and Bol was like me on a 7"4 but he was more used to those waves than I was, since he was a local.

It was a wave that you had to enter comfortably and from behind. I remember that the headwind was strong and it was difficult because it bothered you to enter and to see the wave.

Jaime was very comfortable on that type of wave. The guy would sit back and wait for the wave in the series and take it against the peak, then he would go down already in the tube with his whole left arm digging into the wall of the wave to stop the board and enjoy that tube from the beginning to the end of the wave. Rusty was also at that same peak for the big waves.

A little further down and open were Travis, Bol and I.

And calmly I was taking waves and getting to know the board and the wave, several calm drops and some curves, and  As everything was going well we were getting further and further into the peak, wave after wave we began to surf it from further back.

So we ran the first two days on that beach and everything was joy.

In the most famous photo of the trip, which appeared on a poster, you killed yourself, but you put attitude into it. Tell us how it was from beginning to end.
On the third day of riding big lefts, now more confident, I decided to take on bigger waves, more at the peak, look for tubes, etc.

I remember that the day before Bol had taken a wave and during the drop the guy was completely suspended in the air and managed to land the board on the wave and it was a spectacular descent.

There was no doubt that the strong headwind was playing tricks on him and me since we had shorter boards.

It was like that that at one point a wave of those important ones of the series came in and I saw myself in position to take it and also I heard the shouts of all my companions: "Gooooo Luis Gooooooo!", I was in that situation that if you back off you look like a coward and I was surrounded by high caliber surfers, so I had no choice but to paddle with all my strength and while I was paddling I was going blind because of the amount of water that the wind was throwing in my face, but I didn't stop paddling, and when I felt that I was able to move forward  and entering the wave I also felt like I was practically in the air, suspended, and I stopped and for a second I thought: “If the Indonesian Bol got off a wave like this in the air yesterday, I can too”,  So I stood my ground and tried to be as good as possible to land that late drop.  I stood firm with my feet apart, arms outstretched, and prepared to land, but the board veered to my left and as the fins touched the face of the wave, the board completely crossed over and locked, sending me flying forward, burying myself headfirst into the base of the wave.

"In addition to hearing the shouts of all my teammates: “Gooooo Luis Gooooooo!”, I was in that situation where if you back out you look like a coward"

When I sank I felt a great calm and I thought I could escape the tumble there under the water, I was calm and the blow had been nothing,  But the wave, with so much power, sucked me up with great force and I managed to get my head out to breathe when it passed over me and that was when it sank with great force, shaking me in all directions. It was all very dark in that blender.
The wave passed and I managed to get out to breathe. I grabbed the board, which luckily was still intact, and when I was about to get up to paddle, the wave behind me was already breaking and it fell a few meters away. I sank to try not to roll over, but it is inevitable in these wave conditions. The size and force make our strokes useless. A third wave came and once again I had to hold my breath. Luckily the board didn't break and I didn't touch the bottom, but I do remember that that jolt used up all my energy.

I went back to the peak and rested, I looked at Alex who was filming from the water and I said to him: “I can't take it anymore, I'm going to row” (laughs).

It was the worst fuck I've had to date.

"It was the worst fuck I've had to date"

And tell about the good.
The good thing was several waves, it was the whole experience lived on that trip, big waves with tremendous surfers, Alex and D Hump.

It later turned out that it appeared as a poster and in more than one magazine. How did you find out?
It turned out that this surf trip was already planned for a magazine with the whole story of looking for the wave and finding it with a tremendous swell and in the end it didn't turn out the way the photographer expected.

I found out in December when Pupi sent me a Transworld magazine from Hawaii with a photo of me giving myself a good beating. The photo is the size of a page and says: “Luis Ipurria.”

Did anyone recognize you on any trip later because of that photo?
Not .

Have you dropped bombs like that many times in your life?
Yes, but to the right, in the famous wave of Iquique “El Colegio”,  where I also had a similar episode where I was underwater for quite a while.

On big wave days there are big emotions and big tumbles.

"On big wave days there are big emotions and big tumbles"