Surf will bring them back

Mike Sciacca

It almost seemed surreal, Jay Larson said. Larson, 28, was jolted

awake at 11:30 p.m. on Oct. 12 by a noise so loud that it shook the

foundation of the Un’s Hotel where he and his wife of one week,

Sarrah, were staying during a two-week honeymoon trip to the

Indonesian island of Bali.

His first impression was that a transformer blew. Never in his

wildest dreams, he said, did he think it was a car bomb exploding.

On the busy Saturday night, on the resort island of Bali, in the

city’s popular nightclub district, a car bomb was detonated in front

of two packed clubs, the Sari Club and Paddy’s.

Authorities labeled the killing of 187 and wounding of as many as

300 others as a terrorist attack.

The bombing happened just two blocks away from the Un’s Hotel.

“The bomb was so loud that it literally shook our hotel room,”

said Larson, who had checked into the hotel at around 4 p.m. the day

of the bombing. “I was just waiting for a reaction, like sirens or

something. Then, we got a phone call from friends, checking to see if

we were all right. That’s when I was told what had happened. I tossed

and turned the rest of the night.”

The two were spending their honeymoon on the beautiful resort

island where they had fallen in love. Larson calls Bali his “second

home” because of its friendly people, the food and the thing that

first brought him here several years ago -- its surf.

He still makes yearly trips there, and has plans to return,

despite the terrorist attack.

He said he had planned on going back to Bali in February.

“It’s one of the best places to surf in the world,” said the Surf

City native, a professional surfer who now does photo and editorial

work for surf magazines as well as work on surfing videos. “I’ve been

here many times and have made some great, great friends, whom I’ve

grown to love. The surf and my friends bring me back every year.”

Competition has taken Larson to the hottest surf spots around the

world. But he got his start in local competitions and has surfed a

few events put on by Seth Matson, director of the Huntington Beach

Surf Series, the longest running Pro/Am surfing event in the state.

For the past three years, including the more recent series, which

culminated in September, the overall points winner of the Pro/Am

division has been awarded a round-trip ticket to Indonesia.

Nate Yeomans won this year’s Pro/Am division. But Yeomans,

currently in Puerto Rico, will not make the trip, Matson said.

“The reason Del Taco, a big sponsor of ours, and I decided to just

award Nate with cash is because of the bombing in Bali,” Matson said.

“This way he can make his own decision on where he wants to go. Next

year we plan on just giving away Hawaii trips to all the first place

overall winners in all divisions, and that way we can take them all

over and put it on TV as part of the show.”

The cash award in lieu of the trip that Yeomans will receive is

roughly $1,300, Matson said.

Larson said he has frequented the Sari Club and Paddy’s on many

occasions, calling both nightclubs popular surfing hangouts.

He and his new wife had planned to meet friends out at the clubs

the night of the bombings, but not until around midnight.

“We wanted to go out for a nice, Saturday night, so we went to a

nice restaurant for a nice dinner, had a really nice time and,

because the night was still early, we decided to go back to the hotel

and stay low until later in the evening,” he said. “We both ended up

falling asleep.”

Larson said that had the bombing occurred anywhere after midnight,

he and his wife could have been in that club.

He would also have lost as many as 50 friends.

As it is, he knew of a few “acquaintances” who perished in the

attack.

“Indonesia is such a beautiful place with so much to offer and,

because of its incredible beaches and surf, it attracts a lot of

surfers from all around the world,” he said. “This is such a random

and senseless act but I still have friends who I love still living

there, and the surf is still there. I will go back.”

* MIKE SCIACCA covers sports and features. He can be reached at

(714) 965-7171 or by e-mail at [email protected].