Seven Ghosts Unleashed

TOM Curren leads latest Rip Curl Tip 2 Tip Search mission to the Seven Ghosts in Indonesia and into the first documented legit river bore barrels in history. The teaser for this video went mental, or 'viral' as people who know that's a good thing say. Hundreds of thousands watched it, waiting for this, the unabridged Bono a chocolate fantasy wave you can ride for the best part of an hour. On Sunday, March 20, after a few test runs to figure out the initial Seven Ghosts tidal pulses, the crew moved into a prime location over the best sand banks on the river and prepared to whip each other into history. With cameras rolling from the skis, zodiacs and helicopter, Curren faded into a growing 6-foot (2m) left-hander, backdoored its folding lip and was spit out to the cheers of the 15-man Search crew intently watching nearby. It was undoubtedly the first legitimate river bore barrel to be made in history. © 2013 Bruno Santos (BRA), Dean Brady (AUS), Tyler Larronde (FRA), Oney Anwar (IND) and original Searcher Tom Curren (USA)**

"This has been the most amazing Search trip in 20 years," Tom Curren said after his groundbreaking river tube. Though tidal surges occur semi-regularly on the Seven Ghosts, a surge strong enough to create the waves captured this March by Santos, Brady, Larronde, Anwar, and Curren is extremely rare. Under the guidance and expertise of Frenchman Antony Colas, who first surfed and documented Seven Ghosts in September 2010, the Rip Curl Search team chose the week of March 18-24, as it coincided with the Spring Equinox and tidal swings which occur only once every 19 years. As it turned out, Colas could not have been more spot-on. © 2013 Rip Curl

"I didn't want to have any expectations coming into this trip, but the waves we've scored out here were pretty crazy," said Brazilian Bruno Santos, who logged in a 35-minute ride and a handful of chocolate barrels. "People dream of experiences like this - it really is the perfect wave." There's no doubt that by the time the last lines rolled off upriver, every surfer had left their mark on history, but fittingly it was Rip Curl's original Searcher, Tom Curren, who was the first to re-write the record books. © 2013 Rip Curl