Javanese Blend
On a warm June day, under Indonesia’s harsh midday sun, a row of soft turquoise peaks is stacking up and bending into a wide cove tucked neatly behind a headland overrun by tropical greenery.
A pack of 10 or so local surfers scraps for the frontrunners. Meanwhile, sitting wide of the peak, 21-year-old Deni Firdaus — a fit, 5'8" Indonesian with jet-black hair that’s trimmed short on the sides, with a longer, tousled shock on top — calmly strokes toward the last wave of the set, aiming the nose of his board toward the whitewash of the cresting peak before climbing to his feet and stylishly swinging his dark-red, 9'4" log into the pocket of a racy section. Now locked in trim,
