Surf - 23 Jul 2021

Surfing Bali with Kai Johnson

Bali has some of the best waves in the world. Last year, these breaks were left uncrowded… Imagine, surfing perfect world famous waves all by yourself. We had to catch up with our Billabong surfer & Bali local, Kai Johnson, to live vicariously through her in what can only be described as a surfer’s paradise.

Born and raised in Bali, I grew up living in Nusa Dua but have been living in Keramas area for the past three years. I’m so grateful as both places have beautiful beaches and great waves, which perfectly fit my love for the ocean. Naturally, living near the beach and with my dad being a surfer, he taught me how to surf at the age of 5 years old.

I started surfing competitively when I was 11 years old in local grom competitions and enjoyed it so much that I continued to pursue it, which led me to traveling and competing nationally, then internationally.

A perfect surf day in Bali to me would be waking up at dawn and surfing Keramas early and uncrowded. With the sunrise accompanied by fun peeling waves and glassy barrels. Then, in the afternoon, surfing the long waves at Uluwatu, sharing waves with friends, until the sun goes down!

As far as I can remember I’ve always been at the beach and in the ocean almost every day. I fell in love with surfing basically as soon as I started it because it was an excuse to be at the beach all the time and the feeling of riding a wave all the way to the sand was so addicting as a kid.