Nyoman Sumiyasa

Tommy comes from Klungkung and first started surfing on a plywood boogie board. After a few months he started surfing on a board he borrowed from Piping. He got his nickname because of famous surfers Tom Carroll and Tom Curren. He got his own first 6’3 board from a tourist. Tommy likes fried squid and surfing at Keramas, Serangan and Canggu. Surfing for 9 years between 1986-1995 made Tommy somewhat of an expert surfer and he was the runner up in the OM contest in 1993. He stopped surfing for a few years because his wife forbade him to surf.

Tommy started surfing again in 2002 as a Bali Barrel rider. He was once traumatised when he broke a board while surfing at Geger Beach, Nusa Dua but he also won a board as the result of a surfing challenge from a tourist who didn’t think Tommy could surf.

Tommy is the founder of Bali Boardriders and started a business in January this year, working with Neil marketing his products in Australia. Tommyuses the proceeds to pay the school fees for the kids in his home village. He also had the opportunity to go to Australia with Neil in 2005. The water there was cold when he went surfing.

Tommy thinks the difference between surfing now and before is that before it was rare for brands to sponsor surfers. He wants to develop Bali Boardriders more and is proud to be featured in Magic Wave so that people will know him.He also wants to thank Neil, Tony, Troy and John Bug