Mandira "Vonsi"

Like many of the legend surfers whose careers started from their activities on the beach Dira was a drink seller on Legian Beach when he first saw people surfing. The tourists seemed to be having so much fun he really wanted to try it as well. He eventually summoned the courage to borrow a board and learned to surf with his friend Wayan Elog in 1973.

In 197? he was given an old board by a tourist and he made a legrope from rope and a sock. In 1976 he got a new board but still didn’t have a legrope. Even so he was still game to surf waves outside of Legain such as Kuta Reef and Canggu going there on his beloved trail bike. In 1977-78 he would take tourists to Lembongan to surf and that year he also entered his first surfing contest in Kuta. Later on he became the surfing coordinator for a contest at Legian Beach along with the late Wayan Kantor. After that he started a surf tour business to Lembongan.

Nyoman Dira was active in surfing until 1986 when he got too busy with his batik clothing business based in Jogja and he would only surf when he had time. In 1988 he went to Melbourne to work and also took trips to Sydney and Queensland. It was too cold to surf there and the waves were too small.

In 2002 he returned to Bali and after the bomb tragedy he became a surf guide again and also sometimes drives tourists on tours around Bali. He lives in Legian with his wife and three children.
As a legend long associated with surfing Nyoman Dira advises young surfers not to leave school. Don’t make surfing a reason to leave school because school is important and surfing is fun. Be smart and divide your time between surfing and school.

Nama: Nyoman Dira
Nick Name: Mandira “Vonsi”
Date Of Birth: Legian, 9th October 1960
Board Size: 6’6
Style: Goofy