First time posting on this site, and some great reading. A few comments...to the guy from switzerland who want to go to Indo for a first time surf experience. Take it from Alta Chic, you are not going to learn that fast. I have been surfing for almost thirty years, and the first time I went to Indo after surfing NorCal for ten years solid and was very competent in big surf and I got my head handed to me on big days. Indo can be very very heavy. Go to Waikiki to learn. All you are going to do is put someone in the position of having to rescue you. And if you are going to just surf Kuta, why go? Indo is heavy. Surfing big hollow surf is heavy. Do not underestimate or you will pay a serious price. I have seen excellent big wave riders get seriously hurt on the shallow hard breaking reefs. You just have no idea how a wave like that will grab you and pitch you like a ragdoll on that reef if you get in the wrong place.
And as for why do some guys measure a wave from behind: It is old school. Most guys now outside of Hawaii measure from the front. But it started as a method to measure waves in accordance with swell size as opposed to wave face height. A twelve foot swell (what a buoy will measure) usually has about a twelve foot back, but depending on the reef or bottom has a face about twice as tall. It is just another way of measuring.
