José Manuel “Poti” Illumbe

poti mentawai

I was born in Hondarribia and began surfing when I was 11 around Hendaye (France) with my friends. Soon enough I found out about other places to go surfing, and travelled to all over SW France, Canary Isl., Morocco, New Zealand or Portugal and developed a taste for travelling and surfing in different places.

I travelled to Indonesia for the first time in 1998 and found out a country with such a magnificent culture and amazing waves, that it changed my life completely, making me return there every year with friend from Hondarribi and Irun.

bankvaults mentawai

mentawai wave

The year after I went to the Mentawai, after hearing so much about them, and realized that they truly had the best waves I had ever seen or surfed so far. In May 2000 I met David and we started King Millenium.