A glimpse into the vortex
The first major swell of the Indonesian season arrived in early August, waking Desert Point into the kind of rhythm that has defined the wave for generations — long, hollow walls, heavy sections and seemingly endless tubes unfolding across the reef.
Kayu Vianna made the journey to Lombok to meet the swell at its peak, bringing with him a quiver developed alongside Ross Williams specifically for the demands and nuances of the Indonesian season.
The trip became another passage within Beyond the Vortex, an ongoing film project between Ross Concept and Kayu, produced by Inerente.Co and directed by filmmaker and Ross Concept visual director Santiago Neto, with Ross Williams — founder and shaper of Ross Concept — contributing as creative advisor.
At its heart, Beyond the Vortex is an exploration of going beyond in order to go within. Through Kayu’s surfing and his relationship with alternative design, the project searches for something more instinctive — shapes that don’t dictate how a wave should be ridden, but leave space for intuition, rhythm and individual expression. A pursuit of that fleeting place where design, surfer and ocean begin to move as one, and surfing becomes less an act of performance than a form of art.
For the trip, the quiver was built around the changing rhythm of an Indonesian swell — from the first days of serious consequence to the smaller, more playful surf that followed. Rather than approaching it as a collection of boards for fixed conditions, each design offered Kayu a different way of reading the wave, while still leaving space for his own instinct and expression.
6'2" Long Fish Proto
Shaped specifically around Kayu’s surfing, the 6'2" was designed for the more powerful days of the swell. Extra rail line and hold gave him the confidence to draw longer lines through fast, hollow sections, while keeping the board responsive enough to adjust inside the tube. A design made for speed and control without taking away the freedom to surf instinctively.6'6" Step-Up Long Fish Proto
When Desert Point became heavier and more demanding, the 6'6" added another level of paddle power, stability and control. The longer rail created confidence at speed and allowed Kayu to hold his line through the more critical sections of the reef — a board for when positioning, commitment and trust in the equipment become everything.5'3" Keel Twin Proto
As the swell settled into the four-to-six-foot range, the 5'3" Fish opened up a completely different approach. Short, fast and loose, it allowed Kayu to move away from simply negotiating the power of the wave and begin exploring it more freely — carrying speed naturally, drawing unconventional lines and finding different pockets of energy across the reef.5'8" Asym Proto
Among the quiver was a new 5'8" asymmetric design developed collaboratively by Kayu and Ross. The board began as a Twinzer/Twin, but experimentation continued once it reached the water. Kayu eventually rode it as an asymmetric three-fin configuration, using the small stabilizing fin only on the toe-side — the wider side of the tail. It was a subtle adjustment, but one rooted directly in how Kayu naturally places pressure through a turn.
The Asym perhaps captures the philosophy behind the quiver most clearly. Rather than forcing symmetry, convention or a predetermined way of surfing onto the rider, the design begins with the surfer himself — observing how Kayu moves, where he places pressure and the lines he naturally wants to draw, then allowing the equipment to evolve around that.
Kayu explaning the 5'3 Fish.
Rather than relying on a single formula, the quiver was built to offer Kayu different ways into the wave — more hold and control when the reef demanded commitment, and more speed, release and freedom as the conditions opened up.
That sense of exploration sits at the heart of the relationship between Kayu and Ross.
Kayu has developed much of his surfing around alternative designs — twin fins, fishes and asymmetrical shapes — searching for performance beyond conventional templates. Not simply for the sake of riding something different, but to find designs that leave enough space for his own style, intuition and expression to come through.
The boards are part of that exploration, but equally important is the time spent in the water. Each trip, each session and each new shape becomes another piece of information — something felt, questioned and carried into the next design.
It is an ongoing conversation between surfer and shaper, where neither the surfing nor the boards ever feel completely finished. Each informs the other, constantly evolving toward something more intuitive, personal and connected to the way Kayu wants to move through a wave.
In Lombok, the journey was documented across Super-8 film and digital formats, capturing not only the sessions at Desert Point, but the moments and movement surrounding them — the road, the landscape, the waiting, and the quieter spaces between swells.
These sessions became another chapter of Beyond the Vortex, an ongoing project following Kayu through Bali and across the islands of Indonesia. More than a documentation of waves, the film traces the evolving relationship between surfer, design and environment — following Kayu’s exploration of alternative shapes and the way each board, each session and each new place continues to influence his approach to surfing.
At its core, Beyond the Vortex is as much about the journey inward as it is about the places travelled — searching for a more instinctive and personal form of expression through surfing.
Glimpses from Beyong the Vortex project
The quiver brought to Lombok was built with the peak of the 2026 Indonesian season in mind. Desert Point was simply where those ideas met the waves — where lines drawn in the shaping bay were tested against something real, powerful and constantly moving.
But the purpose was never to arrive at a final answer. Each board, each wave and each adjustment becomes part of a longer process — an exchange between what is imagined on land and what is discovered in the water. Design influences the way Kayu approaches a wave, just as his instinct, movement and experience continue to reshape the designs that follow.
And perhaps that is where Beyond the Vortex really exists.
Not in the search for the perfect board, or even the perfect wave, but in the space between them — where surfer, designer and ocean continually inform one another. A process of going beyond what is already known in order to go deeper within: finding new lines, new sensations, and ultimately a more personal language through surfing.
Lombok became another chapter in that exploration. The journey continues.