Friday May 16 – Bangsal Beach, Sanur: Serangan’s Made Awan finished his four days of surfing in Rusty’s Rumble in Da Jungle 6 star ISC contest by standing on the tallest spot on the podium, holding the Big Monkey, a check for Rp 10 million, and a smile that lit up the beach.
With this first ever ISC contest win, Made Awan was almost speechless on the beach after paddling in. All he could say was “I don’t know what to say man, I don’t know what to say! I’m so happy man!” Later on the podium he found a few more words, thanking first his sponsors, his family, Rusty, and the ISC. Awan is sponsored by Reef and Light Surfboards.
Awan surfed every round of the contest, starting with the first heat of Round One two weeks ago on May 2nd. His tuberiding skills and wave knowledge pulled him through each heat, and it sure looked like he was destined to win because in Round Four and in the Quarterfinal today his fellow competitors didn’t show up, so advance automatically to be matched up with first Devis Ratif in the Semifinal, then Wayan “Betet” Merta in the Final today, besting both for a memorable win
The early morning sun had a bit of a hard time breaking through the clouds this morning, but at least the waves were cooperating by occasionally slamming some solid 5-6 sets across the reef. Due to the wind it was a bit bumpy in the early hours, but then it cleaned up and produced some great conditions. Most heats had plenty of waves, and though it wasn’t barrelfest like Round 4 was, by anybody’s standards it was a great day to be surfing.
Things got started jat ust after 7 am with Wayan “Betet” Merta taking down Raditya Rondi in Quarterfinal 1. Rondi was the only goofyfooter left, and put up some good scores, and ended up behind the senior Betet by less than a point, finishing the heat 11.43 to Betet’s 12.13. No barrels to be had, so the boys just had to hack, float and cutback to score.
Quarterfinal 2 had Tipi Jabrik besting Agus Purnawan by more than 3 points with a score of 13.90. Tipi first put up a 6.4 and then finished with a 7.5,leaving Agus needing an 8.4 to advance. Agus was a barrelmeister in Round 4, but today he got shut down on his best barrel opportunity, and Tipi took advantage of that to seal the heat win with a barrel and lots of lip bashing after.
Earlier in the pre dawn morning, actually almost still dark at 6:30 am, Devis Ratif elected to paddle out and warm up with a couple of waves. He did get a couple good ones, but then the lip knocked him off and onto the reef, taking a few chunks of skin from his back. He was laughing through the pain as one of the Rusty crew scrubbed the wounds with lemon, figuring that now the reef owed him seeing as he gave first! Seemed to work, as he started off fearlessly and soon was rapidly pulling away from Nyoman “Koming’ Wastika with high scores of 7.0 and 7.4, and ended up winning by 5.73 over the unlucky Koming, who didn’t seem to be at the right place at the right time very often, his best wave a 5.8.
As Pepen Hendrik was still in Japan and couldn’t make it back for Quarterfinal 4, Made Awan went straight into the Semifinal 2, going up against Devis Ratif. But first, Betet and Tipi had to duel it out in Semifinal 1.
There were still some solid 4 foot sets rolling in on the outgoing tide, and some smaller 3 footers on the inside, so Betet went right to work, getting the first wave to start things off. Neither of Tipi’s next two scored more than a 2.5, so Betet pulled off an 8 to jump solidly into the lead, which he soon sealed with a 7.2. Tipi could do no better than a 4.83 and so the final score ended with Betet at 15.23 and Tipi at 7.37.
In Semifinal 2, Made Awan was amping to go and took the first wave he could find, a smallish insider, turning in a 2.5. Devis did the same, but then Awan charged ahead when he found a nice one to first hack into submission til it opened up a little keg for him, then tucked in and got out for a 5.3. Devis fired back with the next wave in the set, getting him a 5.17 and close to Awan. But Awan’s final wave, a 5.67, put him on top and with no more big sets on the horizon, Devis had to try a few insiders but couldn’t get the 5.8 he needed to best Awan.
In the break before the Final at just on 9:20 am, the over-35 Masters finalists Artha, Gachang, and Gantiyasa paddled out to do battle. Apparently Wayan Pica had prior commitment and couldn’t attend, so it was just the three of them. The importance of wave knowledge was pretty evident in the Final, as Sanur Reef local Gachang threaded his way down the line and rarely got caught behind, scoring the highest wave point total of 11.6 and also the highest scoring wave, a 6.0 on his first wave, which was a nicely lined up double overhead set wave. Made Artha was not far behind however, as he knows this wave very well also and with his powerful natural footer attack did some heavy damage on his waves. Gantiyasa was the lone goofyfooter, and had there been any barrels to be had there may have been a different ending.
When the horn blew for the start of the Final it was just about 9:45 am. The wind was slightly on shore, the tide running out, and the swell appeared to be dropping a bit as well, with some waits between the better formed waves. Awan got off a 4.3 score with a couple of lip smacks and pulling off a floater on the inside. Betet was content to wait a bit, but then fell on his first one. On his next one he made a couple of big sick that earned him a 6 from the judges. Not to be outdone, Awan ripped the next wave apart and finished by pulling off an air drop on the inside for a 7.33. Betet tried to use his priority but he was behind with not many good ones coming through, so tried the inside but couldn’t really get that one big scoring maneuver off. He only needed a 6-point wave by this time, which for him was certainly feasible, but it was not to be. So time ran out and a frustrated Betet paddled in slowly, while an ecstatic Awan virtually flew in to the beach on wings.
So today, four days of surfing culminated in one of the best ISC comps on record. Due to Sanur Reef’s fickle nature, it was extraordinary to get this kind of surf during this short a time period. As Rusty GM and Contest Director Kane Faint said to the crowd after the handing out the trophies, “A big thanks to everybody here at Sanur…we love this place… and we’ll be back again next year!”
So Awan wins his first 6 star ISC contest, Gachang takes home the Masters first place honors, and wait…there is something else….The Macbeth Best Barrel Award! Three surfers were up for the honors, Made Awan, Kane Faint, and Tipi Jabrik, all having gotten 9 point barrels earlier in the event, but Tipi Jabrik was the one that came home with the prize of sunglasses and Rp 2 million for having the biggest and most committed barrel of the three, which happened on Day 3 of the event.
Thanks to Rusty and sponsors Macbeth, Heineken, GUS, Hard Rock Radio, Juice, MagicWave, MTV, SurfTime, and Trax
Pro Results
1. Made Awan
2. Wayan “Betet” Merta
3. Devis Ratif / Tipi Jabrik
Masters Results
1. Gacang
2. Made Artha
3. Wayan Gantiyasa
Macbeth Best Barrel Award
Tipi Jabrik
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