23 October 2009, Kuta-Bali: Perfect 3-4 foot waves at Padma Beach had the contestants, the spectators, and the event judges all smiles and cheers today at the historical first ever Indonesian Surfing Championship Tour Longboard division event that was kicked of as part of the Rip Curl Surf and Music Festival taking place on Kuta Beach this weekend.
The longboard competition was planned for Kuta Beach but the morning light revealed smallish conditions at Halfways and the beginnings of an epic session brewing at nearby Padma Beach, so the call was made to pack up and move up the beach about a kilometer. By 10 am the ISC and Rip Curl crew’s had everything set up and the rising tide had groomed the sandbar to perfection for the start of the first heat.
A total of 22 surfers from Indonesia, Brazil, Japan, Australia, France, Hawaii, the Philippines, the USA, and Italy, competeted in today’s competition, which ended at just after 2 pm with all but the Final completed. The Final will be held on Sunday the 25th, at Halfways on Kuta Beach along with the other division finals in the Rip Curl Surf and Music Festival.
The four expert longboarders that made it into final are a very diverse group, consisting of arguably Indonesia’s most proficient longboarder Usni Ridwan from Java, together with Toby Smith from New York (USA), Made Suardana from Bali, and Roy Siguan from the Philippines. It was a pitched battle all day, with all the surfers performing so well that it was anyone’s guess who would make it to the final. Head Judge Arya Subyakto said, “This is a historic event for longboarding in Indonesia. These guys are performing to a very high standard, and each heat keeps getting better and better. This is just the start of an era.”
The surfers were very pleased with the event as well. After Semifinal 2 was over, Roy from the Philippines took a deep breath and said, “Wow, I can’t believe I made it into the final! I’m so glad I made the trip here, because it was really a last minute thing. My sponsor heard about it less than a week ago, and then told the four of us we needed to start packing. This is unbelievable…so great. Hope the waves are this good for the final!”
Bob Monkman, the oldest contestant in the competition today, was quite happy to have been surfing at Padma today. “This was really fun! I didn’t ever expect to be surfing a longboard comp on my holiday. And when I saw all the young guys here, I didn’t think I had much of a chance. So when I made it to the semifinals, I was really surprised! Couldn’t get many good ones in the semifinal unfortunately, they mostly closed out on me, but in all my other heats I couldn’t get a bad wave…my luck ran out I guess…hahaha!
Toby Smith from New York couldn’t keep a smile of his face either. “This is the first time I’ve surfed here at Padma beach. Can you believe these waves? I can’t imagine it could be any better. It was a dream, to be surfing these high quality waves with just a couple other guys in the water. And getting into the final. What an epic day! I hope you guys keep doing this next year, I’ll be here for every one of them,” he said.
A surprise visitor to the event today was non other than four-time World Champion Nat Young from Australia, passing by to say hello and get a few waves in up the beach. He was with his daughter Nava, who is also a very proficient longboarder. They were delighted to see such an event here, and gave it a big thumbs up.
The Rip Curl Surf and Music Festival will continue at Kuta Beach tomorrow morning, with the start at approximately 8:00 am. More than 80 contestants will be vying for prize money, trophies, goodies and valuable ISC Championship points in the Open, Women’s, and Masters Divisions, and the action over the next two days will also include the Rip Curl 2009 GromSearch Finals, where the lucky grom (under 16 year old surfer) will win a trip to Australia to compete in the World GromSearch Finals at Bells Beach.
Live bands including S.I.G.I.T, Scared of Bums, Psycho Fun, Painful by Kisses, and Gecko will produce a raging party will finish things off on Sunday night, so don’t miss this exciting and unique event!
The Rip Curl Surf and Music Festival is sanctioned by the Coca-Cola Indonesian Championship tour, and sponsored/supported by Maxim, TRAX, Rolling Stone, and SurfTime.
congratulations from panama city republic of panama.
At Last!!! Longboard pics from my favourite place. Please keep them coming