Event Reports

Kuta Beach on Fire with Action on Day One of Rip Curl Surf & Music Festival

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  Made Bol Adi putra

  

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  Andre Juluian

  

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  Husni

  

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  Kuta Beach, early morning

  

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  Police Chief

  

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  Test drive

  

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  Test drive

  

13 November 2010, Kuta-Bali:  Kuta Beach was smoking hot today as the Rip Curl Surf & Music Festival had Kuta Beach on fire with hotly contested competition in all divisions, cooking up what promises to be an epic showdown tomorrow when the 2010 Coca-Cola ISC Open and Longboard champions will be crowned.

A major highlight of the day was 2006 ISC champion Rizal Tanjung and 2005 ISC champion Made “Bol” Adi Putra coming out of retirement to compete in the event, starting off in the trials and winning their way into tomorrow’s Round 3.  Speculation has it that they want to knock Putra Hermawan out early so their buddy Pepen Hendrik will come out winning the 2010 Coca-Cola ISC championship title.  We’ll see tomorrow what Putra will have in answer to that!

The day competition started off at 7:30 with three trial heats to decide which four surfers could earn their way into the remaining open spots in first round of the ISC Open Division, then it was straight into the Rip Curl National GromSearch Finals competition.

Andre Julian from West Java and Jeren Kiring from Bali were clear standouts, and joining them in tomorrow’s finals will be Koko Mitsua from Bali and Mansur Ramlin from Sumbawa.  One of these youngsters will be the recipient of the National title tomorrow and receive a ticket to compete in the World GromSearch Finals at Bells Beach Australia next year.

Next up was the ISC Women’s Division, with 8 of Indonesia’s finest women surfers competing in the 1 meter glassy Kuta Beach waves for a finals berth, and after two semifinals it was decided that  3 time ISC Women’s champion Yasnyiar “Bonne” Gea from Nias, Gemala (Java), Stella (Java), and Dyah Rahayu (Bali) will be battling it out for the top spot on the podium tomorrow.

With the rising tide, perfect longboard waves came rolling in for the 15 surfers in the ISC Longboard Division.  After the quarterfinal and semifinal heats were run, which included appearances by Pepen Hendrik, Garut Widiarta, Rahtu Suargita, and Tipi Jabrik who were surfing as much to cool off and have fun as anything, last year’s ISC Longboard champion Husni will be up against Saiful, Mencos, and Fan Bin Syaban in the title race for the Longboard championship tomorrow.

The remainder of the day was spent watching the Open Division contestants battling out in hopes of coming back again tomorrow morning and getting one step closer to the money rounds.  Wayan “Gobleg” Suyadnya showed that he was nothing but serious in his Round 2 heat, posting the day’s highest single wave score of 7.5 out of a possible 10 points, and also getting the days highest heat score of 12.75 in the process.

With the sun going down and Heat 4 of Round 2 completed, Contest Director James Hendy called it a day and announced that competition would resume tomorrow at approximately 7 am, so the competitors should be at the beach and ready to surf at 6:30 am.

But not all the action at the beach was competition, as never-before-attempted Rip Curl Test Drive program was launched with amazing success, as over 100 surfers tryed out the various demo boards in this unique “try before you buy” program.  Shapers Phil Byrne and Richard Evans were there to answer questions and pose for some photos, and according to Rip Curl’s Pete Matthews, all boards were present and accounted for at the end of the day.

And the Rip Curl Surf & Music Festival was so well advertised that even Bali’s Chief of Police Mr. Hadiatmoko and his entourage came by to check out the action.   He climbed up the judging tower to check on the judges, and then walked around to make sure all the tourists were having a good time before posing for some photos and then taking off.

Better get a good sleep tonight because it will be a full day at the beach tomorrow,  and according to the swell forecast the waves should be pumping tomorrow for the final showdown of the ISC Championship and the conclusion of the Rip Curl Surf & Music Festival. With the surfing, skating, airshow, music and much more, it will be non-stop action from dawn to way past dark at Kuta Beach.

For more info and all the action check ripcurl.com and ripcurlasia on facebook

Check out the scores, photos, videos and more on the ISC website at http://www.isctour.com/events/halfway and on the ISC Facebook site at Indonesian Surfing Championship (ISC).

The Rip Curl Surf & Music Festival is sponsored by Kawasaki, Bendkel Production, Trax, Maxim, Surf Time, Rolling Stone, Lines, Coca Cola ISC 100 Sunset Boutique, and OZ Radio Bali

The Rip Curl GromSearch is sponsored by Eat Sleep Surf (ESS), Skullcandy, LIGHT Surfboards, GUS foundation, SurfTime, Lines, and Magic Wave.

Text and Photos:  Tim Hain - Coca-Cola ISC Tour
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Tim Hain
Media Director- Coca-Cola ISC Tour
CV. Selancar Indonesia (ISC)
Jl. Raya Kuta No. 21
Pertokoan Kuta Raya Blok 9 Abian Base
Kuta, Bali 80361
INDONESIA
Phone/Fax: +62 361 768293
Mobile: +62 8123606674
Email: tim@isctour.com
www.isctour.com