Rip Curl introduced a new event formula, mixing up surfing and...

Rip Curl introduced a new event formula, mixing up surfing and live music, and creating Indonesia’s first SURF AND MUSIC FESTIVAL, held on Bali’s world famous Kuta Beach on Sunday October 7. Similar to Rip Curl’s International Surf and Music festivals in Bells Beach, Australia and Hossegor, France the event featured an ISC (Indonesian Surfing Championship tour) sanctioned surf event followed by a concert featuring some of Indonesia’s most up and coming bands drawing around 2000 people to the beach to check out this innovative event.

The day started out at 6:30 am with two trial heats, before going into the first round at about 7:15 am. It was a full day of surfing with fairly consistent 2-3 foot conditions early with the higher tide, then dropping a bit to 1-2 foot on the low tide. A fair amount of close-out waves gave the boys some challenges, but local knowledge had most of the top seeded surfers like Lee Wison, Rizal Tanjung, Bol, Made “Garut” Widiartha, Ketut “Mega” Semadhi, getting through into the quarterfinals. And though it would seem that the smaller and lighter guys would have had the best shot at the win, due to the small waves, a look at the final four proved otherwise. Local knowledge and experience were critical, and all the finalists have surfed Halfways Break since they were kids, so knowing its quirks and kinks were key success factors. In the end, current ISC Pro Series points leader Lee Wilson continued his charge for the championship with his win at the Rip Curl Surf and Music Festival on Sunday, waiting until the final minutes to pick off two high scoring waves and wrestle the lead away from Tipi Jabrik, who looked to have the win solidly in hand.

After the awards presentation, the crowd moved down the beach to the big Rip Curl Stage, where they were treated to several hours of live music. Headlined by Saint Loco, a popular band from Jakarta local bands Fuzz Clan, Painful by Kisses, Discotion Pill and Scared of Bums rocked the beach playing powerful rock until late at night.

All in all the Rip Curl Surf & Music Festival was a fantastic mix. The big crowd of surf and music fans rocked Kuta massively, dancing through the night…so be sure to be there next year!

Added: October 20, 2008
Producer: Rip Curl
Copyright: Rip Curl
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