Holding true to its slogan, “it’s on when it’s on,” Rip Curl has decided to call off its 2017 invite at South Bali’s Padang Padang, because the waves just weren’t “on.”
The announcement to pull the plug on this year’s cup came on Monday afternoon, five days ahead of the month-long waiting period cutoff which falls on August 10.
The big hope was that a large swell coming in this weekend would deliver those beautiful barrels that characterize the Rip Curl Cup. A total of 16 pro surfers had been ready to compete, consisting of eight international surfers and eight Indonesians.
And although some waves sure looked nice at Padang Padang this weekend, they “weren’t good enough”, by Rip Curl’s world-class standards. There could be no competition “without the magic swell required to run the hallowed event,” Rip Curl Asia wrote in a press release shared with Coconuts Bali.
There were several close calls for the competition, with Rip Curl going on high alert last Thursday and also this past weekend. But the competition, which ran its waiting period starting on July 10 during “prime swell season” just “never reached the world-class caliber required to hold the Ultimate Tuberiding Contest.”
“With just five days remaining in the waiting period, invited surfers and fans were hoping that the impressive westerly swell that hit Bali over the weekend of August 5 might provide the classic daredevil waves the Rip Curl Cup demands in order to hold competition.
“While there was the occasional spitting bomb on Saturday evening at Padang Padang, the conditions were never spectacular or consistent enough to greenlight what has become the most anticipated barrel shootout of the year,” Rip Curl wrote.
“Our standard is to guarantee 16 of the world’s best tube riders are competing on the best day of the year at Padang Padang,” said Rip Curl Southeast Asia Marketing Manager James Hendy.
“Anything less would mean compromising the integrity of the event.”
Holding the competition at an alternate site, like at Bingin or Uluwatu would be out of the question, as it can only be held at “Bali’s premier barreling wave,” according to Hendy.
American surfer and Rip Curl Cup invitee Dillon Perillo says event organizers made the right choice.
“I think it was a good call not to run the event on the mediocre days at Padang Padang.
“If you run this event, you want to have full guns blazing.”
While there’s been swell every day, it just wasn’t consistent enough, said the American surfer.
“People have been getting barreled every day and there’s been people on the cliff watching and cheering. It just wasn’t good enough for this standard of a contest. When the waves did come they were pretty legit, but there weren’t enough waves every 30 minutes for a heat worthy of a global audience. This isn’t a wave catching contest, it’s a barrel riding contest.”
So, as a result, reigning Rip Curl Cup Champion, Balinese surfer Mega Semadhi, who grew up just down the road from Padang Padang, will have to wait another year to defend his title.
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