Rip Curl Mentawai Pro Rd 3

Lance's Right Delivers For Opening Rounds 

HTs served up 4 to 5 foot perfection for Rounds 1 & 2 of the 2013 Mentawai Pro presented by Rip Curl on Thursday. 

25 April 2013, Katiet-Mentawai Islands:  In what ASC Judge Billy Hangan described as a “perfect 
day at the office”, the Asian Surfing Championship’s top 16 surfers and the 8 international invitees 
were treated to a day full of barreling 4-5 foot Lance’s Right perfection to start off the Mentawai Pro 
presented by Rip Curl today.

 

The arrival of a new swell had the competitors frothing to get started as the rising sun revealed 
4-5 foot sets launching themselves onto the reef and offering up barrel after barrel in the early 
morning light.  Contest Director James Hendy had no hesitation in green lighting the start of the 
event at just after 8 am.  Though there were some periods of rain in the morning and a few 
quiet times in a couple of the heats, the consensus from competitors and the organizers alike 
was that “it doesn’t get much better than this!” For a surfing competition, anywhere in the world, 
it was a competitors dream, as the quality of the waves was indeed second to none. 

 

The highlight reel is chock-a-block full, topped by Heat 7 of Round 1, which saw Bali’s Made 
Darmayasa post a 10 point score for a big and deep barrel, Nusa Lembongan’s Putra Hermawan 
rack up the highest combined heat score of the day, a 17.60 (out of a possible 20), and 16 year 
old Sunshine coaster Harry Bryant get one of the best contest waves of his life, scoring a 9.4 
(out of a possible 10). 

“Having no sleep and throwing up all night, I didn't know if I could even surf,” said Harry.  
 “But I went out to the boat anyway, and just watching those pumping waves definitely inspired 
me to get out. It’s funny too because I almost missed my heat, I was so busy watching the waves, 
but then noticed there were only two guys out, and somebody was calling my name.  So I paddled 
out after 6 minutes had already gone by, and I already needed 14 points, so was combo’d for 
basically the whole heat.” 

 

He went on to describe the wave, saying, “So when I saw that wave coming I just took off, I didn't 
know if it would be a good one or not before I paddled for it, but after I dropped in I just had 
100 % confidence that I would get a good score.  Getting spat out and hearing the cheers from 
the crew on the boat, it was the best feeling ever. This is the best experience a surfer could ever 
get at the age of 16, especially with Rip Curl as my sponsor.  Getting to know all the Indonesian 
crew, and the local guys, I'm so lucky to be here.” 

Fellow Aussie Jackson Baker from Newcastle, also 16 years old, was narrowly defeated in the final 
seconds of his Round 2 heat against 2011 Indonesian Surfing Champion Marlon Gerber from Bali.  
Baker was leading until the last 30 seconds of the heat, when Gerber under priority needing an 
8.1 score, locked into a beautiful tube ride that got him an 8.5 and the heat win. 
Baker was still smiling back on the beach, showing off a few battle scars from his Lance’s adventure 
saying, “Last night I paddled out at almost dark and got a sick one, then tried for a little one and 
got sucked over the falls and dragged along the reef on my belly, so this morning before my first 
heat Matt George patched me up.  It stung like hell at first, but it I got a couple of ok ones in my 
heat so I was stoked. In my second heat with Marlon it still hurt but only until I paddled out, and 
then it felt fine.  I just wanted to get as many barrels as I could, and was leading the heat with an 
8 and a 6.4, all the way until just 30 seconds to go, and then Marlon got a nugget under his 
priority so I could do was watch and hope he fell or something.  But this was such a good 
experience at such a great wave, it rates really high especially compared to contests back home.” 

 

Getting the most intense heat of the day award was Heat 4 of Round 2, which saw the ASC’s top 
ranked surfer Pepen Hendrik up against local wildcard winner Marvius.  Marvius got right to work 
and posted the second highest score of the heat, an 8.25 out of possible 10, to jump into the lead. 
Hendrik had his work cut out for him, gaining the lead just to have Marvius snatch it away again. 
Finally Hendrik posted an 8.4 that put him into the lead again, and luckily for him Marvius couldn’t 
find another deep barrel before time ran out, so the heat ended with Marvius’ two wave total of 
15.30 points narrowly short of Hendrik’s final total of 15.90. In the post heat interview it was 
revealed that some 10 years ago on a surf trip here to Lance’s Right, Hendrik had given a young 
grom surfer one of his surfboards…and that grom was Marvius. 
No wonder Hendrik is such a legend to the local’s here! 

 

To sum up the day, ASC Judge Billy Hangan has this to say: “It was a real pleasure to be judging 
at this comp with waves like this today.  From the very first barrel from Kaishu Tanaka in heat 1, 
through Darmayasa's 10 pointer in Heat 7 of Round 2 and finishing with the last gasp tube ride 
from Tipi Jabrik in the final seconds of the day to pip Mega under his priority in Heat 8 of Round 2... 
Just a perfect day at the office!” 
Contest Director James Hendy has the Round 3 contestants on standby for a 7:30 am call tomorrow, 
as the swell is predicted to drop a bit but as Mother Nature has her own mind, best that everybody 
is ready for action at daybreak. 

Round 3 matchups are as follows:

Heat 1:  Dede Suryana vs Putra Hermawan

Heat 2:  Rahtu Suargita vs Gazali Hamzah

Heat 3:  Made Widiarta vs Teiki Ballian

Heat 4:  Pepen Hendrik vs Made Adi Putra

Heat 5:  Marlon Gerber vs Sebastian Smart

Heat 6:  Darmaputra Tonjo vs Oney Anwar

Heat 7:  Made Darmayasa vs Wayan Susiana

Heat 8:  Mustofa Jeksen vs Tipi Jabrik

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HISTORY

About the Asian Surfing Championships

The goal of the Asian Surfing Championships is to grow the sport of surfing in Asia from the grassroots level by assisting each country in creating organized and sanctioned events that will develop the skills of their surfers in healthy competition as well as to draw attention to their area for the progression of surfing locally, nationally, and throughout the Asian region. 

Organized surfing competitions have historically been the best medium for the development of surfers and for the sport of surfing.  Learning how to compete fairly and to being disciplined in training and competition key assets needed not only for surfing but also for life.

The ASC works with the local, national and multinational event sponsors and organizers to maximize the results of these competitive surfing events towards accomplishing the goals of sharing the sport of surfing and bringing positive economic, social, and environmental benefits to the people in these Asian countries.

With a multi-stop and multi-national surfing tour, Asian Surfing Champions will be crowned each year in multiple divisions including Open, Women, Longboard, Junior, and Master.