Oney Anwar Bests Garut Widiarta in Flawless Lances 
Right to Win the Mentawai Pro Presented by Rip Curl 

27 April 2013, Katiet-Mentawai Islands:  In flawless 4-5 foot barreling Lance’s Right 
this afternoon, Sumbawa’s Oney Anwer bested Bali’s Garut Widiarta to claim victory on 
Day 3 of the Mentawai Pro presented by Rip Curl, receiving the winner’s check for 
Rp 25 million (approximately $2,500 USD) and a specially carved Mentawai boatsmens 
paddle as a unique souvenir to take home. 

 

Anwar currently resides on the Gold Coast of Australia but hails from Lakey Peak 
in Sumbawa, and was over the moon with his victory today saying, "To win this event 
is so important to me. I'm from Indonesia, and for Rip Curl Asia to put on this event in 
the Mentawais, in Indonesia, at one of the best rights in the world, and to win it, is a 
dream come true. Thank you to all the people of Katiet and the Mentawais for letting 
us come here and surf their beautiful waves. I can't wait to come back next year!”  
And when asked about how he felt getting a win over Garut Widiarta in the final he 
replied, "Garut is a really good surfer. We've been teammates at Rip Curl for a long 
time and gone on a lot of trips together. The final just came down to who got the 
really good waves. I just feel really lucky right now.” 

 

Widiarta, the lightning fast goofyfooter from Kuta Beach in Bali, was very in form 
all day and certainly deserved his final’s berth.  He bested veteran Pepen Hendrik in 
Quarterfinal 1, then Oney’s older brother Gazali Hamzah in Semifinal 1 on his way 
to meet Oney in the 45 minute final, where both he and Anwar got 9 waves apiece. 
But when the horn blew, a very close score of 16.00 points (out of a possible 20) 
to 15.50 had Anwar the victor. 

 

Lance’s Right is known to be an extremely challenging wave for a backhand surfer, 
especially for long barrels rides, but Widiarta was up to the task with several 
beautiful barrels as well as some incredibly tight vertical backside hacks, scoring 
the highest single wave score of the day in his semifinal heat, a 9.5 out of a possible 
10 points.  When asked if he felt like the underdog in the final being a goofyfooter 
he replied, “I heard a lot of talk about how it was going to be a disadvantage for the 
goofies out at Lance's Right, but I felt like it was really good for me as a goofy going 
backside, especially when the tide gets low, you can really wind up and do some big 
hacks.”  And about the event as a whole?  ““We've spent the last seven days on the 
island and every day has just been perfect waves and nothing but fun. Well done to 
all the surfers, judges, event staff, and especially the locals here at Lance's Right," 
he said with a big smile. 

 

The Mentawai Pro presented by Rip Curl was the first Premium Grade Asian Surfing 
Championship event, and the first event of the 2013 tour season, with the top 16 
ranked ASC surfers competition against 8 international invitees.  A perfect start to 
the season in the world’s surfing Mecca of the Mentawai Islands, this event truly set 
the benchmark for quality waves in exotic locations.  Rip Curl SEA CEO Jeff Anderson 
had this to say about the event, “We could have chosen different waves to surf in the 
Mentawais, but given the opportunity to take the best right hander here we did, and 
with the support of the surfers, the government, and the ASC we are putting Lance’s 
Right back on the map.  Theses barrels are world class, and it’s a dream wave for 
any surfer that can ride a barrel, so this has been the best contest I’ve been to in 
my life…I don’t know how it could get any better than this!” 

 

In addition to all the great surfing action that went down over the last three days 
out in the water, the Rip Curl crew has also been busy in the village of Katiet with 
some important Corporate Social Responsibility projects that will have a lasting 
importance way beyond just putting on a surfing competition. 

Rip Curl, in partnership with the Mentawai government, is supporting three 
separate social development projects in the village of Katiet, on Sipora Island 
in the Mentawais. The first project is a donation of school supplies and toilets 
to the Katiet Elementary School. The second is a 30 million IDR donation to A 
Liquid Future, an NGO in Katiet run by Elizabeth Murray. A Liquid Future provides 
free English classes for local children, as well as surf and swimming lessons, and 
art classes. 

Finally, Rip Curl is providing technical support and materials, in conjunction 
with A Liquid Future, to start a ding repair workshop in Katiet, owned and operated 
by the local villagers. Rip Curl has donated 5 million IDR worth of surfboard repair 
materials, including resin and fiberglass, and provided training and technical assistance 
to local villagers. The objective is to develop a sustainable cottage ding repair economy 
for the locals of Katiet, to repair visiting surfers' broken boards. 

Rip Curl and the ASC would like to thank the crew of the Indies Explorer, the official 
channel boat of the Mentawai Pro presented by Rip Curl. The Indies Explorer provided 
excellent angles for the event photographers and video lensmen to capture all the 
action from the 2013 Mentawai Pro presented by Rip Curl. 

 

Rip Curl would also like to thank the Quest 1, official boat of the Search, for 
transporting event officials from Padang, Sumatra to Lance's Right, on 
Sipora island, Mentawais. 

Mentawai Pro presented by Rip Curl ASC Premium Men’s Open Results:

1.  Oney Anwar (Sumbawa, Indonesia) – Rp. 25 million (approx. $2,500 USD)

2.  Garut Widiarta (Bali, Indonesia) -  Rp. 15 million (approx. $1,500 USD)

Equal 3^rd:  Tipi Jabrik (Bali, Indonesia) and Gazali Hamzah (Sumbawa, Indonesia) – Rp. 8 million (approx. $800 USD)

  
The Mentawai Pro presented by Rip Curl is sponsored by the Government of West Sumatra, 
the Tourism Department of the Mentawai Islands, Tourism Indonesia, Andalas Internet, 
Indies Explorer, Quest 1, and Losman Ombak, with media support 
by Magicseaweed.com, Indosurflife.com, Surftime Magazine, Juice, and Lines Magazine.

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