Rip Curl has officially announced the 16 surfers invited to compete in the Rip Curl Cup 2017, to be held on the best day of waves at Padang Padang between July 10 and August 10.
Among the world’s best surfers preparing to push the limits of tuberiding in pursuit of the prestigious title are: 3x World Champion Tom Curren (USA), North Shore charger Mason Ho (HAW) and former WCT superstar and style icon Bruce Irons (HAW). Among the surfing luminaries representing Indonesia are defending Rip Curl Cup Champion Mega Semadhi, Indonesian surfing ambassador Rizal Tandjung and two-time Indonesian Champion Lee Wilson.
Going by the numbers, there’s no question 2017’s lineup of invited surfers is one of the most potent ever assembled: a 3x World Champion, five WCT event Champions and four Indonesian National Champions are among the all-star lineup of surfers vying for the 2017 Rip Curl Cup at Padang Padang.
In addition to Curren, Ho and Irons, goofyfoot barrel mercenaries Damien Hobgood (USA) and Clay Marzo (HAW) will also be making their return to the Rip Curl Cup, hoping to better their finals appearances from last year and claim The Cup. Meanwhile, reigning Rip Curl Cup Champion and pride of Balinese surfing Mega Semadhi said he’s looking forward to a rematch with the big names, no matter how it plays out.
“Padang Padang is one of the best waves in Indonesia,” Semadhi said. “It’s the perfect spot to share with some of the best tube riders in the world. When you get that combination of wave quality and talent for one special day, everyone is always going to leave stoked no matter where they end up finishing.”
Following is the complete surfer lineup for the 2017 Rip Curl Cup:
International Surfers:
1. Tom Curren (USA)
2. Mason Ho (HAW)
3. Damien Hobgood (USA)
4. Bruce Irons (HAW)
5. Kai Otton (AUS)
6. Bruno Santos (BRA)
7. Clay Marzo (HAW)
8. Jack Robinson (AUS)
9. Jacob Willcox (AUS)
10. Ryan Burch (USA)
Note: Only eight international surfers will receive a spot in the event. Entry granted on first-come, best-dressed basis.
Indonesian Surfers:
1. Bol Adi Putra
2. Raditya Rondi
3. Mega Semadhi
4. Rizal Tandjung
5. Pepen Hendrik
6. Garut Widiarta
7. Lee Wilson
8. TBD (winner of local trials)
The final remaining invitation will go to the winner of the local trials, to be held at Padang on the best day of surf conditions from July 1 – 7.
Arpad Leclere is 16. He was born in Belgium and raised in Bali. He’s been on the radar and shredding since he was around 12, but this year he has really stepped up his game.
Thanks to social media we often get blips and a few laughs from behind the scenes at Dane Reynolds’ house. His wife Courtney (@NapkinApocolypse)’s Instagram is must-see social media. Between Sammy, Boogie, Pam and the pigeons, it’s content cute overload. And beyond that there’s Dane, the man behind those scenes, is front and center in his scenes. Dane recently produced Chapter 11, his more or less tell-all about the prime of his professional surfing career and the highs and hurdles stemming from the interesting challenges it presented him personally. Above he talks about his next prime. Building a continually growing family, starting his new brand Former now that he’s left Quiksilver, and traversing the world that comes with all that. It’s a lot of new in his world. He still loves surfing. Sitting in the parking lot at Emma Wood. And the occasional Modelo. But our friends at What Youth went over to get a look at how Dane’s next chapter is coming along.
The first dead shark – 15ft one-ton great white – washed up on May 3 and the following day a 12ft shark washed up nearby. Three days later a third dead great white was washed up. A fourth, a 12 foot male, yesterday. All had had their livers removed with surgical precision.
Experts believe Orcas are feasting on their organs because of a love for a compound called squalene. Maybe with the ocean equalivent of a nice chianti?
An ex shark, ceased to be, bereft of life..
Marine Dynamics, a conservation body which also runs shark cage diving trips, confirmed the latest great white had died of Orca wounds
Biologist Alison Towner said
‘Obviously this is a very sad time for us. Nature can be so cruel but the dexterity with which these killer whales are capable of is mind blowing – almost surgical precision.
‘That is the way in which they have removed the squalene-rich livers and dumped the shark carcass. We have never seen anything like this before in great white deaths. ‘In the attacks there is left a large gaping hole between her pectoral fins where they were torn apart to reveal her body cavity and that their large livers were completely missing.”
Yes the annual summer great whitey story has hit the shelves, or internet which ever you prefer.
This year the Independent is claiming a great white is hunting off…Hayling Island!
Shark angler Graeme Pullen says he has been trying to catch the shark after sightings. The shark is “the big one,” he says “This is no basking shark, no porbeagle, blue or mako”… Oo er…
One fisherman has reported it was “huge, the biggest shark I have ever seen”.
Fishing partner Mr Comben said he is “not prone to imagination” and couldn’t see “what else it could have been other than a great white”.
Carve has repeatedly spoken to Richard Peirce, chairman of the Shark Trust, who has been hunting for large sharks for years and while the conditions in waters around the UK are suitable for great whites to be visitors, he has never come across one.
We have seen huge porbeagles around the coast, but not one story we have investigated has come up with a great white.
A great white could end up off UK shores though.. See the story of Lydia below
In 2014 Lydia a Great White of 4.4meters long weighing 2000lbs was 1,000 miles away from the UK and heading towards the British Isles. Tracked by the scientists at shark research organisation Oceach the shark had travelled more than 19,000 miles since she was tagged.
She hung around just above the North Atlantic ridge. If she swam over that then technically she would have been the first recorded great white to cross the Atlantic. But she turned around and headed back to the tropics. Well you would, wouldn’t you?
Although there has been much conjecture about great whites, who travel thousands of miles in their lifetime, appearing in British and Irish waters there has been no confirmed evidence. So Lydia provided scientists with invaluable data.
Dr Gregory Skomal, senior fisheries biologist with Massachusetts Marine Fisheries, told BBC News: “No white sharks have crossed from west to east or east to west.
“Although Lydia is closer to Europe than North America, she technically does not cross the Atlantic until she crosses the mid-Atlantic ridge, which she has yet to do.
“She would be the first documented white shark to cross into the eastern Atlantic.””
The shark first tagged in Jacksonville, Florida and named after the founder of Bradley University, has travelled 380 miles in the last 72 hours. IF she continued at that rate she COULD be in the water off Cork or Cornwall less than three days.
You can track Lydia and other sharks world-wide on the fantastic Ocearch tracker here www.ocearch.org/#SharkTracker
The Shark Trust post this release in response the claims…
