18 seconds period, straight south swell, high-tide in the morning, very raw, almost out of control sets. That’s what I’m talking about, hell yes. They do say if you don’t go, you wont know, click into the highlights from 6 hours of footage of this epic Nias session.
Enjoy this recap – thanks for watching!
Filmed by Iyan Wau @niassurfphotos and Arturo @arturo.p.r.15
@surfrawfiles
The final curtain fell on this year’s Boardmasters as the one and only Florence + The Machine graced the main stage for a dazzling, ethereal headline performance. One of Boardmasters most unforgettable sets of all time brought the festival to a truly sensational close. Boardmasters’ home of Watergate Bay welcomed tens of thousands of adoring fans who gathered for a line up comprising internationally-acclaimed artists, and so much more to be discovered beyond the music.
Florence + The Machine’s headline set was nothing short of euphoric. Florence graced the stage, seemingly floating as she sang along with the crowd to hits including You’ve Got The Love, Dog Days Are Over and Shake It Out. Building up anticipation before the headline act was Irish singer-songwriter Dermot Kennedy who belted out his catalogue of powerful, emotive tracks which have catapulted him to #1 album territory. Tion Wayne, Sofi Tukker, Caity Baiser (who also surprised festival goers with a surprise set at The Cove), and Black Honey amongst others made sure the main stage kept the vibes riding high from start to finish.
Land Of Saints enticed fans with a huge line up including Jockstrap, Squid, Connie Constance, Shygirl, rounded off into the evening and early hours with Four Tet and Joy (Anonymous). Unleashed was the home of high octane dance, d’n’b and more with a stellar mix of acts from Bru-C and Tom Zanetti, to Riton and Charlie Hedges to name a few. Fans kept their dancing shoes on at The Point with DJs including Charlie Boon, Sally C and Sarah Story spinning lively tracks, as well as Paul Woolford going b2b with Danny Howard to make sure the bangers continued into the early hours. The View, looking out onto the sea, played out an eclectic mix of new music, rising stars and much more with VC Pines, Caravaña Sun, Aine Deane and tonnes more keeping fans entertained.
Plus, there was drum’n’bass playing out at The Dockyard and DB90 and late night revelry at The Submarine and 80s cheese and light up dance floors at the Transatlantic Lounge. The Green Team continued on their daily beach cleans, doing their bit alongside festival goers to make strong efforts towards its continued sustainability goals. Beach cleans took place at Porth Beach, Watergate Bay, Great Western and Fistral Beach.
The Qualifying Series (QS) 1,000 Animal Pro and Longboard Qualifying Series (LQS) 1,000 Reef Longboard Pro crowned their 2023 winners in three-to-five foot surf at Fistral beach to wrap the surfing events at Boardmasters. In a battle of epic proportions with British rising star Alys Barton (GBR), the reigning European Champion Yolanda Hopkins (POR) managed to fend off her opponent to claim the first-ever three-peat at the Animal Pro. Kai Odriozola (ESP) and Ido Arkin (ISR) fought in a wave-starved heat and tried to milk every opportunity. Eventually it was the basque surfer Odriozola who found the best scoring opportunity in the tricky lineup. The young San Sebastian surfer appeared in his second Final of a QS and this time managed to convert for a first win on the professional tour at only 17 years old.
The former runner-up in the world, Alice Lemoigne (FRA) continued to demonstrate her superiority in the Cornish waters as she absolutely dominated the Reef Longboard Pro women’s Final. The Reunion Island native became the first surfer to claim five victories at Boardmasters, but only briefly enjoyed the standalone record as she was joined in the last heat of the day by Edouard Delpero who equaled the feat. French surfer from Biarritz, Edouard Delpero (FRA) also managed to claim a fifth win on the Cornish coast, defeating compatriot Martin Coret (REU) as well as Jon Garmendia (ESP) and Ignacio Pignataro (URY) in the event’s Final. In a friendly battle with his own brother for the most wins on tour, Edouard went one better than Antoine, both surfers having won four times before at Fistral. This marks Edouard’s 12th professional win to date.
Yesterday, all camping festival goers are heading home and the post-event clean up operation will begin right away. Boardmasters encourages all camping attendees to take home their tents and Leave Only Footprints. Boardmasters’ team of volunteers, supervisors, charity partners and in-house team will be on site to clear the site once festival goers have left. The clean up operation is a robust and thorough process, with the main aim to leave Boardmasters’ beautiful Newquay home at Watergate Bay in pristine condition. Campsites nearest to Watergate Bay road will be prioritised first. The fields will be clear by the end of the week. Help the Homeless will be salvaging any quality tents that are left behind to help those in need.
It’s certainly been a Boardmasters for the ages. Boardmasters will be back next year, with details to be announced very soon. For more information and to sign up for the 2024 presale for exclusive 24 hour ticket access, visit boardmasters.com.
Mason Ho arrives back in Indonesia and heads to his beloved Desert Point. This time he brings along young North Shore phenom Luke Swanson. They meet up with a few rippers, under lords and sensei’s along the way.
Thank you to all Desert Point Locals!
Surfers: Mason Ho, Luke Swanson, Adam Crawford, Ozzie Wrong, Kekoa Bacalso, Tosh Tudor, Pablo, Roberson brothers, Special Ed, Super KK & Keito Mastuoka.
Rip Curl has officially announced the 16 men and 8 women surfers invited to compete in the 20-Year Anniversary of the Rip Curl Cup at Padang Padang.
The announcement was made on Sunday at the Opening Ceremony, held at Padang Padang Beach in front of a crowd of several hundred fans gathered from all over the world to join in blessing the event with good waves, a safe competition, and officially christen the start of the holding period (Aug. 1st-31st) to the one-of-a-kind tube-riding invitational.
Among the international invitees this year are defending champion Clay Marzo (HAW), WCT legend Taj Burrow (AUS), Kolohe Andino (USA) Mason Ho (HAW), and 15-year-old surfing prodigy Dylan Wilcoxen (USA). Indonesia will be represented by 2x Rip Curl Cup Champion Mega Semadhi, 2x champion Bol Adi Putra, and 2014 champion Garut Widiarta, among others.
Among the elite female tube-riders invited to the first-ever Women’s Rip Curl Cup at Padang Padang are Erin Brooks (CAN), who last year claimed third place in the men’s division, as well as Sierra Kerr (AUS) and Sky Brown (ENG, below).
Two-time Rip Curl Cup Champion and pride of Balinese surfing, Mega Semadhi, said he’s looking forward to a rematch with the big names, and surfing alongside Indonesia’s up-and-coming female chargers as they give it their all out at Padang Padang in the heaviest conditions of the year.
“Padang Padang is one of the most amazing waves in Indonesia and the Rip Curl Cup is for the best of the best out there,” Semadhi said. “If you want the opportunity to surf out there for the Rip Curl Cup, you have to be able to perform with the best. And I think these women are up to the challenge.”
All eyes are now focused on a powerful Indian Ocean swell that is forecast to reach Bali this week. Contest directors are monitoring the swell closely, with a potential contest run day of Friday, Aug. 4th looking increasingly likely. Stay tuned to ripcurl.com for the latest event status updates.
The 2023 Rip Curl Cup Padang Padang will be webcast LIVE to the world at ripcurl.com and at worldsurfleague.com. Fans can also visit the Rip Curl website to check the official event swell forecast, real-time contest status, and video updates from Bali.
Following is the complete lineup of 24 surfers invited to the 2023 Rip Curl Cup:
INTERNATIONAL SURFERS:
Kolohe Andino (USA)
Miguel Blanco (PRT)
Taj Burrow (AUS)
Nathan Hedge (AUS)
Mason Ho (HAW)
Clay Marzo (HAW) *Defending Champion*
Koa Smith (HAW)
Dylan Wilcoxen (USA)
INDONESIAN SURFERS:
Made “Bol” Adi Putra
Mega Artana
Mustofa Jeksen
Raditya Rondi
Mega Semadhi
Tommy Sobry
Agus “Dag Dag” Sumertayasa
Garut Widiarta
WOMEN SURFERS:
Erin Brooks (CAN)
Lidia Kato (IND)
Ziggy Mackenzie (AUS)
Jasmine Studer (IND)
Sierra Kerr (AUS)
Kailani Johnson (IND)
Sky Brown (ENG)
Taina Izquierdo (IND)
The answer to the question surfing fans around the globe have all been asking will be revealed this Sunday when Rip Curl officially announces the 16 surfers – eight of Indonesia’s best and eight of the world’s greatest barrel hunters – invited to compete in the 20th Anniversary of the Rip Curl Cup Padang Padang presented by Samudera Indonesia.
The eight female surfers selected to compete in the first-ever Women’s Rip Curl Cup at Padang Padang – split evenly between local and international athletes – will also be revealed.
The 24 total surfer invitations, as well as the men’s and women’s opening round heat draws, will be announced at the Rip Curl Cup Opening Ceremony on Sunday, 30th of July at Padang Padang. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend the traditional festivities to bless the event with good waves and pray for the safety of the competing athletes.
Due to a lack of contestable swell at Padang during the month of July, the Local Trials will not be held in 2023. Instead, contest directors will select the four remaining Indonesian surfers qualifying for the main event based on their results in last year’s Rip Curl Cup.
These four “Trials Qualifiers” will be re-seeded along with the top-four Indonesian surfers from last year’s Rip Curl Cup – Mega Semadhi (2nd place in 2022), Mega Artana (3rd place in 2022), Mustofa Jeksen (equal 7th place/Semi-Finalist in 2022), and Garut Widiarta (equal 7th place/Semi-Finalist in 2022) – to once again represent Indonesia and compete against the world’s best tube riders at Padang Padang on the heaviest and most dangerous day of waves between 1st-31st of August.
“Unfortunately, the swell never reached the highest standard we need to run the Trials at Padang during the month of July,” said Contest Director James Hendy. “Therefore, we will resort to the cleanest, fairest Plan B option – we will take the back seeds from last year’s Rip Curl Cup Main Event. In other words, the eight local surfers from last year’s main event will be re-seeded into this year’s Rip Curl Cup based upon last year’s results.”
“It’s disappointing that we didn’t get to run the Trials and showcase the talent of all our amazing local surfers at Padang Padang, particularly the younger generation,” added Hendy. “But hopefully the slow July is a sign that we will see high swell activity during the month of August and a very special Padang swell for the 20-Year Anniversary of the Rip Curl Cup.”
The Opening Ceremony marks the start of the one-month Rip Curl Cup holding period, which runs for the full month of August. The Opening Ceremony celebration will begin promptly this Sunday at 3 PM on the sacred sands of Padang Padang Beach, followed by a meet and greet with the surfers and contest organizers. The day will conclude with the traditional Balinese Kecak Dance performance at sunset.
The 2023 Rip Curl Cup Padang Padang will be webcast LIVE to the world at ripcurl.com and at worldsurfleague.com. Fans can also visit the Rip Curl website to check the official event swell forecast, real-time contest status, and video updates from Bali.
RIP CURL CUP PADANG PADANG 2023 EVENT SCHEDULE:
Main Event Holding Period
August 1st – 31st
Opening Ceremony
Sunday, July 30th at 3 PM, Padang Padang Beach, Bali
1. Media Gathering at 1 PM @ Grün Resort Uluwatu
2. Meet the invited athletes
3. Press conference
4. Traditional Balinese Kecak Dance performance
Official Rip Curl Cup Party
Friday, August 25th 5PM – Midnight.
Live performance by special guest at Ulu Cliff House
