Indonesian Surfing Comes of Age in 2008

the awards night party at the Sector Bar in Sanur on Saturday the 8th of November officially closed the 2008 Coca-Cola Indonesian Surfing Championship season, a landmark year for both the ISC and for surfing in Indonesia. what started off as a great year for the ISC, with a record setting schedule of 25 events at the beginning of the season in February, became a stellar year with the ICS's involvement in several unexpected and significant international events, namely the Rip Curl Pro Search, the Oakley Pro Junior Global Challenge, and the first ever Asian Beach Games. 2008, it turned out, was to be the year Indonesian surfing established itself in the professional arena and attracted the support of major national and international sponsorship. It proved to be a ripper of a year

As the ASP World Championship Tour events returned to the shores of Indonesia after a ten year hiatus the Rip Curl Pro Search held in July/August, had the eyes of the worldwide surfing community focused on Bali for well over two weeks. The ISC was involved from the start, first in the planning stages and then assisting throughout the event. The international media as well as the world's best surfers declared the event, ‘the best ever'. After the Rip Curl event Bali was host to the Oakley Pro Junior Global Challenge, a first time event where only sixteen of the world's top junior (under 21) surfers came to Bali to compete for record-breaking prize money of US $20,000 for first place. Press from Australia, South America, Europe, and America covered the event, and again the ISC was there to set up and coordinate the event with Oakley and Surfing Queensland.

Then in arguably the most significant event to occur on Bali shores, for surfing in Asia and in the world, Indonesia had the tremendous honor of becoming the first country ever to have surfing as an Olympic event and the first country to win a gold medal for surfing at the first Asian Beach Games in Bali this last October. ISC CEO Tipi Jabrik and PSOI (Persatuan Selancar Ombak Indonesia/Indonesian Surfing Organization) Vice President Arya Subyakto coordinated and ran all the surfing events during the week event, which garnered worldwide press.

Surfing in Indonesia took another leap in popularity this year, as the eyes of the international surfing world focused on this archipelago that boasts arguably the most consistently high quality waves on the planet earth. But let's not forget what was done at the local and national level as well, through the efforts of the ISC, Coca-Cola Bottling Indonesia, and event sponsors Billabong, Quiksilver, Oakley, Rusty, Rip Curl, Surfer Girl, and Villa Mana. Starting with the Junior surfers, aged sixteen and under, Quiksilver, Rip Curl and Rusty each staged a contest series (a total of thirteen events) to give these young surfers a chance to learn how to surf and compete with good sportsmanship, with the series champion getting the chance to travel internationally to compete in each of the series grand finals. Quiksilver King of the Grom winner fifteen year old Putu Anggara from Nusa Lembongan, went to France, Rusty GromFest winner Gazali Hamzah to Australia, and as the Rip Curl GromSearch winner Gazali will again visit Australia next March to compete in the GromSearch Grand Final. Gazali, from the Dompu Regency in Sumbawa, was also crowned the Coca-Cola ISC Junior Champion of 2008.

Next up was the Pro Junior division, consisting of the under twenty-one year old surfers. Billabong's Pro Junior series of three events attracted some of the best young talent from Australia, South Africa, and America to Bali's shores to compete with our local boys at Keramas, Kuta Reef, and Canggu. Made Raditya Rondi was the highest placing Indonesian in the series, getting him the Pro Junior Division Championship

New for the 2008 season was the Women's Division. Oakley, Quiksilver, Rip Curl and Villa Mana all held women's competitions within their Pro Division contests, and Surfer Girl stepped up and created the first all-girls surfing competition ever held in Indonesia. The ISC has twelve full time women members, and at each competition more and more girls were showing up to join in the fun. This year's champion is Yasnyiar Gea (Bonne) from Nias, who won two of the six events. In the Masters Division, where the over thirty-five year old legends of Bali surfing all still compete like they are twenty years younger, the champion this year was Made Artha, who won three of the six events while also competing in the Pro Division. Completing the lineup is the Pro Division, where Indonesia's best surfers compete for money, points and the prestige of being crowned Coca-Cola ISC Champion. This year's champion is Dede Suryana from West Java, who won three of the eight events on the tour, as well as two gold medals in the Asian Beach Games (Aerial and Team Divisions). Suryana is a fully sponsored professional surfer who has, at age twenty-three, has already travelled the world to surf and been photographed in far flung destinations like Alaska, California, Mexico, Hawaii, and Ireland. He has appeared in numerous local and international surf magazines and surfing movies, and also has the bragging rights to having competed against nine time world champion Kelly Slater, and won, in the final of the Todd Chesser Memorial Surf Contest in Hawaii in 2003!

So ends the fifth year of our professional surfing tour in Indonesia, with the ISC well on its way to achieving its goals of both developing the sport of surfing in Indonesia and providing a pathway for Indonesia's talented surfing athletes to have a professional career and the means to one day become a world champion, thanks to the tremendous support the national and international sponsors and the people of Bali and Indonesia.

Whereas Bali has been the centre of surfing in South East Asia for many years now, and known worldwide for it rich surfing resources, its has historically been recognized only as a holiday tourist destination by the national government with little or no acknowledgement of the actual sport of surfing itself. We hope that through the efforts of the ISC and the PSOI, more support will be coming from the government to help Indonesia's surfing athletes realize their potential and become great role models and examples to others.

We look forward to 2009 as the year surfing really comes of age in Indonesia, we're riding a wave of change here in Bali at the moment and for sure it will be incredible to see how surfing develops throughout the Asian region in the forthcoming months. For more images and information on the activities of the Coca-Cola ISC Tour throughout 2008 visit isctour