Raditya Rondi claims 5 star and THE S.I.G.I.T. rock thousands of fans at Rip Curl Surf and Music Festival
Thousands of surf and music fans packed Halfway, Kuta Beach on Sunday to witness the closing of the 3rd annual RIP CURL SURF & MUSIC FESTIVAL.
The final day of Rip Curl Surf and Music Festival started at 7:30 am continuing with Round 3 of ISC Men’s Open. With clear blue skies 2 ft perfect waves, the action in the water matched the heat on the land with the best Indonesian surfers showcasing some great performances to the international crowd.
By mid afternoon it was local Balinese surfers Mega Semadhi and Raditya Rondi who progressed to the Finals of the main open men’s category fighting a pitched battle in the water. Ending up with one of the closest decisions of the year it was Raditya who clinched the win by a tenth of a point to claim his first ISC victory of the year and collecting a cheque for 4million Rupiah plus 2500 points in the process. Other great surfing came from back to back finals during the afternoon including, ISC Women’s Open, Rip Curl GromSearch, ISC Masters and the first ever ISC Longboard Final.
With the surfing part of the event completed, it was time for some fun and games. The highlight of the games was the traditional Panjat Pinang, which is a tall greased coconut tree trunk standing around 7meters high. Spectators were invited to try their hand at climbing the slippery pole to grab the Rip Curl prize packs that were waiting at the top providing great entertainment for the large crowd gathered on the beach.
The Awards Presentation followed after everybody had walked up the beach to where the giant Rip Curl music festival stage was set up. There, the winners of each division/competition were crowned receiving their awesome real-guitar trophies and cash prize purse.
With the awards presentations finished, the stage was ready to be rocked and the visitors were ready to party. To heat up the crowd before the bands were about to play, Rip Curl offered a fashion show, with hot female and male dancers presenting the latest Rip Curl collection next to exotic fire dancers, capoeira artists and basketball freestylers.
With spectators now frothing for some music, it was local boys Gecko who were the first band to take to the stage getting thing’s started. After an awesome first set, next up was Psycho Fun followed by Painful By Kisses and Scared of Bums who whipped the crowd into a frenzy with local fans singing along with some of the bands’ popular songs.
Last but not least to take to the stage were no other than Indonesian’s famous Rock’n’Roll band The S.I.G.I.T. starting their performance around 10pm. As this was their first time ever giving a concert in Bali, it was no wonder that the fans went crazy when The S.I.G.I.T. showed up at the stage and played the first chord.
Playing some of their most popular songs, such as Black Amplifier, Horse and Only Love Can Break Your Heart, the band most certainly entertained the bulging crowd, especially when bandleader Rekti jumped down off the stage during one of their songs to entertain the fans face-to-face.
The Rip Curl Surf and Music Festival 2009 continued with huge success gathering pace as the biggest Surf & Music event in Bali.
“Were stoked to be able to showcase the best surfing and music Indonesia had to offer on one stage here at Kuta beach - the surf capital of SE Asia. We put a lot of hard work into providing free Surf & Music events like this all over the world and would like to thank the locals and surfers for giving it their support. We look forward to continuing to make this event bigger and better over the next few years’”. Said James Hendy -Rip Curl SE Asia marketing manager.
The Rip Curl Surf and Music Festival is both sanctioned/supported by the Coca-Cola Indonesian Championship tour Maxim, TRAX, Rolling Stone, and SurfTime.
Detailed information about the surfing, please check www.asia.ripcurl.com.
Rip Curl Surf and Music Festival Results:
Men’s Open
1st - Raditya Rondi
2nd - Mega Semadhi
Equal 3rd - Garut Widiarta and Dedy Santoso
Longboard Open
1st - Ian Saguan
2nd - Usni Ridwan
3rd - Made Suardana
Masters’s Open
1st - Ketut Wirtawan
2nd - Nyoman Wastika
3rd - Wayan Gantiyasa
4th - Wayan Widiartha
Women’s Open
1st - Yasnyiar (Bonne) Gea
2nd - Febri Rahma Ningsih
3rd - Stella Hermina
GromSearch Final
1st - Putra Hermawam
2nd - Putu Anggara
Equal 3rd - Charly A and Mulis Jafar
