Surfing In Malaysia: Made Darmayasa Wins Open and Jessie Hong Wins Women’s Division at Rip Curl Pro Terengganu in Malaysia

3 December 2012, Terengganu-Malaysia: In a very closely contested battle for the ASC Men’s Open Division win, Bali’s Made Darmayasa narrowly trumped fellow Balinese pro Garut Widiarta to take the 6 star Rip Curl Pro Terengganu victory and his first ever ASC tour win yesterday.

Battling it out in a rainy and windy 20 minute final were four Indonesian surfers, two from Bali and two from West Java, going blow for blow in the smallish two-foot waves. Garut Widiarta gained the lead early, smashing out first a 6.5 and then a 7.0 score for a 13.5 two wave total, seeming to have the final won, while the West Javanese brothers Sandi Selamat and Andre Julian and Made Darmayasa prowled the shifty lineup looking for big scores, but only getting average scores.

Then at just after the mid point of the final Darmayasa found his rhythm and posted first a 6.0 and then a 7.5 point score to equal Widiarta’s 13.5 total. The tension in the water and the beach was electric, as both surfers prowled the lineup looking for best wave with which to score 6.1 points or better in order to break the tie. MC Ajill kept the surfers all posted on the remaining time as the minutes ticked by, also informing the crowd and the surfers that even though there was a tie score, Darmayasa would get the win as he had the highest single wave score of the final. In the end it seemed that fate was on Darmayasa’s side, as the ocean failed to give up any more waves and the win was his.

“I feel so happy win this contest, so stoked,” said Darmayasa with his wide trademark grin. “I was scared with Garut, Sandi, and Andre out there, as they all such good surfers, really dangerous! I had to wait and wait to get a couple of good waves, and luckily I had a chance to do a couple of big maneuvers that got me some big scores. I’m so lucky that Garut didn’t catch any more waves too!”

Darmayasa goes home with RM 6,000 (approximately $1,800 USD) and 3,000 Asian Surfing Championship points.

In the Women’s Open Division, it was Taiwan’s Jessie Hong who also won her first ever ASC tour victory. “I really had a lot of fun out there and that makes this win really special,” she said. “At the previous two ASC comps I think I tried too hard, and sometimes got nervous, which worked against me, so through this whole comp I just relaxed and tried to have fun. In the final I didn’t even pay attention to the scores or how I was doing, I just tried to find the good waves that I knew I could surf well.” When asked about the waves conditions, she replied, “Usually I don’t surf beach breaks that well, but somehow here at Teregganu I found it easy and fun!”

The final day of the Rip Curl Pro Terengganu began in sunshine and glassy 2 foot waves, but as the day progressed the clouds gathered and the wind brought rain for the finals of the Bodyboard, Women’s, Longboard, Masters, and Men’s Open Divisions, but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the competitors or the spectators that huddled under tents and cheered for their favorite surfers.

The Longboard Division was won by current and two time Indonesian and Asian longboard champion Arip “Mencos” Nurhidayat from West Java, who quickly combo’d the field with his aggressive and impulsive style in both traditional and progressive surfing to post the highest score of entire event, an 8.0 out of a possible 10, to lead from start to finish and come into the beach with the victory over Tipi Jabrik, Decha Sithidej, and Terengganu local Khairil Doje.

In the Master’s Division, ASC President Tipi Jabrik from Indonesia as the tour’s newest member of the 35 years of age and older club, nabbed his first Master’s victory and now has another trophy to find a place for on his already crowded shelf.

The Bodyboard Division was won by Ibrahim Shiman from the Maldives, which saw two Malaysians and two Maldivians battling it out for the victory.

Organizer and Contest Director Bryan Ng was delighted with the results of the event, saying, “Terengganu is quite new to surfing, so we’ve been working with the government to promote surfing in this area as it is one of the best places to surf in Malaysia. It’s my third year doing an event here and I think we’re making great progress. About 5 years ago when I came here there were about local 5 surfers…now there are about 50. And this weekend we had surfers from all over Asia coming here compete, so I’m really stoked.”

ASC Head Judge Arya Subyakto was also impressed. “It was amazing how well the contestants performed all during the competition,” he said. “Even in some testing conditions especially during the low tide periods. I was particular impressed by Terengganu local Khairil Doje’s performance in the longboard division, from my view he has great potential and it was good to see that, given that the surf community here is only a few years old. It was also great to see the enthusiasm of the locals, coming to compete with the best surfers from around Asia, and to see such a big turnout on the beach each day from the spectators. But I have to say it was a bit different to have so many people at the beach but so few bikini’s and boardshorts on the spectators!”

A total of 61 competitors signed up for Men’s Open Division; 39 Malaysian, 13 Indonesian, 1 each from the Maldives, Taiwan, Thailand, France, and England, and 1 from Singapore.

Of the 18 Women’s Division competitors, 12 were Malaysia, 3 from Indonesia, and 1 each from Taiwan, Thailand, and the USA.

The 15 Masters Division (35 years of age and older) competitors included 8 from Malaysia, 2 from Thailand, 2 from Japan, and 1 each from Indonesia, Holland, and Australia.

The Longboard Division had 14 competitors, 9 from Malaysia, 2 from Indonesia, 2 from Thailand, and 1 from Japan, and the Bodyboard Division had 26 competitors, 20 from Malaysia, 5 from the Maldives, and 1 from Japan.

In conjunction with the government of Terengganu, Rip Curl Malaysia is proud to be the first surf brand in Malaysia to sponsor a 6-star rated ASC surfing competition with total prize money of 36,500 MYR (over $12,000 USD) across five surfing divisions; Men’s, Women’s, Longboard, Masters, and Bodyboard, plus a Skateboard Slalom Race and various specialty awards such as “Best Malaysian Surfer,” “Best Terengganu Local” and more. In addition there was 22,500 MYR ($7,500 USD) worth of Rip Curl products given out to the finalists.

With big prize money and valuable ASC championship points on offer, the Rip Curl Pro Terengganu attracted the Asian region’s best professional surfers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, and the Maldives, as well as surfers from Japan, Singapore, England and France to compete over the weekend that was blessed by good contestable waves, lots of Fanta drinks and Nestle ice cream for all the spectators and competitors, sunscreen from Sunplay, surf lessons from the Rip Curl School of Surf,surfboard shaping demonstration's by world re-known shaper Darren Handley, and surboard painting by Laura Pabst de Cesar. Check out the video clips below to see what went down over the action packed three days.

Video links:

Day 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fMiG1B5hHg

Day 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhQ-JbjXAM8

Day 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJQaW44jMoI and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzyJjYG0uFQ&feature=youtu.be

To see all the results, photos, heat draws, videos and more check Rip Curl Pro Terengganu on the Rip Curl Asia minisite at asia.ripcurl.com, and on the ASC website at www.asiansurfingtour.com.

The Rip Curl Pro Terengganu 2012 was sponsored and supported by the State Government of Terengganu, Rip Curl Malaysia, EC Extreme, the Ministry of Tourism Terengganu Office, and Tourism Malaysia, and co-sponsored by Fanta, Nestle Drumstick and Sunplay with Suria FM as media partner.

Rip Curl Pro Terengganu 2012 Contest Results:

ASC Men’s Open Division

1. Made Darmayasa (IDN)

2. Garut Widiarta (IDN)

3. Andre Julian (IDN)

4. Sandi Selamat (IDN)