07/11/2017

2017 Rip Curl Cup Opening Ceremony Kicks-Off Waiting Period

Invited athletes and surf fans from around the globe gathered at Padang Padang beach on Sunday for the opening ceremony of the Rip Curl Cup 2017. They came from far and wide to bless the event with good waves, a safe competition, and officially christen the start of the waiting period to the one of a kind tube riding invitational.

It was a standing room only crowd gathered at Padang Padang to watch the presentation and meet and greet with several of the 16 invited surfers, including defending champion Mega Semadhi (IND). The opening ceremony marks the first day of the one-month event waiting period, and means that all 16 invited surfers – eight Indonesians and eight international surfers – are now on-call to be at Padang within 24 hours notice if and when event directors decide to give the green light to run.

The opening ceremony was capped off with the traditional Balinese Kecak Dance performance, to ask the Balinese Gods for permission to hold the contest at this sacred spot and for a massive Padang swell to arrive during the waiting period.

A series of Indian Ocean swells are forecast to reach Bali in the coming weeks and contest directors are monitoring them closely. According to Surfline, the official surf forecast partner of the Rip Curl Cup, the first significant swell will reach Bali on July 15-16, and a possible better swell is currently on the charts for July 20-22. Contest directors are monitoring these swells closely should they develop into potential contest swells to run the Rip Curl Cup.

Event Waiting Period: July 10th – Aug 10th