21 January 2010, Piha – New Zealand: In conditions that Team Coach Tipi Jabrik said “nobody would ever surf in unless there was a contest on”, thankfully only one member of the Indonesian team had to paddle out and do battle with the brutal elements on Day Two of the ISA Quiksilver Junior World Surfing Championships.
The incessant and howling offshore winds were joined by frequent rain squalls to make conditions on the beach quite unfriendly, not to mention what was happening out in the ocean. 4-6 foot storm surf with raging rips resulted in a 15-minute paddle out time and 25 minute heats for the 9 heats of the Under 18 qualifying Round Two.
Due to the conditions and the anticipation of a break in the weather on Saturday, the organizers decided to have an abbreviated day of competition and allow just the more seasoned of the athletes to test themselves against the extreme conditions, therefore the lucky top surfers from the previous day’s Qualifying Round One including Tim McDonald (AUS), Keanu Asing (HAW), Gabriel Medina (BRA), Tamaroa McComb (TAH) and Indonesia’s Putu Anggara were called back into action instead of running the repercharge rounds in both the Under 16 and Under 18 Divisions as anticipated.
Despite having the expert local knowledge and tutelage of Nick Ngau-Chun at his disposal before his heat, Anggara was unable to repeat his solid performance of the day before and failed to catch any waves during his allotted 25 minutes. “It was so hard to know which waves to even paddle for out there, and with the strong currents and the wind I couldn’t get in a good position at the right time, the waves were breaking all over the place. I couldn’t even hear the horn at the end of my heat, and so the jetski had to come out and give me a ride in. I’m bummed I let down the team today, but I’ll do better next chance I get for sure,” said Anggara after his heat.
After the contest was called off for the day, the team was treated to a trip into Auckland to search for some Indonesian food in consolation for their tough day. Fiona Anderson arranged a van with her son Luke as the driver and everyone piled in for the drive. After a bit of searching around, luck was with the team and they happened upon an Indonesian couple from Jakarta who directed them to Warung Wardani, where they gorged themselves with Nasi Ayam, Satay Ayam, Nasi Padang, and Mie Goreng and just about cleaned out the place. While there they met up with Kadek Henk from Kuta, who has been living in Auckland for about four years now, so it was a great reunion and a great end to the day.
Conditions are expected to improve throughout the next few days, so everyone is really looking forward to that.
Stay tuned for daily updates on www.isctour.com and www.isaworldjuniors.com
The funding for the Indonesian team’s trip comes from the generosity of the surf industry supporters consisting of Billabong Asia, Hurley, Oakley Indonesia, Quiksilver Asia, Rip Curl Asia, and Rusty Asia, Coca-Cola Bottling Indonesia and the Coca-Cola Indonesian Surfing Championship Tour, KDBJ Tours and Travel, Nick “Chongee” Ngau-Chun, Fiona Anderson at the Piha Domain Camp Ground and Ben Kennings of Surfing New Zealand.
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Tim Hain
Media Director- Coca-Cola ISC Tour
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