Today I went to the pro surfing event at Uluwatu. It's the same place where the cliff-side temple is that both Kir and I posted pictures of before. It's the temple with the monkeys.
The ASP is the Association of Surfing Professionals. This is event number six on the yearly eleven stop tour, and it's sponsored by Rip Curl. The official name is the Rip Curl Pro Search 2008.
This tour stop is being held in Bali, at the famous Uluwatu and Padang-Padang breaks. Padang-Padang only breaks well when Uluwatu hits 15 feet, and since the swell was smallish today, the event was held at Ulu. Ulu is rarely under four feet, so it's a pretty reliable wave.
Surfing contests have "waiting periods". Because the ocean is unpredictable, you can't set an exact date for the competition, because the waves might be too small, too dangerous, too slow, or whatever else. This event's waiting period is from July 30th to August 10th. Today was day three.
The surf wasn't as good as other days. I went with Natalie, Kir and my Swiss friend. We got to the site at 8am, after leaving at about 7:30. When we got there, we heard that the comp was being postponed until 12:00, for a possible 12:30 start.
The swell was still too small at lunchtime, and the surf was not breaking well enough for the comp to go ahead. It was decided that it would break better on low tide, in a few hours. The contest eventually got up and running at 2pm, six hours after we arrived.
We spent our time, along with many others, waiting in the cliffside warungs (food stands) that overlook the surf. It wasn't up to professional standards, but there were lots of surfers getting good waves anyway, so it was fun to watch.
The Uluwatu area has many breaks. They are reef breaks, so they tend to break fairly consistently all the time. As such, these different areas have names. Uluwatu has breaks named Temples, Outside Corner, The Peak, Racetracks, and others. You can see all the different breaks from the cliff, but generally you only surf one of them during a session because it would take too long to paddle among them, even though they're all relatively close together.
Today, the comp was going to be held at the Peak area during high-tide, but it wasn't breaking well enough today. It was then decided to hold the event at low-tide Racetracks. Because of this change, the traditional planned viewing areas were espoused, and everyone walked down to the now-visible beach just beyond Racetracks. Low tide exposed sand, and everyone took advantage.
These are pictures of the fans making their way to the reef to watch the action. We had to walk through some really awesome cave areas for about 100 meters, before we got spit out on the beach.
Once on the beach, there was virtually no shade, so the responsible spectators found shelter in this cave, which would have been underwater at high tide. I stashed my backpack in here, beside some others.
Since the area was new, the press didn't have a better spot than the rest of the fans. Here is a view of some photographers taken from inside the cave where I parked my pack. I occasionally went in there for shelter, but spent most of my time in the sun.
There was a live webcast streaming on the internet, and I think this guy was involved in that. He's got a big antenna coming from his pack, so I figure he's either involved in the media end of the competition, or is waiting for aliens to land.
Here's another shot of Press Row. You can barely see a surfer in the wave, and they're all taking pictures. They have expensive cameras with big expensive lenses, and I could hear the shutters clicking away multiple times per second. Even though it looks far away, the surfers were actually really close, and the fans were in on all the action.
Sometimes, surfers would get into great tube rides. We'd watch as they disappeared deep into the wave, and we'd wonder if they'd make it out. Suddenly, after we thought he'd for sure wiped out, he'd reappear shooting out of the barrel, and we'd all clap and cheer. It was exciting!
The atmosphere was really relaxed. Some people watched from the cliff, some people sat on the sand, and some relaxed in the cool tidal pools. It was great, and I really enjoyed the way it all turned out. I spent my time wading around in the pools, looking for little fish and other reef life when there was nobody surfing to watch.
This surfing contest had two surfers in the waves at a time, competing against each other for the better score. In each heat, the surfer with the better score was rewarded with a spot in the next round. Each heat was thirty-five minutes long, and the surfers would catch as many waves as they could in that time frame. Their best two waves were counted and the scores combined.
The atmosphere wasn't hectic at all. When the surfers were done their heats, they would walk out of the water, along the reef or the sand, and through the fans.
They were never mobbed like hockey players would be. It was really laid back, and the surfers walked by as everyone kept on relaxing in the sun. Here, Dane Reynolds makes his way across the coral.
Some surfers were asked for autographs, and some stopped to talk with friends. Here's a grom (young surfer) waiting to get his surfing book signed. The surfers were never mobbed.
Here's Aussie Danny Wills (in yellow) after his heat, hanging at the beach. As he walked by me, I noticed that he was carrying a "Danny Wills Signature Model" board. Of course he'd be riding his own board, but it's not too often I see the actual athlete with their own signature model, so that was fun.
Three French surfing fans met fellow Frenchman Mikael Picon after he came out of the water, and got their event t-shirts autographed. Later, Mikael did an interview in French, out on the coral.
This shot shows how close I was to all the action. No media pass or expensive photography gear necessary!
The professionals had all their expensive gear with them, including this huge flash. Since it wasn't needed, one of them paid this local girl to hold it and tote it around for the whole competition since it was too fragile to lay anywhere. She's sitting with Natalie.
All in all, it was a great day. Good surfing, good times wading around in tidal pools, and good times taking in my first pro surfing contest. I was impressed with how it was run, and the good announcing that kept the fans abreast of what was going on in the waves. Most of all, I was impressed with the very relaxed atmosphere that the whole competition had.
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