The Rip Curl GromSearch crew hopped over east of Bali to world famous Lakey Peak in Sumbawa for Gromsearch 3 over the weekend to check out if there were any hot groms around...and they had no problem finding lots of 'em!
Having already produced such well known groms as Rip Curl team riders Ony Anwar (2008 Coca-Cola ISC Junior Champion) and the notorious surfer /MC Dede Gun, and last year's Rip Curl GromSearch Series winner Gazali Hamzah, Lakey Peak has shown itself to be a veritable hotbed of grom surfing in Indonesia.
Sunday morning greeted the GromSearch crew and the amping Lakey groms with bright sunshine and a perfect 3-4 foot Lakey Peak lineup, with plenty of both lefts and rights on offer. The tide was slowly ebbing out, creating just the right conditions for a low tide early afternoon finish. These groms have to be some of the luckiest on the planet to be able to surf waves like this all the time!
First up were the Under 14 groms battling it out in four 5-man heats for a place in the finals, starting at just after 9 am. Charging like there was a world championship at stake were Bomar Presetia, Yasin, Haeril Hu'u, and Ony Anwar's little brother Andri Anwar. These little shredders put on quite a show and aggressively attacked each wave, putting together deep bottom turns with slashing off the tops, gouging roundhouse cutbacks, and airs.
It was anybody's guess in most of the heats as to who would come out on top, as the competition was so fierce, but in the low tide final Yasin put together a stellar performance to best the late charging Andri for the top spot. Andri seemed be set on going big from the starting horn, but failed to complete some aggressive maneuvers early on, buy then settled down to some solid surfing to get second place over third place Bomar Presetia, leaving Haeril Hu'u to round out the final.
A special Micro Grom session (under 10 years of age) saw five 8-10 year old's paddle out to take on, what must have seemed like monstrous Lakey Peak! They charged like little legends, leaving all the viewers with a smile and laugh.
The Under 16 division may have had only six contestants, but they kept the judges busy non-stop all the way to the final. Rip Curl Team rider Muhlis (MJ) Jaffar made it clear that he wanted top spot on the podium and that ticket to Bali, going both left and right and executing big maneuvers in the critical parts of the wave to best Firman, who was virtually matching MJ point for point for most of the final but just came up a bit short at the horn. Both were super stoked to receive their Tickets to Bali, and all the finalists went home with Rip Curl Goody bags packed with prizes from Rip Curl and the GromSearch sponsors.
"I am really impressed by these young guys surfing ability," said Coca-Cola ISC Tour Head Judge Wayan Pica. "They are really charging, reading the waves and knowing which maneuvers to perform. It's great to see such high performance and bravery in these young kids when surfing this challenging reef break," he added.
Before the judges and crew left the tower to head back for the games, giveaways, and trophy presentation, Event Manager Yudha called out for the Expression Session to begin. The boys were going big trying to impress the judges, but it was Gazeli Hamzah that got the Best Trick award for his 360 bunny hop, and Tahi won the Best Wave award for a long left hander with a stack of turns, finishing with a 360 on the inside.
Trash collecting, musical chairs, quizzes, and just being there for the giveaways netted the attendees on the beach, so everybody went home with something! And so another epic GromSearch event came to a close with a happy bunch of people and a beautiful red sunset!
Results :
Under 16 Final
2. Firman
3. Ornot
4. Silipester
Under 14 Final
1. Yasin
2. Andri Anwar
3. Bomar Prasetia
4. Haeril Hu'u
Mini Grom Final
1. Ompu
2. Kadet
3. Rocky
4. Gilang
Expression Session
Best Trick: Gazali Hamzah
Best Wave: Tahi
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