After two years of all this isolation it was amazing to welcome Dean Permana back to Bali in early March. He primarily came in his capacity as the coach of the BK Junior Surf Team for an event in Kuta.
Then while he was here he received an invite for the Padrol Longboard Classic Series, it was held 19-20 March 2022 over at Sindhu Beach, Sanur. For him to get out and get wet in a competition, we were excited to say yes to extending his time here and upon a moments further thought, perhaps this gave us the perfect opportunity to get the Deus band back together.
We reached out to Deni Pirdaus, who was still up in BK, and without any coaxing he was soon on his way. That just left our local glider, Ayok Dhamara. A phone call was made and without much effort at all, wrangled a start for him in the comp.
The weather didn’t want to play ball on the first day. Rain showers didn’t stop and the swell that was meant to come was a day late. Into these less than ideal conditions went the first round of both the mens and womens. With the break itself so far out, contestants were ferried from shore on Jukung's, the small Balinese outrigger fishing boats that adorn many a tourist's snapshot.
Small and wet conditions didn’t put a dampener on people’s enthusiasm though. It was as if everyone was just happy to be back together. Back at an event again. The things you miss when they aren’t there, eh?
There was smiles and laughter. Sharing waves and throwing high fives. With the first round done and dusted, the rest of the event was postponed until the following day.
It didn’t stop there though, instead things shifted to more communal callings. The Sindu Dwarawati Turtle Conservation is directly adjacent to the contest area so the surfers were invited to release some of the small turtles back out into the sea so they could begin their long lives. This was followed by all the surfers paddling out together to form a circle where flowers were released upon the seas with a moments silence to commemorate the passing of any and all local surfers over the past couple of years.
Day two dawned to clear skies and a lot more swell. A good crowd of people turned out to watch the competition too. Unfortunately, the tide rose swiftly through the morning quickly stealing a lot of the surf there was leaving everyone sitting and waiting for the set waves as the heats wore through to the finals.
The stars of the show shone through and the final four was made up of Dean, Deni & Ayok, alongside Dhany Widianto who's a super talented local longboarder from Kuta-Halfway.
The results are in with Dean taking out first place, closely followed by Deni in second place, Dhany was in third place, and Ayok finished fourth. Pretty damn good results from our guys.
We can’t wait for the next one in July. Let's hope we don't have to wait that long to get our stars back together.
Photos by Didit Prasetyo Adiwibowo
