Some of the world’s best tube riders will be sat by their phone’s eagerly anticipating a call this week as the Rip Curl Padang Padang Cup waiting period begins and organisers have announced that they could run as early as Wednesday with a 2.5-3 metre SSW swell forecast for the Bukit.

The invite only event has become a staple in the Bali surfing calendar. This year’s waiting period runs from 4 August – 4 September and organisers will only call the contest on if the conditions are pumping, we’re talking six foot plus rifling barrels down the famous Padang reef. A select few international surfers will be pitted off against a number of local chargers who are usually selected through a trials event which runs anytime throughout July. However, this year the trials didn’t run as the conditions didn’t align throughout the window.

This year’s international lineup is stacked with tube riding heavyweights:

Men’s invitees: Noa Deane, Mason Ho, Balaram Stack, Harry Bryant, Ivan Florence, Landon Mcnamara, Jackson Dorian and Tosh Tudor.

Women’s invitees: Laura Enever, Milla Coco Brown, Moana Jones Wong and Willow Hardy.

As for the local lineup, organisers handpicked this year’s surfers based on a specific criteria that included the top performing locals from last year’s comp, a Padang board riders wildcard, a Rip Curl wildcard and the best performing Indonesian surfers on the WSL circuit.

The local lineup is as follows:

Men’s invitees: Made Adi Putra, Tommy Sobri, Western Hirst, Alik Rudiarta, Bronson Meydi, Ketut Agus, Dylan Wilcoxen and Garut Widiarta.

Women’s invitees: Jasmine Studer, Ziggy Mackenzie, Kya Heuer and Lilliana Bowrey.

While the event has previously ran over two days, this year’s contest will be wrapped up in a day. The cup adopts a leaderboard format where competitors will surf two rounds each and the four highest scored surfers will progress to the final. This means that surfers aren’t scrapping for small scores and are fully focused on getting as coned as possible.

While tensions have run high on Bali Bukit Peninsula in recent weeks with the on-going demolition of the cliff at Bingin, another world class wave just a few doors down from Padang, the Rip Curl Cup could provide some brief respite from the conflict as locals and visitors alike come together to celebrate Bali’s crown jewel in surfing.

Check back on the site in the coming days for more updates on the event.