While every world tour hopeful on the planet and half the ‘CT currently battle it out at lumpy, windy, chest-high Huntington, the waiting period for another event is soon due to get underway. The Rip Curl Cup Padang Padang will run in its entirety on the best day during August and feature a cast of invites that most of us would be stoked to see compete more often. Eight of the world’s finest tube-riders, including Jamie O, Tom Curren, Bruce Irons, Mason Ho and Damien Hobgood, will compete alongside eight of Indo’s best at the famed Balinese left-hander in the event’s first year as a WSL specialty event.

Although the contest has been running now for thirteen years and has regularly showcased epic surfing in epic waves, its upgrade to a WSL-sanctioned event should ensure more comprehensive coverage and allow us all to tune in and watch Padang Padang do its thing. The last time a WSL contest (or ASP, as it was known back then) was held on the Bukit Peninsula was in 2008, when Bruce Irons took his first and only CT win at Padang over fellow Hawaiian Freddy Pattachia. Considering Bruce is enjoying a renaissance of sorts in his career after some dark years between, it’ll be interesting to see how he goes when he returns to the break. Also slated to appear is the man who inspired a short-lived social media campaign to gift him the wildcard into Fiji, Mr. Clay Marzo. Rarely seen in a jersey but widely considered as one of the most freakishly gifted forehand tube maestros on the face of the earth, it should be a pleasure to see Clay compete in an event that rewards exactly the kind of surfing he’s known for. 2015 winner Garut Widiarta, along with other local shredders such as Lee Wilson and Rizal Tandjung, will vie to keep the title in Indo for another year. WA kids Jack Robinson and Jacob Willcox will represent Australia while 3x world champ Tom Curren will compete in the same draw as his son Pat.

What does all of this mean? Well, hopefully if the already stellar Indo season continues to pump through August then we’ll soon be watching some of the world’s best tube-riders duke it out at one of the world’s best waves. And considering what’s being webcast from Huntington at the moment, that’s something we could all do with a bit more of.