26 August, 2019 – Covelong Point, India: The second stop of the 2019 REnextop Asian Surfing Tour (RAST) came to an exciting conclusion yesterday with Indonesia winning the top podium spots in all four divisions; Mega Artana from Bali won the Men’s Shortboard Division, West Java’s Arip Nurhidayat took the Men’s Longboard win, and Dhea Natasya from Bali won both the Women’s Longboard and Shortboard division, and they were presented with their winner’s checks on the main stage of the 7th annual Covelong Point Surf, Yoga and Music Festival.
60 surfers representing India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Maldives, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Reunion Island and the Philippines joined in the two day RAST event that was part of the annual Covelong Point Surf Yoga and Music Festival that is held each year at the coastal fishing town of Covelong, which just about an hour’s drive from the city of Chennai.
The wave conditions for the two day National Titles as well as for the two day RAST event were amazing for the majority of the four days, giving the surfers great scoring opportunities and treating the spectators to lots of surfing highlights, especially in the Men’s Shortboard and Longboard divisions.
Mega Artana won the man-on-man battle against fellow Kuta surfer Dhanny Widianto in the Men’s Shortboard division with his aggressive backside vertical attack. “I’m so happy I came here to India for this event,” said Mega. “The waves were really good, the place is fun, and the people have been really friendly also. It was great to surf against Dhanny in the final…we traveled here together, and we surf at the same place at Kuta Beach together almost every day so it was nice to meet him here in the final also.” Mega received cash and a Go Pro camera for his win.
Also from Kuta Beach is Dhanny’s sister Dhea Natasya, who won both the Women’s Shortboard and the Women’s Longboard over Thailand’s Annissa Flynn. “I feel super happy to win both of these divisions,” said Dhea. “I mostly came here to practice competing on the longboard, so winning plus having a new experience, meeting new friends, and getting some cash and a Go Pro was the best. Thanks to all my sponsors and supporters for making this trip possible for me, and thanks everybody here for making this great event,” she added.
Arip “Mencos” Nurhidayat is from Batu Karas in West Java, a famous righthand longboard spot, so found Covelong Point to be a perfect set up. Runner up Marven Abat is from La Union in the Philippines, and his home break is also a right hand point break, so it was a great matchup as both surfers have different styles of surfing. Arip’s complex footwork and repertoire of maneuvers won him the most points from the judges, and put another trophy in his hands, along with cash and a Go Pro. “I’m so lucky I got first place in this event, as this is my first time to India,” he explained. “The people are really friendly, the waves are really fun for longboarding, really good. I heard from others that there were good waves in India, so that’s why I decided to come and join the event. I join all the RAST contests so coming to someplace new but with some of the same surfers and friends is easy and fun because we’re all together. Thanks everyone for this great festival too. Good music, food, and everything is great!”
Teams from Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand joined in the event as part of their preparation for the South East Asian (SEA) Games that are coming up at the end of November in the Philippines.
Li Hao from REnextop was pleased to be able to join in the Covelong Point Surf, Yoga and Music Festival, as the whole vibe with the music, the surfing, and being able to bring the RAST surfers to another new and vibrant location is exactly what RAST is all about. “This was a great experience for us and for the surfers,” said Li Hao. “ Coming to a new country, making new friends, surfing a new place, and having a festival like this to join with is a perfect match for us. Thanks to Arun and his team for letting us join in with them, and I hope we can come back here again next year and bring even more surfers with us, now that we know there are great waves and how cool this place is.”
Covelong Point Surf, Yoga and Music Festival co-creator and event sponsor Arun Vasu from the TT Group was equally pleased with how the two programs complimented each other, saying, “This weekend was just awesome, such a success from all viewpoints. I was very happy to have these talented surfers from other parts of Asia coming to compete with our Indian surfers and on our home break here in Covelong. Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to all for their participation, and we hope to continue this RAST-ASC-TT Group relationship in the future.”
In addition to the surfing competition, there were dozens of food stalls, vendors selling local products, with yoga and fitness programs, and of course many types of live music each evening to make for an amazing event, which was attended by an estimated crowd of over 20,000 people. Check out the RAST and Covelong Point Facebook pages for more photos and details.
You can review all event scores and results on Live Heats at https://www.liveheats.com/events/2045
Men’s Shortboard Results
1. Mega Artana (Bali, Indonesia)
2. Dhanny Widianto (Bali, Indonesia)
3. Ismail Miglal (Maldives)
3. Didaqt (Cherating, Malaysia)
Men’s Longboard Results
Men’s Longboard Quarterfinalists
1. Arip Nurhidayat (West Java, Indonesia)
2. Marvan Abat (La Union, Philippines)
3. Dean Permana (West Java, Indonesia)
3. Didaqt (Cherating, Malaysia
Women Shortboard Finalists
1. Dhea Natasya (Bali, Indonesia
2. Annissa Tita Flynn (Phuket, Thailand)
3. Suhasini Damain (India)
4. S. Vilassini (India)
Women’s Longboard Results
1. Dhea Natasya (Bali, Indonesia)
2. Annissa Tita Flynn (Phuket, Thailand)
3. Ishita Malaviya (India)
4. Athiya Junprasert (India)
5. Nishchita Verghese (India)
Photos by Tim Hain and Toru Miyamoto (Podium) for REnextop
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About the REnextop Asian Surfing Tour
Through this series of competitions, REnextop will strengthen the integration of China’s surfing community with the international surfing world to provide more opportunities, communication avenues and interactions. Surfers from various countries in the Asia-Pacific region including Japan, Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Taiwan are invited to compete in these events.
REnextop is Asia’s first platform dedicated to helping extreme sportsmen and independent athletes to realize their dreams, and surfing is one of the most important extreme sports in REnextop.
Find out more about REnextop at:
http://www.renextop.com
https://www.instagram.com/renextop/
https://www.facebook.com/REnextop-Entertainment
About the Asian Surf Cooperative
The Asian Surf Cooperative is a professional surfing organization with over 14 years of experience in the organizing, managing and supporting surfing events around the Asian region, from local boardriders club competitions to WSL World Championship Tour events.
The Asian Surf Cooperative provides event management, live scoring, ISA certified judges, contest directors, digital photography and videography, event media packages, rankings, media coverage and distribution, and also assists the ISA in organizing Surf and SUP Instructor and International Judging courses.
From local grassroots boardriders and junior events to specialty and WCT events, the ASC’s purpose and goal remains the same: To grow the sport of surfing in the Asian region by offering reliable and consistent resources and assistance to both small and large organizations who are helping to make Asia’s surfing athlete’s dreams come true.
https://asiansurf.co
https://www.facebook.com/asiansurfco/
https://www.instagram.com/asiansurfco/
About the Covelong Point Surf, Yoga, and Music Festival
Now in its 7th year, the Covelong Point Surf, Yoga, and Music Festival is the creation of Arun Vasu and Yotam Agam, who followed on the success of the Covelong Point social project (an EarthSync documentary on the rise of surf culture in Covelong and the use of surfing as a catalyst for positive change in the tsunami afflicted South Indian village) by creating and sustaining a yearly event that keyed around and annual national surfing competition but has grown yoga and music in a 3-day festival that draws upwards of 20,000 attendees each year.
https://www.facebook.com/pg/CovelongPoint
