Watch: A timely Rio Waida highlights reel
“This kid is unbelievable,” said Ross Williams about Rio Waida in a recent episode of the tepid 'Getting Heated' series.
“He’s super powerful, he’s really fast, he’s young, he’s fit. He surfs better than half the guys on tour right now. If he gets on tour, he is just going to demolish guys.”
Comments
Would be great to have a world champion from Indonesia!!!
Ripping....
He looks pretty good in perfect warm waves. No argument. How's he gonna go at Bells or Pipe for that matter? Would be good to get a chance to find out.
I remember around the early 00's a couple of indo boys were at Bells for the contest.
They were supposed to surf in the trials.
Before that they waded into the water for a freesurf about waist deep then made a hasty retreat and didn't go back in the water again while there lol.
There was a picture of that in one of the surf mags at the time Tracks or Surfing Life.
Wetsuit technology is better now than back then so maybe they'd have paddled out if it was today but yeah cold water places will always be a big obstacle to the indo surfers that haven't spent much or any time surfing in those areas i reckon,no matter how good they surf.
Yep, 8 degrees out and wrapped head to toe in neoprene is a different expereince altogether.
What Rio does have is a more 'conventional' style than many of the hot Bali surfers from years past. Often slightly built their surfing was built upon expressive style, particularly tight to the curl.
Rio seems more inclined to keep his arms low and blast through turns using his bodyweight, and a good deal of speed of course.
Those straight airs, particularly the no grab variety, are incredible.
Give me a couple of weeks warmup in Indo juice and I’ll be twice the surfer I ever am in Australia. The joint is steroids for surfers.
8 degrees!? You talking air temp at bells yeah haha!?
Cough....Dane Reynolds.....cough.
Whatever- more power to Indo surfers. This bloke tears.
Well you're not gonna get to Indo with a cough like that.
Get swabbed, mate.
He Shreds eh
is this his bro
the guys great really smooth
My main Indo years were pre-Keramas - so never surfed it. With all the hotels on the break, local Indo rippers who have the wave dialled, pros, competent tourists and then a handful of out of their depth novices "doing" Keramas....looks like an absolute sh@#show regardless of how good the wave is. Thats my worst nightmare - smoking waves, so close yet inaccessible because of the crowd. Give me 20 waves at onshore Bells any day over a 2 hour wait for one wave there....
Is the vibe in the water as frustrating as it looks?
He definitely rips for sure and agree with you on the style thing Stu
I remember talking to an old friend who lived in Bali for a long time and she had an interesting theory. She talked about how many of the Balinese she knew who had moved offshore just failed to thrive there. Moving away from those deep family relationships and the strongly ritualised culture seemed to take the wind out of their sails a bit.
Maybe just a load of old bunkam but made me think a bit. I guess with the name Rio Waida he may hark from different shores than Bali anyway.
Born in Japan
https://www.ozy.com/around-the-world/balis-teen-surfing-sensation-has-ol...
The more I think about it the more I'd like to see someone from Indonesia on the tour. Maybe he could start off by getting a few wildcards. Would need to have a sponsor with a bit of clout.