Pepen Hendrik

Butter Smooth Keramas

You couldn't ask for cleaner conditions, and if that wasn't enough, the shape was top shelf as well.

This session produced some of the most perfect barrels we've seen in a while, and with the wind and tide cooperating, wave quality remained high all the way through lunchtime.

Garut & Pepen Get Tubed | Made For Waves | Boardshorts by Rip Curl

Garut Widiarta is about to face the biggest test of his year – the Rip Curl Cup Padang Padang. Show up unprepared against the world’s best barrel hunters at the Balinese Pipeline, and you’re guaranteed to fail.

But Garut is no slacker. He’s the 2014 Rip Curl Cup Champion, with a near perfect attendance record at Padang when the place is going off.

Problem is, Padang doesn’t break nearly as often as we’d all like. So where can a guy like Garut find the right training ground for an event like this?

Lucky enough, he happens to live in the most wave-rich archipelago in the world, so it’s not really about finding a place – it’s about picking a place.

So before the start of the waiting period got too close, Garut grabbed longtime Bali pro Pepen Hendrick and trekked from Nias to Sumba and everywhere in between.
Pepen has mastered every Indonesian reefbreak under the sun, and even with minimal swell, the veteran knew where he and Garut could go for a knife-sharpening practice run.

What do you think… was the Search worth it? And, could it translate into a second Rip Curl Cup for Garut Widiarta?