If You Only Watch One Turn Today, Let It Be This One

Ross Williams didn’t hesitate when he was asked who the best surfer not on tour was. 

‘Rio Waida. 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. In my opinion… If he gets on tour, he is just going to demolish guys.”

An early medical condition, which required treatment of growth hormones, initially stunted Rio’s development. However, by his teens he was considered one of the Island’s best young talents, breaking through in 2016 at the Quiksilver Young Guns Surf event where he beat the world’s best.

We first came face to face with Rio in our first iteration of a saltwater Vans Stab High presented by Monster Energy. Since then, Rio made the Olympics, where he finished 9th, competed in the CT event at Barra de la Cruz, where he eliminated Filipe Toledo, who post-heat tweeted “this is the worst day of my life”, and recently, starred in the Quikky Young Guns crusade through Europe. 

Last year Rio came 67th on the CS, after struggling to put together solid performances in Hawaii, Portugal, France, and Haleiwa, but with youth on his side, and incredible tube riding, timing and punts, it’s just seems like it’s just a matter of time til we have our first male Indonesian CT surfer. 

For now enjoy him blow up Keramas.