Bali Is One Of The Most Loved Stops On Tour, Here’s Why:

Indonesia is an embarrassment of riches.

From its vast and consistent collection of world-class waves to the unrivaled quality of its cuisine, it’s no wonder why Indonesia has become a large, red circle on many a surfer’s world maps. 

For this episode of Red Bull and Stab’s “No Contest”—our culturally ravenous travel series following the WSL Championship Tour—we sink our kankles into the rice paddies and discover what makes Bali, and Keramas specifically, such an eagerly anticipated stop for the world’s best surfers. 

As Stab‘s Editor in Chief and “No Contest” host Ashton Goggans notes, “Bali will always be a magnet for traveling surfers from all over the world, especially those looking for warm water and hollow fare.”

But in the last five years, the area has seen an exponential rise in westernized business and tourism. Whether it’s aspiring yogis, fashion designers relocating for access to cheap manufacturing, or Instagram influencers taking advantage of endless selfie backdrops—there’s perhaps nowhere in the world you can enjoy a more opulent lifestyle, for less money, than Bali. 

Kelly Slater, away from the maddening crowds.

Photography

Margarita Salyak

For this episode, we take a trip up the hill, to get a taste of the Bukit peninsula magic with Mason Ho, meet up with Balinese international ambassador Rizal Tanjung and his old friend Kelly Slater, and slip into a session out front of the Uluwatu Surf Villas with Jack Robo, Ian Craine, and even get a look at “Tha Master,” as Mace calls him: Gerry Lopez. 

Four decades plus, after his first look at the idyllic Eden that is Uluwatu, Gerry Lopez cruises through the top of the Bukit.

Photography

Margarita Salyak

Jack Robinson dragging through an Ulus double-up.

Photography

Margarita Salyak

After a few days hanging on the cliff at Uluwatu, we head back down to Keramas and Canggu, to take a look at the changing cultural landscape at Bali, find out what the World Tour thinks about the increasingly prevalent phenomena of the Yoga Bro, and the somewhat head-clutching digital reality of ex-pat Instagram Influencers. 

With most of the World Tour growing tired of the food at Kommune, almost every surfer makes their way across the street to Warung Legong, a radical little Indonesian joint owned by a guy who was once a duck-herding rice farmer, and now runs one of the most popular joints in town. We get Carissa Moore and Leo Fioravanti in the (very, very hot) kitchen to learn how to make Nasi Goreng, a fried rice and egg dish that is a staple of the local diet. 

Rounding out this episode we spend two days behind the scenes with the loosest bunch to ever put on singlets at a WCT event, the Red Bull Airborne crew, and find out what Kelly Slater thinks about these knucklehead punters taking over the tour’s limited waiting period. 

Enjoy “No Contest” Bali. 

No Contest resident air guy, Stab’s newest intern, and perhaps one of the top-5 most underrated surfers on the planet, Ian Crane.

Photography

Margarita Salyak

Mason Ho during one of the afternoons he stole the show at Uluwatu.

Photography

Margarita Salyak