Watch: The Most Outrageous Straight Air We’ve Seen In A Minute

What makes a good world tour surfer?

Well, a lot of things. There’s no specific recipe as to how to get on tour. Look at the diversity between Wade Carmichael, Ace Buchan, and Italo Ferreira. All of these surfers are deserved of their spots due to their specific, highly-refined skill sets.

Now if you asked me what makes a world title contender? Well, that’s a different question entirely.

Although Rio Waida isn’t on tour yet, he will be. He’s already one of the fastest surfers in the world (see the wave at 1:47 for evidence) and his skill set seems to be growing by the week. The young Indonesian has a much longer list of strengths than weaknesses, including his air, rail, and backside barrel-riding. Dragging ass in proper tubes is something many young surfers develop after qualification, so the fact that Rio can thread waves from top to bottom at Deserts already gives him a distinct advantage.

We had the pleasure of hosting Rio on our latest Stab High boat trip (coming soon), where he proved he can fly with the world’s best. While Rio’s qualification bid was put on hold due to Corona, early in the season he was sitting at 27th after banking a 3rd in China. It won’t be long till Rio qualifies and realizes that the question isn’t whether he can make it, but how far.

Click in if you need a shot of adrenaline or merely want to watch some really complete surfing in really good waves.