It's three days before the start of the waiting period, and Rizal Tanjung isn't sure if he'll be able to surf in the 2010 Padang Cup. Indonesia's most famous surfer has never missed a Padang Cup, dating back to the inaugural event in 2004. But Rizal is a busy man these days. He has to be in California for the U.S. Open of Surfing the first week of August; he's in the middle of opening a new Hurley store on Legian, in the heart of Kuta; and most importantly, he and his wife Chandra just welcomed their second son into the world three weeks ago.

“I'm gonna try to use my powers to make a swell coming when I'm free,” he jokes.

As Hurley's general manager for all of Southeast Asia, Rizal's cell phone stays ringing pretty much non-stop these days. Business is booming at Un's, his family's hotel in Kuta, and their restaurant just down the road, The Balcony. Un's is the place to stay for visiting pro surfers, and you pretty much need to make your reservations months in advance if you want a room. Rizal and Chandra even had to turn away good friends like Benji Weatherly and Andy Irons this season because there just wasn't any room.

“So busy,” he says. “And so much traffic. That's why I moved up here on the hill.”

Rizal moved up to the Bukit eight years ago. Stepping into his home in Balangan is like entering a Bali surfing museum. The living room walls are covered with framed photos from around Bali, his surfing travels, and his various cover shots from over the years. Trophies from nearly every significant surf contest held on the island are stacked on a shelf in one corner of the room. One photo shows a teenage Rizal in baggy clothes, posing on a surfboard with Kelly Slater and Rob Machado. They're all still groms, and you can tell by their clothes and hairstyles that it's sometime in the early 90's. Someone has written in black marker: “How about the shoes!” with an arrow pointing to Machado's frumpy socks and Birkenstock-clad feet.

Now Chandra serves us some tea with honey and Rizal starts getting into the logistics of having a contest at Padang.

“You have to think about the tides,” he says, more serious now. “You have to wait for medium tides, or else you only gonna get a couple hours when it's good and then it's shit for the later rounds.”

There's talk about how strange the weather in Bali has been this year – fluky winds and an extremely late wet season that has stretched into July, a month when there normally isn't a drop of rain.

“It's gonna be a late season,” he says, “especially for Padang, where the wave really hard to break. It can sit one month and not even break.”

As he talks, Rizal is staring at a large framed photo on the wall of himself standing inside a gaping inside-bowl section at Padang, arms spread wide. You can tell he's thinking about surfing perfect, empty Padang during last year's contest. He made it all the way to the quarters and caught some amazing waves.

“It's definitely the contest of the year here in Bali,” he says. “You're always waiting for this. I don't even do contests these days, I'm so busy with other things. But to get a spot in the Padang Cup is a big deal.”

Perhaps Rizal just might find a way to surf in the Padang Cup after all.