In the Pacific, the world’s best surfers (and the greatest of all time) are gathered in Teahupo’o for one of surfing’s elite top-tier competitions. Meanwhile in Bali, in another ocean, the Rip Curl Padang Padang looks set to go green. It’s a different beast, a mix of locals and international surfers, DJ’s on the hill, one day and done. No ranking points, no world title, just perfect waves, some cash money and cred.
The Padang Cup is one of the more entrenched events that has added serious heft to the Invitational’s role in surf culture. Back in 1965, the Malibu Surfing Association Invitational ended up with Finalists Mike Dora and Johnny Fain aiming lethal kick-outs at each other’s heads. Its safe to say the format evolved. But which invitationals have had the biggest impact? We investigated
Rip Curl Cup Padang Padang
When: A month-long waiting period, usually August.
Where: Padang Padang, Bali, Indonesia.
Format: One-day, one-swell invitational pairing Indonesian locals against the world’s top tube riders.
History: Debuted at Uluwatu in 2004; from 2007 it began inviting international surfers alongside Padang’s own talent, becoming Indonesia’s longest-running surf competition.
Winners: Made “Bol” Adi Putra (2004, 2005), Jamie O’Brien (2009), Mega Semadhi (2013, 2016), Jack Robinson (2018), Clay Marzo (2022), Westen Hirst (2025).
Legacy: A rare event where local Indonesian surfers regularly beat the world’s best on home reef; the international/local title split sits close to even after two decades.
Jackpot Moment: In 2012, Chris Ward won on a last-second perfect 10 barrel, then proposed to his girlfriend on the podium. Not a bad mic drop.
Natural Selection Surf
When: 10-day road trip this September.
Where: South Africa (inaugural event was held in Micronesia).
Format: Natural Selection Surf is billed as an “off-the-grid expedition format” with no priority and no traditional numerical scores, instead judging elite freesurfers across multiple wave types using a holistic impression system.
History: Kicking off in 2025, Natural Selection Surf is an extension of the highly successful snowboard and ski events pioneered by Travis Rice.
Winners: Soli Bailey and Milla Coco Brown (2025)
Legacy: In the spirit of the Billabong Challenge or OP Boat Trip Challenge (see below), Natural Selection Surf was created to put the best freesurfers in the best waves without limiting their potential by conventional scoring systems and formats.
Jackpot Moment: Kicking off last year in heavy, slightly terrifying slabs at Captain Martin Daly’s Micronesian reef of choice. If 2025 was anything to go off, we’re in for a hell of a show this year.
Related: 12 Surfers, 10 Days, South Africa: Natural Selection Surf’s 2026 Lineup Is Here
The Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational
When: A three-month waiting period, typically December to March, run only when 40ft-plus faces arrive.
Where: Waimea Bay, Oahu, Hawaii.
Format: Around 40 surfers invited by peer vote and the Aikau family; no rankings, no sponsors’ pull (in theory), just entry gained on respect.
History: Named for lifeguard and big-wave pioneer Eddie Aikau, who saved hundreds of lives at Waimea before dying during a 1978 rescue attempt. Founded in 1984 at Sunset Beach, it moved to Waimea in 1985.
Winners: Denton Miyamura (1985), Clyde Aikau (1986), Keone Downing (1990), Kelly Slater (2002), Greg Long (2009), John John Florence (2016), Landon McNamara (2024).
Legacy: Regarded as surfing’s premier big wave event in terms of cred, it’s run only 11 times in 41 years, and making its invitee list remains one of the most exclusive honours in the sport.
Jackpot Moment: So many epic moments from Clyde Aikai’s win in 1986, Flea’s famous pin drop wipeout, local on-duty lifeguard Luke Shepardson’s win in 2023, but we will go for Bruce Irons packing a closeout on the way to his win in 2004.
Capítulo Perfeito (The Perfect Chapter)
When: A waiting period running mid-November to the end of January.
Where: Has rotated between Portugal’s best barrels, Carcavelos, Supertubos, and Nazaré, but calls Carcavelos home.
Format: One-day, invite-only tube-riding contest; a mix of local and international surfers partly chosen by public vote, called with as little as 72 hours’ notice.
History: Launched in 2012 as a local Portuguese event before opening to international names in later years, built entirely around waiting for one perfect barreling swell.
Winners: Nic von Rupp has won multiple editions and become the event’s defining face; other winners have included Clay Marzo, Pedro Scooby, and Balaram Stack.
Legacy: Modelled loosely on The Eddie’s “only run when perfect” philosophy, it’sbecome one of Europe’s most respected speciality events, prized for its purity, single swell, a small invited field, no filler.
Jackpot Moment: The event’s tenth edition drew back nearly every past champion for a reunion of winners, cementing its reputation as Portugal’s signature surf gathering.
Op Pro Boat Trip Challenge
When: 2000 and 2001 editions.
Where: Mentawai Islands, Indonesia
Format: Six men and four women, non-world-tour, chasing uncrowded remote breaks rather than surfing a fixed venue; total purse of $102,500, including a $65,000 men’s winner-take-all prize (the largest ever offered) and a $35,000 women’s purse, the biggest in the sport at the time.
History: A spin-off of the long-running Op Pro Huntington Beach (1982–1998), sponsored by Ocean Pacific, blending elite competition with genuine surf-travel adventure.
Winners: Mark Occhilupo won both the 2000 and 2001 editions, beating fields including Sunny Garcia, Andy and Bruce Irons, and Shane Dorian; the women’s field featured Layne Beachley, Serena Brooke, Rochelle Ballard, and Megan Abubo.
Legacy: Short-lived but influential, it captured the early-2000s boom in surf travel and helped popularize the Mentawais as surfing’s premier destination.
Jackpot Moment: In the flawless 2001 final at Macaronis, the finalists agreed to surf switch-foot in solidarity — until Occhilupo broke the pact, riding two waves goofy-foot to win. He and Ballard then split their winnings evenly among all ten entrants.
Billabong Challenge
When: 1995 to 1998.
Where: Gnaraloo, Western Australia and Jeffreys Bay in 1996 and the South Coast of NSW in 1998. Events in Sumbawa and Gnaraloo were skunked by waves.
Format: Eight elite surfers, remote location, a swell-dependent format designed to reward pure surfing over tour politics.
History: Conceived by Billabong founder Gordon Merchant, filmmaker Jack McCoy, and Wayne Bartholomew as a deliberate alternative to the “bloated” bums-on-beach approach of the world tour of the era.
Winners: Rob Machado, Kelly Slater and Shane Dorian.
Legacy: Its format, chasing quality waves over fixed venues with a two-week waiting period, is often credited as a forerunner to the ASP/WSL’s later “Dream Tour” concept.
Jackpot Moment: The inaugural 1995 event endured 10 days of storms at a remote, centipede-infested bluff before conditions turned perfect. Jack McCoy’s resulting film The Psychedelic Desert Groove won Surfer Magazine’s Video of the Year. This event wasn’t live-streamed; the first anyone knew of the comp was when McCoy’s films came out on VHS about six months after the event finished.
McCoy
Red Bull Cape Fear
When: Sporadic, with long waiting periods between March–August; but gets its place for the 2016 event/massacre.
Where: Cape Solander (“Ours”), Sydney, and Shipstern Bluff, Tasmania.
Format: Four-man heats, half paddle-in, half tow-in, chasing the heaviest slab waves in Australia.
History: Co-founded in 2014 by big-wave surfers Mark Mathews and Ryan Hipwood as a made-for-broadcast, heavy-water speciality event.
Winners: Ryan Hipwood (2014), Russell Bierke (2016), Nathan Florence (2019).
Legacy: The 2016 event held in a 10-foot, straight east swell is considered among the most dangerous surf contests ever staged; it pushed slab-riding into the mainstream and elevated the tow/paddle hybrid format.
Jackpot Moment: In 2016, 18-year-old Russell Bierke won after nearly drowning mid-event — knocked briefly unconscious and rescued by jet ski — in what many call the wildest 48 hours in surf contest history. Though wipeouts by Justin “Jughead” Allport and Richie Vaculik come a close second.
Da Hui Backdoor Shootout
When: A two-week waiting period each January.
Where: Pipeline and Backdoor, North Shore, Oahu.
Format: Eight teams of five, non-elimination rounds, top individual and team barrels scored across the waiting period; no jerseys, and local run broadcast.
History: Grown from Hui O He’e Nalu (Da Hui), founded in 1975 to protect Hawaiian surfers’ access to their own waves; the Shootout has run since 1996
Winners: Jamie O’Brien (2008, 2018), Billy Kemper, Koa Rothman (2017, 2025).
Legacy: A deliberately anti-corporate event — brands pay $10,000 just to field a team — that’s become one of the most culturally significant surf contests in Hawaii.
Jackpot Moment: In 2025, Koa Rothman won with a 12-point ride almost exactly a year after nearly drowning at the same reef, in front of his father, Da Hui co-founder Eddie Rothman.
Related: Photos: Pipeline Pumps For Backdoor Shootout’s Opening Salvo