After keeping a close eye on various sand banks along France's famed Hossegor Beach, event organisers for this year's Rip Curl Pro Super Series have announced that Les Bourdaines will be home base for the World Qualifying Series (WQS) event.
The site infrastructure (judges tower, onsite offices, webcast station, surfer area, etc) has been erected at Les Bourdaines, which officials believe will offer the best conditions with a swell forecasted to arrive for this weekend.
The first scheduled event will be a 2 star Pro Junior for competitors under the age of 21. Competition will begin Friday morning at 8am (local Hossegor time, GMT +1) at Les Bourdaines.
Running in support of the Pro Junior, Rip Curl will host the Regional Final of the European Rip Curl GromSearch Series. GromSearch is a global iniative, with Australia, Indonesia, Brazil and the USA all running regional series this year.
The boy and girl winners of the European Rip Curl GromSearch Final will be flown to Bells Beach, Australia next year to represent Europe at the International GromSearch Final during the Rip Curl Pro WCT.
The Super Series competition will kick off on Monday, August 22 and has a six day waiting period (August 22-28), allowing 144 of the world's best surfers to wage war at Les Bourdaines and contest for the first ever Super Series title.
The $US150,000 event is a unique joint creation by Rip Curl and pro surfing's governing board, the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP). It is a licenced World Qualifying Series (WQS) event, boasting a format that mixes WQS and WCT competition into the one tournament.
Competitors include notables such as Brazilian competition hounds Peterson Rosa, Paulo Moura, Raoni Monteiro, Marcelo Nunes and Victor Ribas; Australians Troy Brooks, Darren O'Rafferty, Toby Martin, Luke Stedman, Ben Dunn, Adrian Buchan and Jarrad Howse; South Africans Travis Logie and Greg Emslie; European competitors Eric Rebiere, Russell Winter, Micky Picon and Eneko Acero; plus Hawaiians Jamie O'Brien, Kekoa Bacalso and Roy Powers.
Rip Curl Pro Schedule / Les Bourdaines
August 19 to 21: Pro Junior 2 star (ages under 21) August 20: Kas Beach Party at the Rock Food, Hossegor August 21: European Rip Curl GromSearch Final (ages 16 & Under) August 22 to 28: Rip Curl Pro Super Series WQS August 24: Rip Curl pro team instore signing, Hossegor Rip Curl August 26: Sunset Party (Live music by Tom Curren, Gwayav', Three and a Quarter; free screening of surfing film Inner Visions. August 28: Super Series Closing Party at the Rock Food August 19 to 28: Exposition Vague and Coastal - Surfrider Foundation
------------- MEDIA DETAILS Rip Curl & ASP will be supplying full media services for TV, print, radio and Webcast purposes. Please feel free to contact the event media team for specific requests.
PRINT MEDIA A daily print release & contest results will be distributed daily via e-mail, courtesy of ASP.
ASP INTERNATIONAL MEDIA: Wayne Dart darty@aspworldtour.com +61 407 189 289
DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHS: Complimentary high-resolution digital images for newspapers and Internet sites are available. Contact Dane Sharp on dsharp@ripcurl.com.au for more information.
INTERNATIONAL TV NEWS FEEDS:
Dane Sharp (on-site in Hossegor) dsharp@ripcurl.com.au +61 439 300 391
EUROPEAN TV NEWS FEEDS:
JP Mothes jpmothes@wanadoo.fr +33 679 802 864
Johanne Fleury jfl@360com.fr +33 620 720 594
MEDIA CONTACTS:
ASP International asp@aspworldtour.com
Rip Curl International Dane Sharp (on-site in Reunion) dsharp@ripcurl.com.au +61 439 300 391
Rip Curl Europe: Franck Goudou (Event Manager) fgoudou@ripcurl-europe.com +33 667 316 204
Johanne Fleury jfl@360com.fr +33 620 720 594
Rip Curl Australia: Gary Dunne gdunne@ripcurl.com.au +61 418 535 862
Rip Curl USA: PJ Connell pconnell@ripcurl.com +1 714 422 3603
Rip Curl Brazil: Fernando Gonzalez marketing@ripcurl.com.br +5513 2101 0525
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Contact ASPeurope.com
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