RIP CURL PRO PENICHE WQS 1 star April 14 to 16, 2005

RIP CURL PRO PENICHE
Once again Peniche officially inaugurates the season of international surfing contests in Portugal
Lisbon, Abril 6th, 2005

The Rip Curl Pro, ninth contest of this year's WQS Tour and introducer of the international season in Portugal, will be taking place between the 14th and the 16th of April, in Peniche.
This one star WQS, which runs for 19 consecutive years, also adds up as the second jewel of the European EPSA Tour.
The first event of EPSA Tour 2005, took place in Asturias during the Easter weekend and was won by the young Basque Aritz Aranburu (third in Peniche in 2003) with the present European Champion, Portuguese Justin Mujica, in third position still recovering from a injured knee.
After the previous editions of this event, always with peak conditions, expectations are high for the Rip Curl Pro Peniche. Last year, Peniche presented us with extraordinary conditions with perfect 4 to 6 feet barrels at Supertubos, worthy of the best European surfers.
The winner of last year's edition was French youngster Tim Boal, feinting Ruben Gonzalez in the dying minutes of the final. Nevertheless Ruben would become national champion as well as third in the EPSA ranking that year, achieving his best results ever.
For this year's event, Alfarroba provided mobile structures, which will allow Rip Curl Pro to move from the eventual poor surf at Lagido to high quality surf at Supertubos or Almagreira.
Of the 19 editions of the Rip Curl Pro, Portuguese athletes only won 3: João Antunes in 96, Rodrigo Herédia in 97 and Marcos Anastácio in 98. Being one of the wildcards of the contest Herédia has an additional try this year. His teammate, Edgar Nozes, winner of the first contest of the National Pro Junior Circuit in Carcavelos, will be the other wild card of the event.
Distinct from past editions, this year's contest will finish Saturday, allowing space for the first national GromSearch, that will begin as soon as the main event is over and finishing Sunday.

The GromSearch is a concept developed by Rip Curl that seeks to find the best surfers amongst youngsters, in parallel with The Search, which seeks the best waves in the world.

This year, 32 boys and 16 girls under 16 years may take part at the national GromSearch, highlighting the best gromets from the countless Portuguese Surf Schools.

The Portuguese winner will be invited for the European GromSearch that will take place at Hossegor in August. Afterwards, the European champion will go to the International Final, at Bells Beach Australia, happening during the 2006 WCT. Inscriptions at the website www.alfarroba.online.pt.
Alfarroba has an agreement with Hotel Sol Peniche for accommodation for the athletes at good prices, so just check in with the hotel.
Rip Curl Pro will be featuring live transmission via Sapo XL, from the technological partnership with PT - Portugal Telecom. Alfarroba organizes the Rip Curl Pro for Rip Curl and Peniche City Hall, with PT support (technological partner), Tsunami computers, Portuguese Surfing Federation and Hotel Sol Peniche.
With media partners, Sport TV, Antena3 - Sem Stress with Luís Monteiro, Correio da Manhã and Record newspapers, SURF Portugal magazine and SurfTotal, and websites www.aspeurope.com.

All standing by for a full-size surfing show in Peniche from the 14th to the 17th of April.

A Surf Total informa todos os intressados que o Campeonato Mundial de Surf WQS Rip Curl Pro foi sujeito a um downgrade de 4* para 1*, estando assim menos pontos e dinheiro em jogo.
Assim, a data da prova foi alterada para os dias 14, 15 e 16 de Abril (quinta a sábado), em Peniche.