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THE SEARCH IS OVER -- FOR THIS YEAR
Rip Curl names Peniche, Portugal as home to the 2009 Search event
By:
Marcus Sanders
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June 22, 2009
19610 visits
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We love Portugal.
It has great coffee, wine and port, its local Top 45 surfer, Tiago Pires, is a great guy, its women are beautiful, its drivers are crazy, and its coastline offers waves of all shapes and sizes. It was our Best Bet for January 2009, and it's Rip Curl's choice for October's Search event for many of the same reasons.
"The country has a lot of great waves and we've decided to lock in Peniche's Supertubos as our event spot," explains Rip Curl Event Manager Scott Hargreaves. "It's a five-star wave and one of the best beachbreak tubes in the world." Like any left tube worth its salt, Supertubes has been called the European Pipeline by some over the years. It's a close-to-shore beachbreak that offers up left and right peaks within spitting distance of the sand. Sub in old fishermen dudes with cool hats for the Wolfpak and you've got a comparison. "The wave breaks all year, but the North Atlantic Ocean swells peak in the later part of Europe's summer," continued Hargreaves. "This is why we've created the event window in October, instead of the June-July period we've had for the past four years." (Speaking of the last few years, they've had quite a run. Andy won in crazy Mexican tubes in 2006, again in Chilean barrels in 2007; brother Brucey won in pumping Ulus last year.) Here's the other, possibly more important thing: the change of schedule will also make this year's Rip Curl Pro Search the second-to-last event on the ASP Men's World Tour calendar -- meaning for the first time it could be the event where this year's ASP World Champion is crowned. "The hype of possibly crowning the ASP World Champion is an awesome by-product of the date change," continues Hargreaves. Current ASP No. 3 Mick Fanning is the only past Rip Curl Pro Search champion (2005) competing this year's ASP World Tour, with Bruce and Andy now retired. Fanning is enthusiastic about packing his boards for Portugal: "The Rip Curl Pro Search is always exciting for me and I think it's a favorite for all the lads on tour because it really breaks things up," said Fanning, the 2007 ASP World Champion. "I haven't been to Peniche before but when I found out we were going there I had a chat to my mate Tiago Pires and he told me the waves in the area are world class. I got a win in the first-ever Search Pro and I've always done reasonably well in them, so hopefully Peniche cops plenty of swell during the event waiting period and the Rip Curl Pro Search continues to deliver some of the best waves we ever see for World Tour competition." The date move of this year's event has also allowed Rip Curl to include an ASP Women's World Tour contest during the Rip Curl Pro Search. The event will run from October 26 to 30 and is Stop 5 of 8 for the ASP Women's elite. "I think it's really exciting that the ASP Women's World Tour is jumping onboard for the adventure," said Stephanie Gilmore, reigning two-time ASP Women's World Champion. MORE SURF NEWS SURFLINE HOME PAGE |