| TIME DIFFERENCE: Unknown
COORDINATES: Well-kept secret
BAGGAGE CLAIM: TBD
TRANSPORTATION: TBD
ATTITUDE: Two words: The Search. Rip Curl’s longstanding campaign to seek out and find the best surf possible in the most remote regions on Earth has finally translated to the ASP Women’s World Tour. With event locations shrouded in mystery, it’s really anybody’s game, and the competitors are transformed into nervous, excited grommets again.
THE WAVE: 2009 will be the inaugural year that Rip Curl bring the ASP Top 17 into the Search program. For the men, in 2005, it was a beautiful, coral-reef lefhander that offered high-performance conditions for all skill levels. Working from three to 12 feet and beyond, the break of St. Leu on Reunion Island was an ideal location for the inaugural Rip Curl Search ASP World Tour event. In 2006, Rip Curl scored what many have considered "the best ASP World Tour event ever" as "La Jolla" spun reeling righthand barrels for three days straight before vanishing. 2007 hosted a Chilean death-slab that issued a few trips to the hospital for some of the world’s best and in 2008 Rip Curl sent the boys ‘Somewhere in Indonesia’, where the talented athletes demolished the pulsing lefthanders in the tropical surf paradise. Now the stack of surfing fanatics have to sit and wait until Rip Curl announces their newest locale for ’09.
PERKS: At St Leu, the waves, the beautiful beach, and the hospitality of the people made the groundbreaking event even more special. The jaunt down in Mexico transformed the entire ASP Top 45 into frothing grommets as the feasted on an endless buffet of sand-bottom barrels and last year’s event offered up impressive Indonesian lefthanders. Who knows what the perks will be this year…
PERILS: At St Leu, it was the occasional frisky shark, and the more than occasional pesky urchin. In Mexico, the only perils were the bone-crunching sandbar and the fierce heat. In Chile, it was volcano barnacles and suplexing barrels. In Indonesia, it was the razor-sharp reef at Racetracks. 2009 is anyone’s guess. Perhaps giant squids, vampiric mermaids or ghost ships, who knows? But we might as well throw the world’s best out there first to be the guinea pigs.
APRES SURF: In St. Leu all you had to do was exit the water and bask in the island’s beauty or enjoy the hospitality of the locals - helped if you spoke French though. In Mexico, margaritas and aloe vera were the call after gorging yourself on barrels all day. Chile had more culture than you can shake a stick at, and the chance to simply experience Indonesia’s tropical paradise is the envy of people worldwide. Who knows what’s in store for this year, but we’re sure that the people at Rip Curl will not disappoint.
ASP WORLD TOUR HISTORY: Rip Curl held its inaugural Search ASP World Tour event in 2005 at the famed lefthander of St. Leu in Reunion Island. The second event took the ASP Top 45 into deepest, darkest Mexico. 2007 put the fear of Huey into the world’s best, when they tackled the mutant "El Gringo" in remote Chile. Last year’s event was held in high-performance Indonesian walls and Rip Curl still is the only event sponsor to hold on to a truly mobile event.
NOTABLE: The Rip Curl Search event is the first ASP World Tour event where the licensee is opting to change the location every year. Rip Curl teamrider and Australian phenomenon Mick Fanning won the inaugural event in 2005 in his first season back after a near career-ending injury. The ’06 and ’07 Rip Curl Search events have been taken by former three-time ASP World Champion Andy Irons in Mexico and Chile and little brother Bruce Irons decided to keep ‘The Search’ in the family by winning last year’s event in Indonesia.
PAST EVENT CHAMPIONS:
2009: Inaugural Year |
