Rip Curl International has officially announced that the coastal town of Peniche, Portugal, will host this year’s Rip Curl Pro Search, Stop No. 9 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour – to be held October 19 to 28.
The location has been a mystery to most all season, but today’s official press launch in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon unveiled the secret to media and the surfing industry.
“We’re excited about today’s announcement and even more excited to see the industry’s reaction to our decision to hold this year’s Rip Curl Pro Search in the beautiful country of Portugal,” said Scott Hargreaves, Rip Curl Event Manager. “The country has a lot of great waves and we’ve decided to lock in Peniche’s ‘Supertubos’ as our event spot. It’s a five-star wave and one of the best beachbreak tubes in the world!”
Supertubos is a powerful A-frame barrel that feeds off deep Atlantic Ocean swells and handles waves up to the 12-15ft (4-5m). Many surfers have nicknamed it the “European Pipeline” due to its similarities to Hawaii’s infamous Banzai Pipeline.
“The wave breaks all year, but the North Atlantic Ocean swells peak in the later part of Europe’s summer,” continued Mr 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.”
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…Â Details