29 April, 2015 29 April, 2015

Green Light for Quiksilver Ceremonial, Chile

With swell in excess of 25-feet predicted for Thursday, 30 April, the first event of the 2015/16 WSL Big Wave Tour season has been given the green light. The Quiksilver Ceremonial Punta de Lobos is ready to roll, and the world’s best big wave surfers are heading over for the challenge.

Gabriel
Gabriel Villaran (PER) charged his way to 3rd place at the 2011 Quiksilver Ceremonial.

We saw a stoked Grant ‘Twiggy’ Baker in Durban this past long weekend, and he looked amped to jet-off and meet the incoming swell head-on. Joining him on the chase to Chile is Frank Solomon, who has been put on the alternate list after impressing in the event in previous years.

rank_FB

The Quiksilver Ceremonial was last contested in 2011, when Brazil’s Marcos Monteiro took the title in challenging but epic lefts at Punta de Lobos.

Unfortunately the event won’t be broadcast live, but the WSL app will have highlights on demand as the day goes on. Stay updated there or on worldsurfleague.com as the Quiksilver Ceremonial Punta de Lobos gets the 2015/16 Big Wave Tour season underway.

Read the official announcement below.

************

PUNTA DE LOBOS GOES GREEN: BWT HEADS TO CHILE

With a potentially historic swell for the Quiksilver Ceremonial, the Big Wave Tour (BWT) has given the first green light of the 2015/2016 season. A quickly developing system off of Antarctica is on track to produce waves well above the 25-foot minimum requirement for a BWT event. Preparations are now underway to run Thursday, April 30, which would allow just enough time for surfers to make the 2015 Big Wave Awards Friday in California. The timing means that there will be just 24 hours between the crowning of the big wave season’s first event champ and the crowning of the 2014/2015 World Champ, Makuakai Rothman (HAW). The Ceremonial will not be broadcast live but big wave fans can keep up with the event with real-time updates and on-demand video highlights.

“This is not unusual,” BWT Vice President Gary Linden said of the early start to this year’s BWT. “Traditionally we look to Chile for the opening of the season since it’s still fall there. There are clean conditions and good swells so we opened in April to make sure we didn’t miss it.”

The 24-man field for the Quiksilver Ceremonial Chile will be comprised of the BWT Top 10 as well as six WSL wildcards, six event wildcards and two qualifiers from the 2014/2015 season. The 2015/2016 BWT includes potential contests in Chile, Peru, Mainland Mexico, Baja California, Hawaii, the Basque Country and the Pacific Northwest and features big wave icons such as Grant Baker (ZAF), Greg Long (USA) and Rothman, among others, as they battle one another in the biggest surf on the planet.

A team of experts track swell systems all over the world, waiting for those that will produce waves bigger than 25 feet for one of the seven world-class breaks. The most recent forecast from Surfline is as follows:

Chart
Surfline’s Official Forecast for Punta de Lobos, Chile.

Looking at the forecast charts this storm checks off just about all of the boxes for an XXL swell: very intense, with model guidance indicating central low pressure will drop to between 928-936mb, with adjacent 1024mb high; extra large and especially wide fetch; takes an excellent track toward central Chile; and good agreement amongst our more trusted global weather models that this will be a monster storm that will generate a vast area of 40-50’++ seas within 2000 miles of Lobos.

Assuming this storm behaves as forecast model guidance indicates, we will see an XXL, long period SW swell (215-235) build in all day on Thursday the 30th, likely peak in the afternoon, and then slowly wind down on Friday the 1st. This would very easily meet the minimum standards for the event to run and could very well produce solid 20’+ swell. On paper it one of the more impressive storms/swells I have seen in a while, we just need it to come to fruition in the real world.


Damien Hobgood finds a giant left at Punta de Lobos during a 2014 freesurf. The wave earned him a Big Wave Awards Paddle-In nomination.

“The swell that’s coming in is predicted to be one of the biggest we’ve seen in a long time,” said Linden. “We’ll look to get started around 10 a.m. but will push it later if we can. The timing is a little late — it’s supposed to be bigger in the afternoon — but it should make for a fantastic Final.”

It’s a busy week for big wave surfing. After the conclusion of the Quik Ceremonial, the world’s best chargers will head to Anaheim, Calif., for the 15th Big Wave Awards Show. Check out the on-demand features for the Quiksilver Ceremonial Thursday, April 30 using the WSL App. Then watch the Big Wave Awards LIVE at worldsurfleague.com Friday, May 1.

Quiksilver Ceremonial Invite List:
– Makuakai Rothman
– Gabriel Villaran
– Nic Lamb
– Anthony Tashnick
– Nathan Fletcher
– Grant Baker
– Natxo Gonzalez
– Carlos Burle
– Miguel Tudela
– Kohl Christensen
– Alex Gray
– Josh Kerr
– Damien Hobgood
– Ramon Navarro
– Marcos Monteiro
– Mark Healey
– Jamie Sterling
– Mark Mathews
– Christian Morello
– Diego Medina
– Fernando Zegers
– Federico Mekis
– Reinaldo Ibarra
– Koa Rothman

Alternate:
– Ben Wilkinson
– Frank Solomon
– Ken Collins
– Will Skudin
– Rafael Tapia

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *