ASP green alert: season's first big wave event live on Thursday
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Tuesday, July 1, 2014 -- Today, the ASP Big Wave World Tour (BWWT) is greenlighting the Billabong Pico Alto, Peru for a start this Thursday, July 3, as a projected 35-to-40-foot ocean swell descends upon South America. Watch the world’s elite surfers riding giant waves -- live at ASPWorldTour.com.
"The system has intensified off of Antarctica and is heading towards South America with ideal conditions projected for Peru," said Peter Mel, ASP Big Wave Commissioner. "We have greenlit the Billabong Pico Alto event for a start on Thursday and are very excited to get the 2014/2015 season underway. We had initially placed both Chile and Peru on Yellow Alert, but after closely monitoring the data and charts over the past couple of days, we have determined that Peru will have the ideal elements necessary for this particular swell. We’re excited. It’s on."
The 2014/2015 BWWT season is divided into Southern Hemisphere and Northern Hemisphere components hosting three possible events within each. The Southern Hemisphere window runs from April 15 to August 31, 2014 with event options in Chile, Peru and South Africa. The Northern Hemisphere window runs from October 15, 2014 to February 28, 2015 with event options in Mexico, the Basque Region of Spain and Maui.
"We have the best big wave surfers on the planet traveling to Peru from all over the world in anticipation of this swell and the event," Mel continued. "The last time we ran the event in Peru was in 2012 and Carlos Burle, of Brazil, was victorious and the swell we have forming for Thursday’s event will provide an incredible platform upon which these watermen will test their skills.."
A team of experts track swell systems all over the world waiting for those that will produce waves in the 30-foot-and-larger range for one of the six world-class big wave venues.
The largest swell of the year, thus far, and one of the more impressive swells of the last couple years will slam South America over the next few days, with a peak in surf for Southern Peru and Pico Alto on Thursday, July 3rd.
There are several factors that will make this a special swell for Peru and the rest of South America: a large, slow-moving storm that took a favorable track toward Peru and Chile, producing satellite-confirmed wind of 40-55 knots over a wide fetch and seas in excess of 45 feet; strong high pressure on the storm’s northwestern flank, which greatly aids the consistency of wind in the storm; and a previously excited sea state.
We will see a very long period, powerful swell produce face heights in the 25-40 foot range on the sets at Pico Alto on Thursday, with some larger bombs not out of the question. The swell is expected to remain strong all day. Furthermore, thanks to the size and track of the storm, we should see lots of waves in the sets when they do show. Local wind will be most favorable in the morning when we expect to see light and variable to light southerly wind early, with building onshore wind from the south around 9-15 knots in the afternoon.
The 24-man field for the Billabong Pico Alto will be comprised of the ASP BWWT Top 12, lead by reigning world champion Grant 'Twiggy' Baker, as well as six ASP wildcards and six local wildcards:
ASP BWWT Top 12:
1. Grant Baker (ZAF)
2. Ken Collins (USA)
3. Nic Lamb (USA)
4. Shawn Dollar (USA)
5. Kohl Christensen (HAW)
6. Alex Gray (USA)
7. Greg Long (USA)
8. Ryan Augestein (USA)
9. Anthony Tashnick (USA)
10. Ramon Navarro (CHL)
11. Jamie Mitchell (AUS)
12. Tyler Fox (USA)
ASP BWWT Peru Wildcards:
1. Kelly Slater (USA)
2. Ben Wilkinson (AUS)
3. Makua Rothman (HAW)
4. Jamie Sterling (HAW)
5. Carlos Burle (BRA)
6. Gabriel Villaran (PER)
Local Peru Wildcards:
1. Miguel Tudela
2. Rafael Velarde
3. Kodiak Semsch
4. Tamil Martino
5. Alejo Loret del Mola
6. Renzo Zazzali
The Billabong Pico Alto will be webcast LIVE via ASPWorldTour.com
Comments
Is that swell from the same system that the j-bay vid, large swell in indo & passed southern Australia on the weekend?
Nah different system Moth.
Laurie Towner should be on that wildcard list.
So what date/time can we expect to see vision from this. I'm assuming late Thursday night/early Friday morning our time?
i wonder if slats is going to be there?
Here's a good test for the theory that Big Wave Surfing is going to save the ASP.
I predict Pico Alto will be about as exciting to watch as paint drying.
And why is that Steve?
You'll have to be more specific and nominate the colour, because hot pink I'd sit around for. But beige? No friggen way boyo!
From my quick research on youtube it doesn't look to be a very hollow wave. For me at least that reduces the interest level massively. I'd rather watch guys charge an 8-10 foot slab than a 40 foot burger any day. Is that the point you were making freeride?
Pico breaks a long way to sea so camera angles are challenging. They're either the static, long distant view from land or the rolling perspective from a boat in the channel. It's also a huge indistinct reef so there's a lot of getting caught out of position, which is intense when it happens in person, ho-hum when on camera. Finally, it's more of a rolling entry than a gaping drop.
All that aside I'm interested to see what ZoSea can bring to the game.
I'll sit through 30 minutes of Tracey Grimshaw to watch a pig surf in Texas and even I reckon it will probably be shite....I hope not though.
I reckon the entertainment value will depend on the frequency of the good waves. If there aren't longish gaps, it will be awesome.
Not taking anything away from the humans, as in all surfing, it is the waves that are the stars.
Its 5pm Wednesday in Peru do we have any reports on this swell ?
Here's a good wave buoy to gauge the swell. It's located off the Chile/Peru border and it's currently reporting 13.8 ft @ 19 sec. Bit under what I would've expected though it peaked at 16.7 @ 21 six hours ago (11.50 am Wed.)
Swell travel time from this buoy to Pico is approx 16 - 20 hours so the peak appears on track for first light tomorrow (local time).
Surfline are expecting 25' - 40' faces.
First heat to start in a few hours time. No sign of Slater on the competitor list although he was listed in the press release a few days ago.
And they're off and running. Pete Mel's calling 20ft Hawaiian with 35-40ft faces.
well im dissappointed,not quite what i was hoping,bring on j bay............yawn
I caught the last ten minutes of the Final.
Maybe not the saviour.
I tuned in at 5:15am and caught a full 10 minutes of ads. Even played the some ones twice during the same block.
Heat highlights don't look too bad though the mention of a heat with just one wave ridden is worrying. How many ads did they play during that heat?
I didn't see any ads. Switched off as soon as it was over.
It'll all be about the highlights but i still don't think competitve Big Wave surfing will get Joe Sixpack in Buttfuck MIssouri staying up all night.
Big wave surfing is end of bulletin filler for the mainstream media, like a croc attack. And the only thing they are interested in is the Biggest Wave. Hard to keep upping th ante like that for an uncomprehending audience.
In saying that , a forty foot day at Jaws with paddle in surfing will be the best thing ever.
I watched the last 20 mins of the semi and the final. They kept mentioning going to an add break but thankfully I got none. Don't think I would have sat through it if there was as many as you mention Stu.
To add, there were a couple of nice drops and the odd wipeout, but I found it pretty boring overall
It's just a plain and simple fecking boring wave. The drop is the ONLY half decent part of the wave. After that its just shit. They seriously need to pick their big wave locations better. Something like chopes or shippies if they want any real audience numbers.
Slater didn't show up.
That's the problem with these big wave spots, not many of them have a great shape. If the same wave was 3 foot, would you be a bit excited as you paddled out? Rarely. Jaws is an exception. On a really good day, that Jaws right can look like it has the shape of a nice section at Greenmount.
That being said, I think this Peru event would have looked very different with blue water, blue skies and clear air. It actually looked more like black and white TV with not great reception. Just the nature of the conditions, but I reckon the grey on grey made it a very tough sell.
Only a big wave surfer knows the feeling
and that's the problem caml......conveying the feeling to the public via a live webcast didn't work.....the BWWT is a very hard sell ,live ,to a non-surfing audience ....
it will be interesting to se if stu can find out how many people watched it...and work out what needs to happen viewer wise for the comps to be viable...
I think that the event didn't work live....a 1 hr show at the end of the day would have been more than enough......
Bang on Brutus. And yeah, the numbers at Pico were recorded. At their peak they were still short of the worst Mens WT heat. I'll have a more specific breakdown for everyone shortly (just after J'Bay).
how come the long wait??
so what was the worst Mens Wt heat ...and the womens??
and if Kelly had been in it......????
Gonna be part of a longer article that includes more recent WT numbers.
OK ....can't wait....am doing a few interviews at the moment for US mags and am using your info to put forward a possible alternative Tour......
After searching wats on the net about this bwwt Peru contest it looked like the waves were 25ft , pretty much proper big waves and lots of the worlds best had a good go at competing . Nothin wrong with it ! Early days for the bwwt still
25ft plus, no less .
wheres the under 14's division? I want my kid to be a pro surfer........Ive got him out in the big stuff already, media trained and just wanting to put the spotlight on our lovely recreation.RECREATION.