| Xcel announces inaugural Supertubes Showdown in Jeffrey's Bay |
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| Tuesday, 21 April 2009 08:45 |
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Xcel is proud to present the inaugural Xcel Supertubes Showdown, a speciality event to take place on the waves of the fabled Supertubes, Jeffrey's Bay. The event will be an invite-only event, with 16 local and Supers experts invited to surf in the event, competing for a first-place prize of an entry into the Von Zipper Wildcard Trials. The Von Zipper Wildcard Trials yield 3 slots into the main event of the Billabong Pro Jeffrey's Bay World Tour event. The event will be head judged by the experienced Mike Ginsberg, with the assistance of local surfers. The premise of this event is simple: the best surfer advances through his heat. The event will consist of four four-man heats, with one surfer advancing from each heat to make up a four-man final. Heats will be 45 minutes long and the final will run for an hour. Surf requirements to run the event are simply a good swell and an offshore wind - all that's needed at one of the best right-hand pointbreaks in the world. Invitees will consist of local surfers, and other surfers from the immediate environs who have spent time surfing Supers and have proven to have an affinity with the wave. They will include the likes of Warren Dean, Stanley Badger, Craig Els and Ryan Payne, amongst others. The list of invited surfers, as well as alternates, will be released shortly. Local surfer Warren Dean was one of the first to be included into the event. Warren, who came third in the Billabong Challenge in 1995 behind Kelly Slater and Marc Occhilupo at Supers, feels that it's great for the locals to also get a chance. "This looks like it is going to be a great event," said Warren. "I would be over the moon to be able to get into a World Tour event and surf against the top 44. I've started training for it already, so I am taking it pretty seriously." Warren proved to the world that local surfers can get a wave like Supertubes so wired that they can beat the best in the world. The highlight of the event was undoubtedly when Warren got four excellent tubes on one wave at Supers. Still, he admits that it's not only about reliving his heyday. "It's also a really positive thing that there are a few of the youngsters invited as well," added Warren. "These guys are the ones who want to compete on the WQS and then hopefully the World Tour, so they can really benefit from an event like this as well." The waiting period for this event is set to be from June 5 - 21. Four hours of surfing time is needed to run off the four heats and the final. The event is presented by Xcel, with support from Von Zipper, Billabong, DaKine, and Sector 9. Red Bull will be supplying the energy for the competitors.
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