Shark Island: the venue will finally take part in the 2019 APB World Tour | Photo: APB

The 2019 Association of Professional Bodyboarders (APB) World Tour released its 2019 showreel.

The professional bodyboarding organization launched a promo video featuring footage from Pipeline, Teahupoo, Shark Island, Arica, Fronton, Nazaré, and Itacoatiara. But will these idyllic breaks be included in the 2019 schedule?

"The video is a showreel for the APB and not a World Tour launch video," Alex León, CEO of the APB, told SurferToday. Nonetheless, the World Tour will start in Pipeline, Hawaii, on February 24, 2019.

APB's 2019 showreel hopes to attract more sponsors into the bodyboarding scene, and it was initially released on Linkedin.

In the video, the 2019 APB World Tour promises "the most extreme wave riding tournament on the planet" and the "heaviest waves in the world."

The truth is that the addition of Shark Island would undoubtedly improve the spectators' experience after a frustrating season with poor wave conditions in Australia and the absence of Gran Canaria's grand wave.

The promo video also includes clips from El Frontón and Teahupoo, where riders were blessed by epic and historical waves in the past.

It is not clear whether the organization led by Alex León will visit, for the first time, an artificial wave pool in 2019.

León had talks with Australia's Surf Lakes, but the negotiations to run a contest in Yeppoon have not yet materialized.

Hopefully, the Grand Slam venues that will take part in the 2019 APB World Tour will deliver the best waves ever in the history of professional bodyboarding.

But there are still a few non-competitive edges that need to be ironed out - the possibility to check the rankings without having to download an app, linear quality throughout webcasts, and regular media and website updates.

Jared Houston and Ayaka Suzuki are the defending APB World Tour champions. They are expected to return to fight for their crowns, but the usual suspects and a growing number of young guns will certainly ignite the upcoming world title race.

Update: The APB removed the video from its YouTube channel

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