San Francisco’s Ocean Beach to play host to 2011 Rip Curl Pro Search
The latest edition of the Rip Curl Pro Search event will be held at the Ocean Beach in San Francisco, California. The announcement was made by the surfing company, Rip Curl, at the conclusion of the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach in Victoria, Australia, on Sunday,
April 24. The 2011 Rip Curl Pro Search will commence from November 1-11.
Rip Curl got the Association of Professional Surfers (ASP) licence to hold the unique floating event in 2005. While majority of the contests on the ASP World Tour, usually, take place at particular world-class surf locations, such as Jeffreys Bay, Lower
Trestles and Pipeline, the Rip Curl Pro Search go against the convention. Instead of going for the traditional renowned locations, the event brings some of the world's most exciting and talented surfers to a different venue for competition each year.
This year, the Rip Curl Pro Search is coming over to San Francisco’s Ocean Beach and will feature the top 35 surfers in the world. The event will check how the top surfers handle the intimidating and somewhat dangerous conditions waiting for them at Ocean
Beach. While the world famous surfing spot, Mavericks, enjoys more attention because of the big waves, the waves at Ocean Beach are no joke either. When the Pacific Coast gets hit by the strong northwest or west swells, Ocean Beach ends up with big waves that
had just a little smaller than the ones that its neighbours to the south boast. The waves are nearly just as challenging as the ones in Mavericks.
A week before the final announcement about the location of Rip Curl Pro Search, the surf company carried out a meeting with some of Ocean Beach’s top surfers at a local bar. The two parties went over the details of the conditions and the decision to hold
the contest in the proposed location. Rip Curl also wanted to make sure that the entire surfing community in San Francisco was behind the idea. Even though the support for the idea was not overwhelming, the community did not voice an opposition to Rip Curl’s
plan, giving the surfing company a green signal.
The Rip Curl Pro Search has been travelling all around the world in the past six years. Its’ previous venues include Reunion Island, Mainland Mexico, Chile, Bali, Portugal and Puerto Rico.
Even though the ASP World Tour had been traditionally making stops at isolated surf locations with ideal conditions, there has been a recent shift to urban areas. Even though the waves may not be the best, the locality helps to bring in more attention to
a major surf contest.
Other ASP events are picking on the trend of shifting from the isolated locations to the urban locations. Examples include the Billabong Pro Santa Catarina which is moving to Rio de Janeiro and the Quiksilver Pro in New York.
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