Summer Surfing

Waiting for the Monster

Such are the professional surfers who compete in contests such the Red Bull "el gigante viene" event. That means "the monster is coming." And when it does, they'll be ready. They've been waiting since the beginning of May, when the holding period for this Association of Professional Towsurfers, (APT) tow-in event began. It will run through July 31, 2007. That means sometime between now and then "Surfline" with a team of expert forecasters and the LOLA global swell model, will make the call: Some of the biggest and best waves on the planet are on the way. It's showtime!

Since Ken "Skindog" Collins won the Billabong XXL Award for Ride of the Year by mastering a deep, powerful barrel with a 50-foot face last year, few doubt that Puerto's Mexican Pipe is the heaviest beach break in the world. Red Bull and APT say they are going to wait for nothing short of the biggest day of the season with the best conditions, They're looking for at least 12 meters.

The Association of Professional Towsurfers (APT) was formed by a group of thrill-seeking surfers in Hawaii. Paddling your board out through 30-plus swells ain't easy. Maybe you'll be able to catch one every couple of hours or so. With Tow-in surfing, the competitors work in teams of two, one of whom tows the other out with a jet-ski. This allows the rider to get up to speed to attempt to master a huge barrel.

The tower is then able to pull the rider out of the foam (if he hasn't suffered severe bodily harm in the wipeout) and ferry him out to challenge the next one.

Jet skier and surfer trade off after each set and the team's success is as dependant upon the skill of the jet-skier as on the surfer. In fact when Skindog caught that 50-footer, it was Puerto Escondido's Carlos "Coco" Nogales who maneuvered him into position. Coco is recognized as the premier big wave surfer in México. He's a Red Bull team surfer and is featured prominently in their promotion of this tournament.

"I am really stoked about having this event in my home town", says Coco. Having all these talented and big name surfers coming here to surf the most powerful beach break in the world, will be an amazing show." See below for the list of participants.

The 'Red Bull El Gigante Viene' is one of two scheduled events for the 2007 Gottaplay.com APT World Cup Tour. The other, Iquique, Chile International Tow-In Surfing Championship will be held between June 1, and July 31. Let's see who gets that monster wave first.

Check www.surfline.com for actual date of the competition.

Red Bull "EL GIGANTE VIENE"

ESPN can only dream of such monsters during their 3rd filming of "The Game" in Puerto Escondido, which will fall within the holding period of the Red Bull. Now wouldn't that be a show?

The sport network's X Games, the Olympics of extreme sports, added surfing to its lineup in 2003 with "The Game", developed by pro surfer Brad Gerlach, The Game places surfers into opposing teams - - East Coast versus West Coast - - competing for an overall highest score and the team victory.

ESPN's X Games are held in Huntington Beach, Ca. in August, but poor surf conditions there resulted in the move to Puerto. It has been a success; good for Puerto, good for Mexican surfing in general and great for ESPN. More on this important event next issue, since details were unavailable to us.