Rip Curl Pro Search
\nStop No. 9 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour
\nRip Curl Women\u2019s Pro Search<\/p>\n
Stop No. 4 of 7 on the 2009 ASP Women\u2019s World Tour
\nPeniche, Portugal
\nOctober 19 \u2013 October 30, 2009<\/p>\n
World\u2019s Best Surfers Prepare for Rip Curl Pro Search Start Tomorrow<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/uploads\/76ad8910-be15-f076.jpg\")
\nPictured: Owen Wright (AUS), 19, wildcard into the Rip Curl Pro Search and current No. 3 on the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS), turned heads last April when he defeated reigning nine-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (USA), 37, and ASP Dream Tour phenom Dane Reynolds (USA), 24, as a wildcard at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach.
\nCredit: \u00a9 ASP\/ CI\/ SCHOLTZ via GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n
PENICHE, Portugal (Sunday, October 18, 2009) \u2013 The Rip Curl Pro Search, Event No. 9 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, is set to commence tomorrow with solid waves forecast for the world\u2019s best surfers to sink their teeth into.<\/p>\n
The third and final event of the 2009 European leg for the ASP Top 45, the Rip Curl Pro Search provides a crucial setting for a possible ASP World Title clinching as well as numerous battles for Dream Tour requalification.<\/p>\n
Tiago Pires (PRT), 29, current ASP World No. 23 and Portugal\u2019s first-ever qualifier for the prestigious ASP World Tour, salvaged a difficult season with an Equal 3rd in France to vault himself up the ratings and within the requalification bubble. Now at home in Portugal, Pires will look to further solidify his rating heading into the final event of the year.\u201cCompeting in an ASP World Tour event in Portugal is something I have always dreamed of,\u201d Pires said. \u201cNow that I have the opportunity to do this in front of my friends and family, I am very grateful. The wave at Supertubos is a beachbreak barrel and I don\u2019t think local knowledge will have a big advantage out there. The guys on tour are the best in the world and every heat is a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pires will face Bobby Martinez (USA), 27, and Nathaniel Curran (USA), 25, in Round 1 of the Rip Curl Pro Search (traditional format).<\/p>\n
Owen Wright (AUS), 19, wildcard into the Rip Curl Pro Search and current No. 3 on the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS), was a standout in April\u2019s Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, defeating reigning nine-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (USA), 37, and ASP Dream Tour standout Dane Reynolds (USA), 24, as a wildcard. Since then, the phenomenal goofy-footer has gone on to secure his spot amongst the world\u2019s best for 2010 and will use his wildcard in Peniche to measure himself against this year\u2019s ASP Top 45.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a massive honor to be selected, amongst the many incredible riders on the Rip Curl team, to compete in this event,\u201d Wright said. \u201cAt the beginning of the year, I put my head down and really worked hard at achieving my goal of qualifying for the Dream Tour and now that I\u2019ve done it, it feels amazing. I really see this as an opportunity to get some practice in against the world\u2019s best before being a part of the tour next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wright will take on Bede Durbidge (AUS), 26, and Chris Davidson (AUS), 33, in the opening round of the Rip Curl Pro Search (traditional format).<\/p>\n
Joining Wright as wildcards into the Rip Curl Pro Search will be Justin Mujica (PRT), 32, winner of today\u2019s TMN trials, Bruno Santos (BRA), 26, winner of the 2008 Billabong Pro Teahupoo as a wildcard, and David Luis (PRT), 29, replacing injured ASP Top 45 member Jeremy Flores (FRA), 21.<\/p>\n
For the first time in history, the world\u2019s best female surfers will join the ASP Top 45 with the Rip Curl Women\u2019s Pro Search running later in the waiting period. Event No. 4 of 7 on the 2009 ASP Women\u2019s World Tour, the Rip Curl Women\u2019s Pro Search promises to deliver an exciting new dynamic into professional women\u2019s surfing, and the current crop of ASP Top 17 are preparing for battle.<\/p>\n
Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), 21, reigning two-time ASP Women\u2019s World Champion and current ASP World No. 1, is ecstatic about the opportunity to compete in her first \u201cSearch\u201d event and views it as a vital step forward to the progression of women\u2019s surfing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s fantastic that Rip Curl have added the women to the \u2018Search\u2019 event this year,\u201d Gilmore said. \u201cSupertubos really has the potential to be a world class wave for us girls and I think that\u2019s something that\u2019s been lacking since we lost venues like Tahiti and Fiji. It will be great if we can get some solid waves to see what this new generation of girls can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eyeing her third, consecutive ASP Women\u2019s World Title, Gilmore is locked in a brutal battle for this season\u2019s crown against Silvana Lima (BRA), 24. Lima has won the previous two events, bringing her within 361 points of Gilmore, and is looking dangerous heading into the back half of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely pushes my surfing and it\u2019s what I need to stay competitively interested,\u201d Gilmore said. \u201cI think Silvana (Lima) has figured out the winning formula for her and she\u2019s definitely someone on tour who is innovative and able to get big scores. I\u2019m excited for the back half of the season and am happy to get back in the singlet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gilmore will take on veteran Amee Donohoe (AUS), 28, and reigning ASP Women\u2019s World Junior Champion Pauline Ado (FRA), 18, in the opening round of the Rip Curl Women\u2019s Pro Search.<\/p>\n
Surfline, official forecasters for the 2009 Rip Curl Pro Search, are calling for clean swell conditions on the opening day of the waiting period before tracking a sizeable swell indicating solid overhead waves for the primary venue of Supertubes as well as three-to-four times overhead for the backup locations of Balgas.<\/p>\n
Event organizers will convene tomorrow morning at 7:30am to assess conditions for a possible 8am start. Event organizers will also make a call on which competitive format they\u2019ll run, deciding between the traditional format and the elimination man-on-man format.<\/p>\n
The Rip Curl Pro Search will be webcast LIVE via http:\/\/live.ripcurl.com<\/p>\n
The Rip Curl Pro Search is partnered regionally by RTP, Eurosport, Fuel TV and ESPN Brazil, who will all be broadcasting live from Peniche throughout the event. For more information on these live television broadcasts, please visit www.live.ripcurl.com.<\/p>\n
For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com<\/p>\n
RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS: Traditional Format<\/p>\n
Heat 1: Damien Hobgood (USA), Tim Boal (FRA), Jihad Khodr (BRA)<\/p>\n
Heat 2: Taylor Knox (USA), Heitor Alves (BRA), David Weare (ZAF)<\/p>\n
Heat 3: Bobby Martinez (USA), Tiago Pires (PRT), Nathaniel Curran (USA)<\/p>\n
Heat 4: Taj Burrow (AUS), Ben Dunn (AUS), Phillip MacDonald (AUS)<\/p>\n
Heat 5: Adriano de Souza (BRA), Adrian Buchan (AUS), Marlon Lipke (DEU)<\/p>\n
Heat 6: C.J. Hobgood (USA), Michel Bourez (PYF), Patrick Gudaudkas (USA)<\/p>\n
Heat 7: Bede Durbidge (AUS), Chris Davidson (AUS), Owen Wright (AUS)<\/p>\n
Heat 8: Joel Parkinson (AUS), Dean Morrison (AUS), David Luis (PRT)<\/p>\n
Heat 9: Kelly Slater (USA), Mick Campbell (AUS), Justin Mujica (PRT)<\/p>\n
Heat 10: Mick Fanning (AUS), Kekoa Bacalso (HAW), Bruno Santos (BRA)<\/p>\n
Heat 11: Kieren Perrow (AUS), Chris Ward (USA), Michael Picon (FRA)<\/p>\n
Heat 12: Jordy Smith (ZAF), Roy Powers (HAW), Dayyan Neve (AUS)<\/p>\n
Heat 13: Tom Whitaker (AUS), Tim Reyes (USA), Jay Thompson (AUS)<\/p>\n
Heat 14: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW), Josh Kerr (AUS), Nic Muscroft (AUS)<\/p>\n
Heat 15: Dane Reynolds (USA), Greg Emslie (ZAF), Aritz Aranburu (EUK)<\/p>\n
Heat 16: Kai Otton (AUS), Dustin Barca (HAW), Drew Courtney (AUS)<\/p>\n
RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS: New Format<\/p>\n
Heat 1: Tim Boal (FRA) vs. Jihad Khodr (BRA)<\/p>\n
Heat 2: Heitor Alves (BRA) vs. David Weare (ZAF)<\/p>\n
Heat 3: Tiago Pires (PRT) vs. Nathaniel Curran (USA)<\/p>\n
Heat 4: Ben Dunn (AUS) vs. Phillip MacDonald (AUS)<\/p>\n
Heat 5: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. Marlon Lipke (DEU)<\/p>\n
Heat 6: Chris Davidson (AUS) vs. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)<\/p>\n
Heat 7: Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) vs. Owen Wright (AUS)<\/p>\n
Heat 8: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. David Luis (PRT)<\/p>\n
Heat 9: Dean Morrison (AUS) vs. Justin Mujica (PRT)<\/p>\n
Heat 10: Mick Campbell (AUS) vs. Bruno Santos (BRA)<\/p>\n
Heat 11: Chris Ward (USA) vs. Michael Picon (FRA)<\/p>\n
Heat 12: Roy Powers (HAW) vs. Dayyan Neve (AUS)<\/p>\n
Heat 13: Tim Reyes (USA) vs. Jay Thompson (AUS)<\/p>\n
Heat 14: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Nic Muscroft (AUS)<\/p>\n
Heat 15: Greg Emslie (ZAF) vs. Aritz Aranburu (EUK)<\/p>\n
Heat 16: Dustin Barca (HAW) vs. Drew Courtney (AUS)<\/p>\n
RIP CURL WOMEN\u2019S PRO SEARCH ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS:<\/p>\n
Heat 1: Rebecca Woods (AUS), Jacqueline Silva (BRA), Bruna Schmitz (BRA)<\/p>\n
Heat 2: Melanie Bartels (HAW), Samantha Cornish (AUS), Alana Blanchard (HAW)<\/p>\n
Heat 3: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), Amee Donohoe (AUS), Pauline Ado (FRA)<\/p>\n
Heat 4: Silvana Lima (BRA), Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), Megan Abubo (HAW)<\/p>\n
Heat 5: Sofia Mulanovich (PER), Chelsea Hedges (AUS), Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS)<\/p>\n
Heat 6: Paige Hareb (NZL), Coco Ho (HAW), Rosanne Hodge (ZAF)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rip Curl Pro Search Stop No. 9 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour Rip Curl Women\u2019s Pro Search Stop No. 4 of 7 on the 2009 ASP Women\u2019s World Tour Peniche, Portugal October 19 \u2013 October 30, 2009 World\u2019s Best Surfers Prepare for Rip Curl Pro Search Start Tomorrow Pictured: Owen Wright (AUS), … Continue reading “World\u2019s Best Surfers Prepare for Rip Curl Pro Search Start Tomorrow”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-13776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asp-surfing-news","tag-surfing-news-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13776\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}