Peter Mel, winner of the 2012 Big Wave World Tour, is back in action for Pico Alto. Photo: Big Wave World Tour
As of the 1st of July, the waiting period for the second stop of the 2013 Big Wave World Tour has begun. The waiting period for the 11th annual Billabong Pico Alto will last through August 31st and will take place at Punta Hermosa, Peru. Poised one hour south of Lima, competitors and contest staff will have as little as 48 hours notice to make their way to the famed right point break.
Last year’s champion, Carlos Burle, will defend his title against 2012/2013 BWWT Champ Greg Long as well as local heavyweights Gabriel Villarán, José Gomez and several other of the world’s best big wave surfers. Alex Gray posted the contest banner on his instagram with the caption, “Absolute honor to have my first invite to the #billabongpicoalto13 event!” Along with up and coming stars like Gray, BWWT fans will have plenty of new blood to root for as the ASP recently announced their acquisition of the BWWT earlier this year.
When the ASP officially takes over next year, the World Championship Tour’s top 32 will be able to cross over and compete in BWWT events. As recently as last year, at Maverick’s, we saw Kelly Slater pulling out of competition due to ASP rules stating that ASP surfers can only surf in ASP sanctioned events. With this acquisition, we will now be able to see the world’s best surfers in all of the world’s best conditions. That, and the likelihood of increased quality in webcast and size of prize purses are exciting concepts for the big wave elite.
Competitors have plenty to look forward to this year with a $50,000 USD prize purse and $12,000 going to the winner. If the first event of the year is any judge for the future of big wave professional surfing, we could see the competitors again splitting the prize purse. But in all probability, we will see the world’s best a half-mile out to sea paddling into faces as large as 50 feet tall, battling it out for the win, and taking one step closer to the 2013/2014 Big Wave World Tour crown.
This Year’s Invitees:
Greg Long (USA)
Jamie Sterling (HAWAII)
Peter Mel (USA)
Carlos Burle (BRAZIL)
Ken Collins (USA)
Gabriel Villarán (PERU)
Zach Wormhoudt (USA)
Ben Wilkinson (AUSTRALIA)
Joao De Macedo (PORTUGAL)
Ramon Navarro (CHILE)
Jeff Rowley (AUSTRALIA)
Alex Martins (BRAZIL)
Grant Baker (SOUTH AFRICA)
Mark Healey (HAWAII)
Kohl Christensen (HAWAII)
Shawn Dollar (USA)
Makua Rothman (HAWAII)
Alex Gray (USA)
José Gomez (PERU)
Rafael Velarde (PERU)
Javier Swayne (PERU)
Gonzalo Velaso (PERU)
Kodiak Semsch (PERU)
Rafael Otero (PERU)
Alternates:
Jaime Venegas (PERU)
Aaron Ungerleider (HAWAII)
Marcos Monteiro (BRAZIL)
Will Skudin (USA)
Frank Solomon (SOUTH AFRICA)
Grant Washburn (USA)
Nic Lamb (USA)
Rusty Long (USA)
