Arica, Chile – The Search is on!

The trials in Arica, Chile are over and two Chilean wild-cards will make it to the main event. The Chilean surfing community were given a bonus gift yesterday when it was announced that two Chilean Trialists will earn Wildcard entries into the main event of the Rip Curl Pro Search. The lucky two are local surfers Manuel Selman and Cristian Merello. They will become the first Chilean surfers to compete at WCT event.

Kelly Slater on Ex-Isla Alacran

Kelly Slater is used to media attentionSince this is the new wave on the WCT surfing tour it is interesting to see the how the top surfers prepare for the wave they never surfed before. Kelly explained: “Somebody asked me, ‘are you really showing up and just expecting to surf this wave?’ but I’ve surfed so many waves all over the world and this is the kind of wave I really like, I think it suits me really well. I’ve watched a lot of video of the spot and just going down there and watching it today, even though obviously it won’t look the same tomorrow because it’s going to get much bigger, I got a quick feel for it. It’s not a huge lineup to learn.”

“It’s like a beach break on a reef – a short, punchy little wave that’s really hollow – the kind of wave I love,” Slater said. “There’s a right, a left and you’ve got to just look at the angles the wave is coming in on. When a wave comes in that’s going to barrel, you can line the thing up and know where you need to be so that’s not the biggest problem; the bigger problem is knowing where is the reef really shallow, where you can get hurt, that sort of thing. That’s probably the biggest concern for all of us.”

Solid swell for the Rip Curl Pro

Ben Matson from Swellnet.com.au: “A solid swell and favorable conditions are expected to deliver great waves at Ex-Isla Alacran on Thursday morning.”

Alvaro Abarca – The first Chilean surfer to surf El Gringo

RIP CURL SEARCH PRO ARICA – ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Bobby Martinez (USA), Ricky Basnett (ZAF), Troy Brooks (AUS)
Heat 2: Bruce Irons (HAW), Adrian Buchan (AUS), Gabe Kling (USA)
Heat 3: Tom Whitaker (AUS), Raoni Monteiro (BRA), Neco Padaratz (BRA)
Heat 4: Bede Durbidge (AUS), Phillip MacDonald (AUS), Luke Munro (AUS)
Heat 5: Damien Hobgood (USA), Adriano de Souza (BRA), David Weare (ZAF)
Heat 6: Joel Parkinson (AUS), Luke Stedman (AUS), Bruno Santos (BRA)
Heat 7: Andy Irons (HAW), Pancho Sullivan (HAW), Kieren Perrow (AUS)
Heat 8: Mick Fanning (AUS), Dean Morrison (AUS), Cristian Merello (CHL)
Heat 9: Kelly Slater (USA), Chris Ward (USA), Manuel Selman (CHL)
Heat 10: Taj Burrow (AUS), Ben Dunn (AUS), Kekoa Bacalso (HAW)
Heat 11: Daniel Wills (AUS), Fredrick Patacchia (HAW), Victor Ribas (BRA)
Heat 12: Jeremy Flores (FRA), Bernardo Miranda (BRA), Michael Lowe (AUS)
Heat 13: Travis Logie (ZAF), Greg Emslie (ZAF), Royden Bryson (ZAF)
Heat 14: Cory Lopez (USA), Leonardo Neves (BRA), Shaun Cansdell (AUS)
Heat 15: Kai Otton (AUS), Josh Kerr (AUS), Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA)
Heat 16: Taylor Knox (USA), CJ Hobgood (USA), Dayyan Neve (AUS)

You can watch it live on ripcurl.com