Hainan Riyue Bay International Surfing Festival Brings Together the Best of Surfing in China

Hainan Riyue Bay International Surfing Festival Brings Together the Best of Surfing in China

From January 6 to January 14, 2012, China will be the metropolis of international surfing. The best surfers in the world will represent their national teams in the ISA China Cup. The Hainan Classic, a four-star event of the ASP, will follow this event. This is the first time in the history of the country that a surf event of this magnitude will take place.The festival will start with the ISA China Cup, to be held from January 6 to January 9.

 The top eight nations of the world, defined by the Overall Team Ranking from the recent ISA World Surfing Games 2011 held in Panama, will be part of this festival.Eight teams that were invited have confirmed their presence. These are Australia, Brazil, France, Argentina, South Africa, Peru, Venezuela, and the United States. Each of the teams will present their best four men and two women. Besides having the honor of representing their countries, they will compete for Gold Medals, both as a team and individually. 

 Once the ISA China Cup is over, the festival will continue with the Hainan Classic, from January 11 to January 14. The ISA has confirmed that this event will have a $95,000 prize. It will be an historic event.

This is the first time that an event in China counts for the men's ASP world ranking."This is not only the first ISA event with major surfing nations competing for the first time in China," said ISA President Fernando Aguerre, who has been leading the initiative over the past 18 months. "This is a demonstration of the growth of surfing in the world.

China, the world's most populous country with 1.3 billion people, wants their young people to go surfing and eventually compete against the best surfers in the world.

This event is a watershed in the history of the country and of Chinese surfing. I cannot wait to surf some waves over there. "To make the event, the ISA selected the lefty in Riyue Bay point break, Hainan Island, located off the southeast coast of China. Sean Collins, founder and President of Surfline (www.surfline.com) was consulted as to this regards.

Generally considered the world guru of wave forecasts, Collins conducted an historical analysis of waves in Hainan and after visiting the island in March, he reported that Riyue Bay was the place in the entire enormous coastline of Asia most likely to have world-class waves.

Collins said, "According to our research of tidal patterns of over the last fifteen years, the island of Hainan in China produces consistent fun waves in the winter and especially during the month of January. I am very impressed with the place. It has several quality waves in the area near Riyue Bay. All of them have offshore wind and clean conditions for the best waves. "