Xcel Pro Showdown at Supertubes On Standby
JEFFREYS BAY, SOUTH AFRICA - The Xcel Pro Showdown at Supertubes' month-long waiting period of June starts off with a great looking swell predicted. Thursday June 2 has a clean groundswell forecast, along with the early morning northwesterly turning into perfect south-west winds later in the day.
Although this is only a forecast, the charts do resemble Xcel events of the past, and there is a good chance of the contest running on Thursday.
"The forecast does look quite good," said contest director Koffie Jacobs. "We have one objective in this tournament, and that is to run it off in perfect surf. If the conditions are firing on Thursday morning, it'll give me great pleasure in giving the event the green light."
There is a full program for the week already, with the waves this morning bombing through at about 4-6', and most of the invited surfers out there at the moment for a quick training session. Wednesday sees the opening function take place at The Mexican Restaurant, along with the opening round heat draws, and Thursday could see the event being run off to completion.
Contest organisers have been monitoring the charts closely, and Thursday's swell has a nice little southerly kink on it, which could transform into perfect barrels for the event.
Along with the Wildcard Slot into the VonZipper Superheat, there are a number of other prizes in the mix. The Best Junior Surfer will win R5,000 and the prize for The Best Wave is also R5,000. There is a Firewire Surfboard, valued at R6,500, for The Best Barrel, as well as a Firewire Surfboard for The Best Move of the Contest.
The winner will receive the aforementioned VonZipper Superheat wildcard, a Nixon watch valued at R4,500 as well as R10,000 cash.
Xcel will also be presenting the new NSRI Station in Jeffrey's Bay with a R2,000 cheque for their emergency stand-by on the the day.
Zigzag Magazine is the official media partner and the event portal can be found here.
The full invitee list, in no particular order - Ryan Payne, Remi Peterson, Deon Lategan, Bertie Stuurman, Warren Dean, Shaun Payne, Dale Staples, Stanley Badger, Daniel Thornton, Lyle Meek, Drue Thysman, Stuart Shelver, Craig Els, Steven Sawyer, Dylan Lightfoot, and Ari Kraak.
Alternates are Nick Godfrey, Pablo Thysman, and Daniel Jeggels.
The Xcel Pro will be filmed by Silver Bullet productions. Nixon, Firewire, VonZipper, Sector9, and Kustom are co-sponsors. Debonairs Pizza, Island Pacific, Instep, and Core Surf Gear are additional sponsors, and Red Bull are supplying the energy. JBU will be in charge of water patrol. Zigzag Magazine is the official media partner. The Xcel Pro is sanctioned by EPSC.
Please direct event inquiries to Koffie Jacobs: (phone) 084 5157 026; and media inquiries to Craig Jarvis: (email) craigjarvis@vodamail.co.za; (phone) 082 376 4443.
Please note that this is an invitational event and participation is by invite only. Contestants are selected by Xcel in its entire discretion and Xcel's decision shall be final. Xcel's rights are reserved.
