Last year’s winner of the men’s event, Billy Kemper, locked into a giant. Will he repeat this year? Photo: Tony Heff/WSL
Hold onto your hats. The World Surf League just issued a green alert for the Pe’ahi Challenge, projecting waves in the 40-to-45-foot range.
“This swell looks really promising, so we’ve issued a Green Alert to run on Friday and/or Saturday,” said Mike Parsons, WSL Big Wave Tour Commissioner, in a press release. “We have a long period swell coming from the northwest direction, which will provide us with surf in the 40-45 foot range. We will continue to monitor the conditions to determine which days we will run the contest. We could potentially see heats on both Friday and Saturday or just one of the two days. We are excited to get the first event of the winter season underway and witness the world’s best big wave surfers take on Pe’ahi for the third year in a row.”
Defending champ Billy Kemper is looking for a repeat win, while Puerto Escondido Challenge winner Kai Lenny is looking to increase his lead on the BWT rankings.
In addition to the men’s event, this year will again feature the Women’s Pe’ahi Challenge, with some of the world’s best female big wave surfers taking another crack at Jaws. Maui local Paige Alms took the win at the inaugural event last year and is looking to repeat.
