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> News > Maui Pro Pres. by ROXY Welcomes Back World's Best Surfers Ahead of Opening Day

surfing News

Maui Pro Pres. by ROXY Welcomes Back World's Best Surfers Ahead of Opening Day

The holding period for the 2020 Maui Pro presented by ROXY opens on December 4. The first call will be at 7.30am local time (5.30pm UTC). Image credit: / WSL / Saguibo

03 December 2020

The first extra-large swell of the fall season is slamming into the northwest shores of the Hawaiian islands this week as the world’s top women surfers arrive on the Valley Isle for the start of the Maui Pro presented by ROXY, and the kickoff to the 2021 World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT). Today at Honolua Bay, top contenders expressed their excitement for the start of the new CT after the 2020 tour was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s awesome to start the tour here at Honolua Bay in Maui,” said reigning four-time WSL Champion Carissa Moore. “Usually, we have to travel to Australia for the first event of the year, so to start at home in my backyard feels really good. I want to keep working on my mindset. I think if I’m in a really calm and good state of mind, my performances usually come from there. I’m feeling refreshed and I’m excited to put the jersey back on.”

Considered one of the best waves in Hawaii, and among the best in the world when it’s on, Honolua Bay demands athletes surf with power, precision, and the ability to stand tall in the barrel in the always challenging “Cave” section.

“Yesterday in the free surf was some of the best Honolua Bay I’ve ever seen - it was absolutely amazing,” said Caroline Marks, US Olympic qualifier and the 2019 CT runner-up. “I’m really excited to be in Maui and to have a contest, so I’m super stoked.”

For two-time WSL Champion Tyler Wright, the Maui Pro marks her return to competitive surfing after missing the majority of 2019 due to illness. She earned a runner-up finish in that first event back at the end of 2019 and will now kick off her season where she left off on the CT.

“I’m pretty excited for it,” said Wright. “It’s the last stop that I competed at, and it feels nice to be back here. Honolua is one of the highest performance waves that we have all year. It can be absolutely massive and death-defying, to small and some of the most progressive surfing you’ll see”

Build Your Dream Team with 2021 WSL CT Fantasy

There are only a few days left to register for WSL CT Fantasy. In addition to more new features, the Fantasy Surfing game now combines the men's and women's teams. Register now to select your picks to be in the running for the 2021 CT season. WSL CT Fantasy is fully reimagined for the 2021 season. Register now and check out all the new features including:

•Choose Combined Teams: The Men and Women's Championship Tour is now merged into a single fantasy game. You will now choose both male and female surfers for each event. The combined league structure simplifies the user interface, gives players more surfer options, and cross-promotes between leagues.

•Edit Teams Mid-Event: Team rosters will no longer lock at the start of the contest. You can edit your team until the end of the Elimination Round and scoring starts then.

•Score Big With Power Surfers: Each event, select one man and one woman as your 'Power Surfer' to earn 2x the points. This feature lets you double down on a specific surfer while providing more differentiation between teams with similar rosters.

Players can register now at fantasy.worldsurfleague.com and on the WSL app.

Honolua Bay Swell Check

One day before the waiting period for the Maui Pro presented by ROXY is set to begin, conditions at Honolua Bay appear promising a a giant northwest swell rocks the Hawaiian islands. The swell will be decreasing throughout the day and event organizers will determine if there is enough swell left in the storm system to call on a full day of competition.

Surfline Forecast for Maui Pro: (Dec 4 - 6) To open the event waiting period on Friday we’ll see the tail end/leftovers of the significant swell that peaked today. Friday should have more size than Saturday and most of Sunday but will be getting pretty slow, especially by the second half of the day as the swell fades. The surf should remain small for most of the weekend, although we do have a bit of new NW swell moving in. This will be heavily shadowed and we don’t expect to see much wrap in at Honolua – mostly waist high on Saturday. Sunday should be up slightly but likely not much more than chest high on sets (max).

Read the full Surfline Forecast for the Maui Pro pres. by ROXY.

The WSL has worked with medical experts and state and county officials to help ensure the Maui Pro presented by ROXY is safe for athletes, staff, and the community. To help prevent large gatherings, the competition is being staged as a non-spectator film production. In addition, the WSL requires multiple COVID-19 tests for athletes and staff, daily temperature checks, physical distancing measures, minimal personnel on-site, and frequent disinfecting of common surfaces. These standards were developed using guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and are in place for the entire film industry in Hawaii.

The Maui Pro presented by ROXY opens on Dec. 4 and runs through Dec. 15, 2020. The competition will be broadcast LIVE on WorldSurfLeague.com and the free WSL app. Also, check local listings for coverage from the WSL's broadcast partners. The competition will be carried locally in Hawaii by the Spectrum Surf Channel.

Maui Pro pres. by ROXY Seeding Round 1 Matchups

Heat 1: Lakey Peterson (USA), Nikki Van Dijk (AUS), Keely Andrew (AUS)

Heat 2: Caroline Marks (USA), Isabella Nichols (AUS), Tyler Wright (AUS)

Heat 3: Carissa Moore (HAW), Bronte Macaulay (AUS), Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW)

Heat 4: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), Malia Manuel (HAW), Macy Callaghan (AUS)

Heat 5: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), Johanne Defay (FRA), Brisa Hennessy (CRI)

Heat 6: Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA), Courtney Conlogue (USA), Sage Erickson (USA)

For more information, please visit WorldSurfLeague.com.

About the WSL

Established in 1976, the World Surf League (WSL) is the home of the world's best surfing.

A global sports, media and entertainment company, the WSL oversees international tours and competitions, a studios division creating over 500+ hours of live and on-demand content, and via affiliate WaveCo, the home of the world's largest high performance, human-made wave. Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, the WSL has regional offices in North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and EMEA.

The WSL annually crowns the men’s and women’s surfing World Champions. The global Tours and Competition division oversees and operates more than 180 global contests each year across the Championship Tour, the development tiers, including the Challenger, Qualifying and Junior Series, as well as longboard and big wave properties.

Launched in 2019, WSL Studios is an independent producer of unscripted television projects, including documentaries and series, which provide unprecedented access to athletes, events, and locations around the world. WSL events and content are distributed on linear television in over 743M+ homes worldwide and across digital and social media platforms around the world, including WorldSurfLeague.com.

WaveCo includes the Surf Ranch Lemoore facility and the utilizing and licensing of the Kelly Slater Wave System.

The WSL is dedicated to changing the world through the inspirational power of surfing by creating authentic events, experiences, and storytelling to inspire a growing, global community to live with purpose, originality, and stoke.

To find out more about the WSL & their events, please follow this link.