World's Best Surfers Begin Championship Chase in 50th Edition of Billabong Pipe Masters

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’s 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.

The Billabong Pipe Masters in Memory of Andy Irons presented by Hydro Flask is celebrating its 50th edition as the world’s best male surfers arrive on the seven-mile miracle known as Oahu’s North Shore. After nearly a year since the last CT event, an international field of top surfers are anxious to kick off the tour in one of the most challenging and preeminent waves on the planet – the Banzai Pipeline.

Italo Ferreira will look to cement his place in Pipeline folklore by securing his second consecutive event win at the world-renowned break and begin his journey to defend his WSL Title. However, hot on his heels is fellow Brazilian and two-time WSL Champion Gabriel Medina, last year's CT runner-up. Meanwhile, entering his 30th year competing in the CT, 11-time World Champion Kelly Slater, would love nothing more than to add to his record-setting seven victories at Pipeline while getting a jump on the rest of the field as the road to the WSL Finals begins in Hawaii for the first time ever.

After working collaboratively with state and county officials to hold the Pipe Masters as a non-spectator film production, the WSL is following COVID-19 health and safety procedures and guidelines that include the multiple testing of athletes and staff, physical distancing measures, temperature checks, minimal personnel on-site, and the frequent disinfecting of common areas. These same standards are in place for the entire film industry in Hawaii and were developed using World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) best practices and guidelines, along with close consultation with medical experts. In addition, there will be no spectator activities at Ehukai Beach Park and a non-spectator zone will be in effect during the four days of competition under guidelines established by the City and County of Honolulu.

“We can't wait to be back on the Championship Tour next week at Pipe,” said Pat O'Connell, WSL senior vice president, tours and competition. “This year is special for us, as it will be our 50th edition in the North Shore, so we're very excited. We've worked closely with the local government and public health officials, and we feel strongly about the protocols we’ll have in place in order to keep our athletes, staff, and the local community safe.”

The Billabong Pipeline Masters presented by Hydro Flask opens on Dec. 8 and runs through Dec. 20, 2020. The competition will be broadcast live on WorldSurfLeague.com and the free WSL app. Check local listings for coverage from the WSL's broadcast partners. The competition will be carried locally in Hawaii by the Spectrum Surf Channel.

The Billabong Pipeline Masters pres. by Hydro Flask is the first stop on the 2021 Men's CT, and the rankings after the penultimate stop will determine the top five male surfers to make it into the first-ever WSL Finals, which will be held in Lower Trestles in Southern California in September 2021. This playoff-style competition will determine the 2021 WSL Champions in a single day of intense, world-class surfing.

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.

For more information, please visit WorldSurfLeague.com.