The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour has never had a stop on the East Coast. All that is going to change with the latest announcement from Quiksilver and ASP.
The Quiksilver Pro New York will be the sixth stop on the 2011 ASP World Tour, with the event taking place on Long Island's Long Beach from Sept. 4-15.
"We are beyond excited to host the biggest pro surf event in the world on Long Island this September," said the CEO of Quiksilver, Bob McKnight, in the announcement on the ASP website. "There has always been a huge contingent of dedicated surfers and surf enthusiasts on the East Coast and they will now get a chance to watch the world’s best surfers in Long Beach."
This event will be the first of its kind. Not only will it be the first time this event has stopped on the East Coast, but it will also be the first time that professional surfing will have a $1 million dollar prize purse for competitors.
"In addition to bringing the world's best surfers to the East Coast of the United States, Quiksilver is breaking boundaries as the first event in history to put up a $1 million prize purse. This speaks volumes of Quiksilver's commitment to excellence, and the ASP has every confidence in our teams working together to produce the best possible event,” ASP International CEO Brodie Carr said in the online announcement.
Quicksilver Pro New York is a part of the Quiksilver Pro Global Series, which also includes stops in Australia and France.
Long Beach wasn't arbitrarily chosen. A 15-year independent wave study of western Long Island was conducted by Surfline.com, a leading forecaster of wave and surf conditions.
The results of the study showed that early September is one of the best times for sizable surf and swells.
"The surf climate in Western Long Island is greatly affected by the underwater Hudson Canyon offshore, which can turn average surf into very high quality surf comparable to many of the best surf spots in the world on the right day," Sean Collins, chief forecaster and president of Surfline.com, said in the announcement. "We are also in a La Nina year, so we expect the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season to be a little more active and hopefully we can score great surf with the world’s top surfers in one of the best cities in the world."
