Surfing Australia

GENERAL INFORMATION SHEET

Easter 2010 at Australia\'s world famous Bells Beach is going to be a cracker. Autumn weather, massive surf-hungry crowds and the planet\'s best surfers. The Rip Curl Pro is in its 39th year and the world\'s best male and female surfers are in town to compete for professional surfing\'s most treasured trophy - the Rip Curl Pro Bell.

WHAT

The Rip Curl Pro is the second event on the 2010 Association of Surfing Professionals\' (ASP) World Tour. Each World Tour event is like a Formula One Grand Prix; in that each competitor\'s final placing in each contest earns them points that ultimately determine the annual World Champion and the year\'s final world rankings.
Quite simply, the Rip Curl Pro is the biggest and most prestigious pro surfing competition in Australia. The event holds a very special place in surfing folklore, as the longest running world championship level contest on the WCT.
Total prize money on offer is US$400,000 (Men\'s), US$100,000 (Women\'s).

WHERE

The base location is Bells Beach, Victoria about a 70-minute drive from Melbourne.
The Rip Curl Pro is a mobile event, with back up venues of Winki Pop (Immediately adjacent to Bells), Phillip Island and Gunnamatta (on the eastern side of Port Phillip Bay), and Johanna (160km from Bells Beach along the Great Ocean Road) in case surf conditions are not favourable at Bells.

WHEN

March 28th                             Geelong Advertiser Pre-Trials
March 29th                             Victoria the Place to be Trials
March 28th & 29th                   Australian Gromsearch Final
March 30th to April 10th        Rip Curl Pro - ASP World Tour Event
March 30th to April 5th          Rip Curl Women\'s Pro - ASP World Tour Event
March 31st to April 5th             Rip Curl International Gromsearch Final
March 30th to April 10th           Play if Safe by the Water Victorian Junior Challenge 
                                              (on standby and will run at first available opportunity)

World Tour finals are traditionally held on Easter Sunday and Monday although it is dependent on surf conditions.

WHO

The Rip Curl Pro field is made up of the Top 45 ranked male surfers in the world plus three \'wildcard\' invitees; the Rip Curl Women\'s Pro is made up of the Top 17 ranked female surfers in the world plus one wildcard.

Among them include:
� Rip Curl Team Rider and current World Champion Mick Fanning.
� Rip Curl Team Rider and reigning 3 time World Champion Stephanie Gilmore
� 2009 Rip Curl Pro Champion Joel Parkinson
� 2008 Rip Curl Pro Champion and 9 times World Champion Kelly Slater
� 2009 Rip Curl Pro Women\'s Champion Silvana Lima
� 2007 Rip Curl Pro champion Taj Burrow

MUSIC FESTIVAL

The live music stage on the Bells cliff-top will be on again this year with local and interstate artists pumping out great music all day Easter Saturday & Sunday.

                                 SATURDAY         SUNDAY
11.45am - 12.35pm     Freezer                Freezer
12.50pm - 1.50pm       Hot Little Hands    Foxx on Fire
2.10pm - 3.10 pm       The Villianaires      The Foreign Objects
3.30pm - 4.45pm        The Bungalows      Kid Sam

For updates on the Music Festival and information on the bands, check out www.ripcurl.com

TICKETS DETAILS

Adult  $11
Concession $5.50
Festival Pass $44
Kids under age 8 FREE
Parking $2 (proceeds go to charity)

Tickets can be purchased at the Bells Beach Ticket Office on site from March 30.

WASTE WISE

The Rip Curl Pro is a Waste Wise event, so we ask you to please keep the place clean this April and support us in out endeavour to reduce impact on the surrounding environment. Bells Beach is part of Point Addis Marine National Park and Surfing Reserve, so deserves all of our respect.

DONT MISS IT

Check out Live Webcast from www.ripcurl.com.
Event Information available from www.ripcurl.com, www.surfingaustralia.com, & www.aspworldtour.com
Reach all sorts of interesting and useful information about the surf coast region at www.visitsurfcoast.com

Event Hotline - (03) 52 612 907

MERCHANDISE

Official 2010 Rip Curl Pro event merchandise is available from all Rip Curl Stores and onsite at Bells Beach.

Please note that this event is already full.