Photo: Rip Curl Pro contest director Gerard d'Avezac witnessing the damage caused by the massive swell before calling the event OFF until tomorrow 7.15 AM

SEIGNOSSE, France (Tuesday, August 19, 2008) – The expected push in the swell definitely happened during the night and some massive all-over-the-place eight to nine foot (2.5 to 3 meter) white water mountains are breaking at Les Bourdaines in Seignosse, main venue of the Rip Curl Pro presented by Sprite

The huge swell washed away the mobile tower during the night and water came all the way up to the dunes behind the event site, and it will be a long day of hard work fixing all the damage.

Weather and swell forecasts show a promissing change from tomorrow and the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) 6-Star Prime event should be back ON tomorrow morning in solid but clean six foot (2 meter) waves, off-shore winds supposed to be blowing the next couple of days as well.

Four heats remain to complete Round 1 and top seeds, including former ASP World Champion Sunny Garcia (HAW), current ASP WQS ratings' leader Nathaniel Curran (USA) and top European representatives Miky Picon (FRA), Aritz Aranburu (EUK) and Tiago Pires (PRT), should be paddling out with the contest rashguard on tomorrow.

All competitors and officials will meet at 7.15 AM tomorrow Wednesday, August 20, to assess conditions and hopefully get things going.

The Rip Curl Pro pres. by Sprite is one of eight ASP WQS 6-Star Prime rated events on tour and rewards more ratings' points counting towards the end-of-the-year ratings and a possible ASP World Tour qualification.

The Rip Curl Pro is webcast LIVE at www.ripcurl.com, www.aspworldtour.com and www.aspeurope.com

REMAINING ROUND 1 HEATS

Heat 21: Mike Losness (USA), Sam Page (AUS), Marco Polo (BRA), Joao Guedes (PRT)

Heat 22: Shaun Ward (USA), Sterling Spencer (USA), Federico Pilurzu (CRI), Vincent Duvignac (FRA)

Heat 23: Jean Da Silva (BRA), Blake Thornton (AUS), Gilmar Silva (BRA), Fabio Gouveia (BRA)

Heat 24: Dion Atkinson (AUS), Chris Waring (USA), Gavin Roberts (ZAF), Adam Virs (USA)

ROUND 1 RESULTS

Heat 1: Jarrad Sullivan (AUS) 16.00 pts, William Cardoso (BRA) 11.07 pts, Patrick Beven (FRA) 10.33 pts, Medi Veminardi (REU) 9.93 pts

Heat 2: Brent Dorrington (AUS) 16.74 pts, Bernardo Lopes (BRA) 14.40 pts, Txaber Trojaola (EUK) 10.97 pts, Leandro Bastos (BRA) 10.54 pts

Heat 3: Ben Dunn (AUS) 12.86 pts, Ryan Campbell (AUS) 11.33 pts, Paulo Moura (BRA) 11.20 pts, Damien Fahrenfort (ZAF) 6.40 pts

Heat 4: Travis Logie (ZAF) 15.26 pts, Marlon Lipke (DEU) 11.73 pts, Diego Rosa (BRA) 7.70 pts, David Richards (ZAF) 5.50 pts

Heat 5: Gony Zubizarreta (ESP) 13.50 pts, Russell Winter (GBR) 11.60 pts, Rudy Palmboom (ZAF) 10.94 pts, Robson Santos (BRA) 10.07 pts

Heat 6: Alain Riou (PYF) 15.26 pts, Mason Ho (HAW) 11.60 pts, Bernardo Miranda (BRA) 11.30 pts, Parrish Byrne (AUS) 7.70 pts

Heat 7: Luke Campbell (AUS) 13.84 pts, Brad Ettinger (AUS) 11.07 pts, Antonio Bortoletto (ZAF) 10.86 pts, TJ Barron (HAW) 10.70 pts

Heat 8: Glenn Hall (IRE) 15.53 pts, Jonathan Gonzalez (CNY) 15.00 pts, Kevin Sullivan (HAW) 9.83 pts, Mark Mathews (ZAF) 8.03 pts

Heat 9: Jadson Andre (BRA) 18.40 pts, Paul Fisher (AUS) 14.60 pts, Miguel Ximenez (PRT) 12.93 pts, Jose Maria Cabrera (CNY) 8.20 pts

Heat 10 : Joan Duru (FRA) 15.23 pts, Romain laulhe (FRA) 14.77 pts, Clint Kimmins (AUS) 11.60 pts, Shaun Burrell (USA) 10.60 pts

Heat 11 : Corey Ziems (AUS) 14.50 pts, Guilherme Herdy (BRA) 10.97 pts, Justin McBride (USA) 10.83 pts, Wiggoly Dantas (BRA) 9.17 pts

Heat 12 : Dustin Cuizon (HAW) 15.77 pts, Abdel El Harim (HAW) 12.00 pts, Charles Martin (GLP) 9.40 pts, Gavin Gillette (HAW) 7.60 pts pts

Heat 13: Jean Seb Estienne (BLM) 15.50 pts, Joel Centeio (HAW) 12.30 pts, Jay Quinn (NZL) 11.90 pts, Dale Lovelock (AUS) 9.17 pts

Heat 14: Brian Toth (PRI) 15.00 pts, Blake Wilson (AUS) 12.46 pts, Micheal Spencer (AUS) 11.17 pts, Dunga Neto (BRA) 9.53 pts

Heat 15: Eric Rebiere (FRA) 16.00 pts, Phillip MacDonald (AUS) 13.04 pts, Danilo Costa (BRA) 9.90 pts, Bruno Santos (BRA) 5.90 pts

Heat 16: Hugo Savalli (REU) 15.33 pts, Anthony Petruso (USA) 12.10 pts, Bobby Hansen (NZL) 9.67 pts, Brandon Jackson (ZAF) 6.74 pts

Heat 17: Charlie Brown (BRA) 15.93 pts, Tanner Gudauskas (USA) 12.80 pts, Eneko Acero (EUK) 9.60 pts, Dane Gudauskas (USA) 7.47 pts

Heat 18: Makuakai Rothman (HAW) 13.67 pts, Luke Cheadle (AUS) 12.86 pts, Renato Galvao (BRA) 9.40 pts, Steve Noble (AUS) 7.93 pts

Heat 19: Masatoshi Ohno (JPN) 15.83 pts, Ruben Gonzalez (PRT) 11.37 pts, Hodei Collazo (EUK) 8.27 pts, Christophe Allary (REU) 6.07 pts

Heat 20: Che Stang (USA) 15.33 pts, Flynn Novak (HAW) 11.44 pts, Andre Silva (BRA) 10.94 pts, Jack Perry (AUS) 10.57 pts