Note submitted by Biology Club.

This week, Mar del Plata will host a QS tournament for the 20th time. This is the 2500th men's stage and the 1500th women's stage. 1000 points will be awarded, 20.000 for men and XNUMX for women, in addition to more than XNUMX dollars in prizes.

There are already 83 surfers from nine countries registered (60 men and 23 women) and the forecast promises good waves especially for the end.

1- The basics

The seventh edition of Argentina's biggest surfing event, the Rip Curl Pro, will be held between Tuesday and Sunday in Biología, Mar del Plata. This tournament is worth 1500 points for the men's QS and 1000 for the women's.

2- Good waves for the end of the event

The different models agree that after Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of regular waves, a southerly swell will arrive on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with a period of between 10 and 13 seconds. The organizers could change the location of the Biology event to the southern tip of Playa Grande, on the mythical right of the Yacht.

This is what a classic day on the Yacht looks like:

3- 83 entrants from nine countries

With registration still open, 60 men and 23 women have signed up for the tournament, representing a total of nine countries: Argentina, Brazil, El Salvador, Chile, Peru, Costa Rica, Mexico, Ecuador and the United States. The number of registered women has remained the same, and for now there are 12 fewer men than in last year's event.

4- Only two can repeat the title

Of the eight previous champions of the tournament (six men and one woman who won twice), only one in each category will be able to repeat in Mar del Plata this year: Thiago Camarao and Mimi Barona. The rest of the previous champions are not registered.

Previous champions
2018: Wesley Santos (Brazil) - Dominic Barona (Ecuador)
2017: Thiago Camarao (Brazil) - Dominic Barona (Ecuador)
2016: Flavio Nakagima (Brazil)
2015: Robson Santos (Brazil)
2014: Alex Ribeiro (Brazil)
2013: Jihad Hhord (Brazil)

5: Four world titles

Leandro Usuna, Luan Wood and Jhonny Corzo, the three ISA world champions (the Argentinean won twice) will be in the tournament. There will also be three vice-champions: Lucca Mesinas, Anthony Fillingim and Dominic Barona and a Pan American champion: Ornella Pellizzari.

Another strong talent who will be present is the two-time King of the Groms winner, Samuel Pupo.

6: The Argentine surfing stadium

Biología is the stadium of Argentine surfing. The country's biggest surfing championships are and have been held there, from national tournaments to the QSs of the late 1999s, which reached six stars in 2000 and XNUMX.

On the south side of a long jetty, there are some fun sandbanks where long, well-formed left and right waves break. At the southern end of the beach is the Yacht, which is sheltered from the wind by a long jetty and receives the swells from the south in an orderly manner, as well as the windy days from that quadrant.

7: Hasn't won a home yet

The event celebrates its eighth year without any local victory. Those who went the furthest were Facundo Arreyes from Córdoba and Josefina Ané from Mar del Plata, who came in second place last year.

8: The first QS winner in Argentina

It was Ceará's Fabio Silva in June 1996, who won a 100% Brazilian final against Danilo Costa, Renan Rocha and Neco Padaratz. Of the 16 best placed players in the tournament, 13 were Brazilians, the other three were Keith Malloy and Tim Curran from California and the Hawaiian Conan Hayes.

9: The latest QS winners in Argentina

It was Wesley Santos, who beat Facundo Arreyes in the grand final and with that victory he obtained fundamental points to win the South American title that year.

On the women's side, Mimi Barona has already won two of two women's QS events there. The Ecuadorian has already left for Argentina and is going for her third cup.

10: Martín Passeri, the Argentine with the most appearances in the QSs in Mar del Plata

When the first QS event was held in Argentina in 1996, a young Martín Passeri, who was then 20 years old, was present. When the horn sounds on Tuesday, now with 43 trips around the sun, the boy from Mar del Plata will have taken part in 13 local QSs.

One of the most memorable was in 1999 when he managed to advance to the quarter-finals in the six-star tournament that year. In the round of XNUMX he beat Australians Mark Bannister and Nathan Webster and in the next round he was unable to beat Marcelo Nunes, Teco Padaratz and Fabio Gouveia. On a beach full of people in January in Mar del Plata, Passeri was followed like a rock star.