Cover photo: WSL/Diaz 

The Arica Pro Tour, the South American Pipe Masters, will not be held this year, one of its organizers, Francisco “el Oso” Gana, informed DUKE.

After a 2022 in which the tournament returned with a maximum score for a regional tournament of 5000 points, the multi-year streak of the classic event is being cut short again, this time due to the country's political situation, Gana said.

“We are all very upset that this year we will not be able to hold the event due to a management issue (…) Resources that were intended for social goods, cultural and sports activities are no longer available, a lot of activities were cancelled this year due to this situation,” said the organizer, who pointed out that corruption in his country is one of the reasons for this happening.

"There are no resources to organize the event this year, we had the possibility of doing a 1000 that perhaps would not have been interesting for what El Gringo is because everyone knows that El Gringo is quite demanding," added Gana.

"We are sure that it will be done next year. So far, at least, there have been discussions with the regional authorities," he said.

Given the quality of the waves that the tournament has, which favors Chileans and Peruvians, the cancellation is great news for Brazilians. “If this championship remains at 5000, it will be a savior for surfing in the region. Let’s hope that next year we have 5000 and that Iquique can also demonstrate so that there are events with the possibility of qualifying Latin Americans for the tour, otherwise we are going to continue with this Brazilian supremacy in the region,” reasoned Gana.

The Arica Pro Tour began in 2009 and became a classic for tube surfing lovers from all over the world, the tournament had winners from all over the world.

For Gana, the ideal would be to use the previous format again, ceasing to be regional so that the QSs would be global again.