Europes best wave pool, Alaïa Bay at Sion, Switzerland has announced its inaugural Alaïa Open Winter Cup surf competition with a massive US$75,000 in prizes including US$32,000 in prize money!
Waves, good vibes and music are set for Saturday!
The comp is open to both international surfers and local Swiss surfers and will have an Ibiza set on Saturday night from the creators of WooMoon & StoryTellers.
Located at the foot of the Swiss Alps Alaïa Bay is Europes most scenic and technically advanced wave pool with dredging barrels and an air sections (The air section will open to the public in January 2022.)
Dates are 4/5 December, with warm-up and training sessions on Friday 3 December.
The event entry fee for the tournament is 199 Swiss Frs (£160, or Euro 189) and includes a Friday warm-up session, a full 1-hour qualification’ best side’ heat and more goodies.
Registration is open! To enter the event and book a package:
https://booking.alaiabay.ch/alaia-open-winter-cup.
The divisions for the event are International Women, International Men, Swiss Women, Swiss Men, Junior Women, Junior Men and Kids. The prizes and prize money breakdown will be revealed soon.
The qualifications on Saturday will have a unique format with surfers getting to choose their best side (left or a right) for a one session with their top scores will be tallied. The top 25% of the riders from day 1, will advance to the finals day.
The format for the finals day will be the standard competition format as per ISA rules.
Saturday night sees an eight hour showcase direct from Ibiza with with performers from the Cirque du Sommet and the Ibiza Magic directly from Cova Santa featuring Landikhan (Ibiza), Jo.Ke LIVE (Berlin), Raw Main (Paris), Wanduta LIVE (Paris) and Angie O (Ibiza) 5pm-3am
Storytellers at Cova Santa
“We’re very excited about the upcoming Alaïa Open,” said Alaïa Bay founder Adam Bonvin. The 26-year-old Swiss surfer has been the driving force behind the realisation of the Alaïa Bay facility.
This competition will further cement Alaïa Bay as the coolest wavepool and the place to be.”
“My wish is for everyone to come to this event and have fun. The surfing will be high performance, and the Surfers Evening will be a great place to network and to meet like-minded people,” added Bonvin.
“It will be a gathering of surfers, surf industry members, sponsors, and the media but the event is all about the surfers.
It will be great to have the best Swiss surfers here, and we are also very excited to see the international athletes competing in our wavepool.”
The event will no doubt attract some top international surfers as well.
The ultimate goal of the Alaïa Open is to become ‘The Place to Be’ each December. It will be the one event that people have to compete in or simply attend as part of the gathering.
The Alaïa Bay team wants to create a magical event for all, including competitors, spectators, family, sponsors and friends.
Alaïa Open competitors might want some time for training or getting accustomed to the facility’s waves. With this in mind, Alaïa Bay has partnered with the Swiss Surfing Association to offer several exclusive packages:
· Athlete Registration for the Open, including 2 full sessions
· Athlete Registration + 5 Extra-Sessions valid all winter
· Athlete Registration + 10 Extra-Sessions valid all winter
· Athlete Registration + 20 Extra-Sessions valid all winter
Registration is open!
To enter the event and book a package:
https://booking.alaiabay.ch/alaia-open-winter-cup.
These packages are valid until the end of winter – 21 March 2022 – and are only open to Alaïa Open competitors.
For more details on the event, email [email protected]
Many high profile surfers who have already visited the Alaïa Bay facility and have enjoyed the high-performance waves that the pool produces include Zeke Lau, Aritz Aranburu, Jeremy Flores, Rob Machado, Kauli Vaast, Yago Dominguez, Vahine Fierro, Justine Dupont and Maud LeCar.
The pool has pretty sick air section which will open in January.
