Big Wave Contest Could Come Barreling Into Baja Mexico This Weekend
With a large northwest swell inbound for the West Coast, the Thriller At Killers big wave contest at Isla Todos Santos off the coast of Ensenada, Mexico, has gone on yellow alert to potentially run on Sunday, February 18.
With wave heights forecast to be in the 30-foot range, and winds expected to be light throughout the morning, the contest could be one of the highlights of the much-anticipated 2023/24 competitive big-wave season.
The first time the Thriller at Killers will be run as a live event, last year's inaugural running was done all via video submissions. The list of invitees is an exclusive list of some of the biggest names in the sport. From all-stars Nathan Florence, Greg Long, Paige Alms and Felicity Palmateer, to last year's winners Delia Bense-Kang and Cody Purcell, it's a stacked field.
Watch: Highlights From The 2024 Nazare Big Wave Challenge
Organized by big-wave pioneer Gary Linden, this is the only big wave contest on the U.S. West Coast at present. There was a possibility that the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational at Waimea Bay or the Jaws Big Wave Challenge on Maui could have run on this swell, but wind conditions proved problematic.
"With this format we're able to get through the event in three or four hours, which means we can really take advantage of the peak of the swell," Linden explains. "We want this to be a platform to help big-wave surfers with the careers. With events like this, there's a lot more that comes out of than just a contest win, and Todos is so close to my heart, it seemed like the perfect place to start."
The Thriller At Killers is able to run due to the support of the Punta Brava Golf and Surf Club in Ensenada. Linden and club developer Brian Tucker see the event as an opportunity to support the future of big wave surfing, while also giving back to the local Baja surf community.
The next contest update will come on Friday, February 16. Stay tuned as things develop.
Big Wave Contest Returns To Mexico's Todos Santos
With more than 25 years of writing about surfing, the ocean and action sports, Jake Howard continues to share stories, profiles and issues that shape the surfing world. One of the premier subject-matter experts in the field today, he's savvy in the ways of print, digital and social media, his breadth of work is expansive. Getting his start writing Surfline surf reports and recording the phone reports for 976-SURF in the late '90s, Jake served as the managing editor for Surfer Magazine in the early 2000s before moving on to launch RedBullSurfing.com and cover surfing for ESPN and the X Games. Over the years, Jake has also enjoyed time behind the edit desk at The Surfer's Journal, as well as the World Surf League, where he worked as the Senior Editor for a number of years. Beyond producing editorial content, Jake has served as a digital marketer and copywriter for iconic surf brands such as Quiksilver, Roxy and Rip Curl. Writing thousands of pages of copy for Surfline, he has deep SEO experience as well. The surf columnist for the San Clemente Times, Jake continues to dedicate himself to the culture and history of the sport through his involvement with the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente.