Thriller At Killers Big Wave Contest Set To Run At Todos Santos This Sunday
Let's make it official, the Thriller At Killers at Todos Santos has been given the green light to run on Sunday, February 18. With surf forecast to be in the 30-foot range and clean conditions on tap, this will be the first big wave contest of the season in the Pacific, as well as the first live iteration of the Thriller At Killers, which launched last year as a video-only contest.
The invite list this year features an all-star lineup of some of the most elite big-wave surfers on the planet, including Greg Long, Jojo Roper, Paige Alms and Bianca Valenti. In total, there will be 12 men and 6 women competing, including last year's video contest winners Delia Bense-Kang and Cody Purcell. There are also several hard-charging, local Mexican surfers in the heat draw.
Conceptualized and organized by big-wave icon Gary Linden, the Thrillers At Killers looks to capitalize on the peak of the swell when the waves are at their biggest and cleanest, which according to models, could be throughout the morning on Sunday.
Situated about 12 miles off the coast of Ensenada in Baja Mexico, Isla Todos Santos has a long, storied big-wave history that goes back to the 1960s when surfers from San Diego and the Windansea Surf Club would find their way south of the border, hiring a fishing boat out of Ensenada and go surf for the day. No in his 70s, Linden has been surfing at the break at Todos Santos, known as Killers, most of his life and used to camp on the island for days at a time waiting for waves.
With the Thriller At Killers, Linden wanted to create a new platform for big-wave surfers. Looking to not only give them an event to compete in, he also understands that the benefits of winning a big-wave contest last long after the prize money is spent thanks to endorsement and other career opportunities.
The Thriller At Killers will not feature a live stream for this event, but we'll be standing by throughout the weekend for real-time updates, photos and videos from the island at Todos. Fingers crossed the swell and conditions hold together for an epic weekend of surfing down south.
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.