Cape Town - The number of invited athletes has been increased to 24 surfers - this allows for the inclusion of more local as well as a greater mix of international surfers. Out of these invited athletes 23 have been named, and the last position is the 'hot-spot,' a wild-card opening for a final athlete to be chosen at the event organisers discretion.

The Red Bull Big Wave Africa now in its ninth edition, is one of only three world-class big wave events in the world, and is the second-longest running paddle-in big wave event in the world.

The local surfers consist of former event champ Sean Holmes from Wilderness, Grant 'Twiggy' Baker who hails from Durban and who won the Mavericks Big Wave Event in 2006, and last year's winner John Whittle, also from Durban. They will be joined by the likes of Durban's Jason Ribbink, Andrew Marr who came second in last year's event and Cape big wave stalwart Mickey Duffus. This year also sees Ian Armstrong back in the field after a few years absence and Simon Lowe debuting for the first time.

On the international side some new faces and some old friends are going to be in attendance, including evergreen Californian Grant Washburn and Jamie Sterling from Hawaii. Former event winner Greg Long from California and Brazilian die-hard Carlos Burle will be back, as will former Quiksilver Eddie Aikau Big Wave Event winner Ross Clarke-Jones from Australia and three time Mavericks event winner Darryl 'Flea' Virostko from California. Big wave Chilean surfer Ramon Navarro will be in attendance for the first time this year, as will be Peter Mel from California.

In the alternative list there are large number of up and coming chargers from all over the world; surfers who have proven themselves in the big wave surfing arena, and who have come to the attention of the selectors. The full alternate list will be announced when the site goes live.

The event website, www.redbullbwa.com goes live 5 June. The website will be the portal through which all information pertaining to Red Bull Big Wave Africa will be available, including profiles, archives, downloads, wallpapers, press releases and images. This year the event is also to have live webcasting, so that those people who can't get to the Sentinel or onto the water, will be able to watch from their computers.

The Cape winter is upon us, and now it's just a matter of when the swell trains arrive. Surf forecasting is done by Spike from www.wavescape.co.za.

Invitees, in no particular order.
Sean Holmes (SA)
Greg Long (USA)
Grant Baker (SA)
Carlos Burle (BRA)
Jason Ribbink (SA)
Grant Washburn (USA)
Chris Bertish (SA)
Darryl Virostko (USA)
Mark Healey (HAW)
Andrew Marr (SA)
Paul Paterson (AUS)
John Whittle (SA)
Jamie Sterling (HAW)
David Smith (SA)
Ross Clarke-Jones (AUS)
Mickey Duffus (SA)
Evan Slater (USA)
Simon Lowe (SA)
Peter Mel (USA)
Anthony Tashnick (USA)
Ian Armstrong (SA)
Ian Walsh (HAW)
Ramon Navarro (CHILE)


Molo says: "Read more about the exciting Red Bull Big Wave Africa 2007 event.

"Watch a video clip of the Red Bull Big Wave online here, read about 2006's winners and find other South African sporting events in our 'events' section. Also subscribe to our free newsletter for more surfing news and events delivered straighht to your inbox every month."