Red Bull Unleashed is the first international surf competition to be held on a man-made wave. Twenty pro surfers have descended on Surf Snowdonia in north Wales, the world’s biggest Wavegarden, where they went head-to-head competing against one another.
Not only was the pool a novel concept, the competition format was a refreshing break from the standard 30-minute best-two-waves heat scheme. The competitors and capacity crowd revelled in the man-on-man duel concept, which saw pairs of surfers go head-to-head, with a coin toss determining who surfs first. After each surfer has ridden a wave, the best score took the points. Best of five waves won, and once a surfer hit three wins the bout was automatically over and the next pair hit the water immediately. Throw in an audience 10-feet away and a DJ pumping out the surfer’s chosen tracks, and Red Bull Unleashed had a stadium-worthy spectacle.
My task as official event photographer was both to capture genuine surf action and to show the arena atmosphere, so I spent half of the time in the waves with a waterproof housing, and half on the bleachers between the spectators. For results and videos, head to 47mag report.
