The International Windsurfing Tour (IWT) is the governing body for the Hawaiian based Wave Tour that offers opportunity and access for all riders, inspired by the best wave riders, the best wave riding locations, and creating the best wave riding media content that the world has ever seen.

The IWT is dedicated to showcasing the world’s best talent in a variety of progressive formats and nurturing the grass roots of the sport with divisions for Open, Youth, Masters, Grand Masters, as well as the elite level Pro Men and Pro Women.

The IWT was originally known as the American Windsurfing Tour (AWT) founded by Russ Faurot and Sam Bittner in 2010. At the end of the 2016 season, the AWT changed its name to the International Windsurfing Tour (IWT). At the end of the 2018 season, the IWT was acquired by IWT Marketing Pty Ltd ATF Pacific Trust, owned by Simeon Glasson and partnering with original co-founder Russ Faurot through his company Sideoff Events LLC.

The original mission of the co-founders was to offer more opportunity, for more riders, for more fun, and this is still the core mission. Since early 2019, the IWT has had a big injection of capital to refine the IWT brand as the WSL of Windsurfing and to focus on a global media campaign that brings the most impressive action footage to millions of viewers all around the world with a particular interest in the under 25 digital consumer market.

As of November 2019, the IWT has more than 300,000 Facebook fans, with 70% in the 13-24 age range. This surpasses all of the more established windsurfing bodies such as the PWA (69k), IFCA (4k), the IWA (2.5k), and even giant sporting bodies like World Sailing (260k), and global surfing celebrities like Kai Lenny (206k). This rapid growth has caught the attention of the worlds’ biggest digital sporting platform DAZN. We are proud to announce that all IWT media content will be broadcast across the DAZN global network in 2020.

THE IWT VISION:
We take our global digital audience to the worlds’ best waves, for action packed competition, with the worlds best riders, and the world’s best media content creators. We broadcast the intense action and extraordinary athlete stories using our substantial IWT media platforms. We offer three distinct products as part of the FULL IWT PACKAGE:
#1 THE IWT WAVE TOUR
#2 THE #IWTBIGWAVE CHALLENGE
#3 THE IWT MOVIE

The Wave Tour saw significant direct investment to improve the tour in 2019. Highly respected head judge Duncan Coombs was brought on, Amanda Beenen Cantor took the reigns of event media production, slalom and other disciplines were dropped to focus entirely on waves and becoming the WSL of Windsurfing, branding and graphics were all updated with the talents of Annamaria Zollet, the website has a major capacity upgrade and update, event organizers stepped up with improved support for riders and event staff, Jace Panebianco came in as overall media guru with his vast experience across windsurfing movies and with the WSL, and a whopping USD $50,000 prize purse was offered for the overall champions with EQUAL prize money for the men and women.

The #IWTBIGWAVE Challenge was introduced . The Biggest and most radical wave rides in history will be awarded and celebrated for the first time in a formal way. Riders and image makers enter a photo or video of their giant wave rides from around the world, using the hashtag #IWTBIGWAVE on Instagram, then an international panel of judges determines the biggest and best for Men, Women, and Youth (<20). There are prizes for the ‘all-time’ best and for the year. 2020 is the inaugural year for the IWT BIG WAVE Awards – to be held on April 10th 2020 in Maui, Hawaii.

The IWT Movie – Riders of the Liquid Plains – was commissioned early in 2019 to follow the tour champions and the human journey, the movie was released in early 2020 with much acclaim. A film by one of the greatest ocean action cinematographers on earth, Jace Panebianco from Poorboyz Productions, capturing the powerful story of riders on the IWT Wave Tour as they travel to the best wave riding locations on earth and compete for the coveted IWT Wave Title. Stunning footage and powerful story telling make this a captivating cinematic experience. First premiered in Germany, with more premiers to come. Check out the trailer and upcoming movie screenings near you on the IWT Movie tab on this website.

The IWT 2020 Wave Tour Details:

Prize Money and Points:
$0-10K EVENT PRIZE MONEY = 50% EVENT POINTS
$15K EVENT PRIZE MONEY = 70% EVENT POINTS
$25K EVENT PRIZE MONEY = 80% EVENT POINTS
$50K EVENT PRIZE MONEY = 100% EVENT POINTS

Results Toward Overall:

Any and all results count toward the overall.
1-2 results = All results count.
3-4 results = Riders may drop 1 result.
5+ results = Riders may drop 2 results.

Elite Event Access:
$50K+ EVENTS ARE LIMITED TO 48 MEN + 16 WOMEN
$10k-$25K EVENTS HAVE OPEN FIELD SIZES FOR ALL ACCESS
ACCESS TO 50K+ EVENTS IS BASED ON A WORLD WAVE RANKING
A RIDER BUILDS A RANKING AT LOWER EVENTS TO GAIN ACCESS
A RIDER MUST MAINTAIN A TOP RANKING FOR 50K+ ACCESS

“Prize Money Pending” means:
There is no prize money for these events at this stage.
Even with no prize money, these events will receive 50% points in 2020.
Points count towards the 2020 IWT Wave Rankings – not PWA Rankings.
We are in negotiations with brand partners to secure more prize money.
If negotiations go well then we will add prize money + % points during the season.

Event Cancellation – In the unfortunate circumstance that an IWT event has to be cancelled due to unforeseen conditions, any registered rider is entitled to a refund. However, the IWT reserves the right to withhold 7.5% of the original transaction. This is designed to help pay for credit card fees and non-refundable costs incurred by the IWT. If a rider wishes to extend their registration to a different event, or the same event in the following year, he/she is welcome to do so at no additional cost.

2020 IWT Divisions:

PM = Pro Men
PW = Pro Women
Y= Youth (Under 20)
M = Masters (45 and over)
GM = Grand Masters (55 and over)
O = Open

Qualification for Pro Division:

1. Winning the IWT Open overall from any previous year.
2. Winning any IWT Open event in the last 12 months.
3. Having competed as an IWT Pro in the last 5 years.
4. Head Judge’s discretion.

Seeding
Riders are seeded according to their IWT Rolling Ranking which is calculated from the best four results from the previous one year of events, hence a whole year of data is always being used. Additionally, the current seeded event will be weighted by a factor of two, so that local riders may earn a stronger seed based on their performance from the previous year. If a PWA rider with a current or previous year top ten ranking enters an IWT event then the Head Judge will use discretion in the seeding process.

Points will be awarded in each event with the winner scoring maximum points. Winners will be awarded at each individual event and the overall tour champions will be announced at the ceremony following the tour finale in Maui. In the event of a tie in the Overall Rank, a one-heat sail off will be run. If time or wind does not allow the one-heat sail off, the tie will be broken by the rider placing highest in the final event. If the final event does not happen due to conditions, the tie will be broken by the rider placing highest in their previously dropped fifth event. Points will be awarded as follows:

Judging Criteria

Wave Riding Notes:

Wave ride scores will be based on: Wave height, turns in critical sections, angles in the turns, length of ride, completion of tricks, technical skills demonstrated and wow factor to the judges. Things to consider when selecting your wave: size, caught at peak, speed, continuity, length of ride, functional moves [ex. bottom turns], tricks, vertical riding, progressive moves, use of rail, linking sections, number and quality of turns (critical section), aerials, moves/tricks using the wave and landing back on the wave. Turns made in the critical part of the wave will be judged highly. The more critical the section, the tighter the turns and harder the hit, the better the score. We want to see big connected hits in the right spots. Timing is a big factor in wave performance. Best scores will be given for critical riding in the power of the wave, going most vertical, use of your rail, and continuation along the peeling wave. Basically, staying as close to the power of the wave while going vertical and making use of the whole wave will score highest.

Jumping Notes:

Jump scoring will be based on: Difficulty of the move, height, execution and landing, how clean, how smooth, creativity, some reward for pushing new moves but landing is much better. The highest scoring jump of each type will be counted. In the case where two jumps are being counted they need to be different moves, or different variations of the same move. Judges will be scored according to the level of execution and the difficulty of the move and the details below are for guide purposes only;

• Straight jump – 1 to 3 average – could be more depending on height and style, one handed, rail grab etc. adds 0.2 – 1.0 points
• Table Top – 3 to 4 average – could be higher for depending on degree of tweak, one handed adds 0.2 – 1.0 points
• Forward Loop – 3.5 to 5.5 average – could be more depending on height and style, one handed adds 0.2 – 1.0 points
• Push Loop – 4 to 6 average – could be more depending on height and style, one handed adds 0.2 – 1.0 points
• Back Loop – 6 to 8 average – could be more depending on height and style, one handed adds 0.2 – 1.0 points, one footed adds 0.2 – 1.0 points
• Tweaked Push Loop – 6.5 to 8.5 – could be more depending on tweak, height, and style, one handed adds 0.2 – 1.0 points
• Double Forward – 9 to 10 depending on style, height etc.
• Pushloop Forward – 9.5 to 10 depending on style, height etc.
• Other combination moves – points will be awarded by discretion
• One handed, rail grabs etc. – these variations add to your score and depending on the style, duration etc. your points will increase between 0.2 and 1.0 points.

Changes: Throughout the Tour, the judges and organization reserve the right to change and update the judging criteria according to feedback and evaluation of heats, rider comments, sponsor feedback and more.

Before round three, if an advancing rider drops out of the event, the spot may be filled at the Head Judge’s discretion. Most often this would be done using an extra heat of top people cut from the previous round.

In the event of an athlete entering and attending an event, but unable to sail, will receive a Did Not Sail (DNS). A DNS is number of competitors entered plus one. The best possible ranking for DNS is 8th place. If an athlete starts a heat, but is injured or has to withdraw from the event, he/she will be awarded a Did Not Finish (DNF). The rider will receive points earned up to the moment of withdrawal.

Only completed rounds will count toward overall points. A minimum of one completed round is required for points to be earned. An event will have a result even if only the 1st round is completed in a division.

Division winners must attend the closing ceremony in order to be guaranteed prize money and trophy.