About the IWT
The IWT (International Windsurfing Tour) is the Pacific Hemisphere based organization for riders. The IWT organise wave riding events across North America, South America, the Pacific, Australia, Asia and more. The IWT supports all riders, young and old, beginner and pro, men and women. Seeking out the best locations, with the best wave riding conditions on earth, for the best quality wave riding competitions, our ultimate purpose is to discover, support and crown the most radical wave riders on earth. We’re taking the sport and it’s champions to a new digital generation.
The IWT runs the The IWT Wave Tour, The Grand Final Aloha Classic, and the IWT Big Wave Challenge. For details of each please go to the relevant tabs on this website. The IWT also creates world class entertainment content, including the feature movie by Director Jace Panebianco, called ‘RIDERS of the Liquid Plains’ that takes you on tour with the best riders and introduces the Wave Tour to to the world. We also support new rider movies like ‘Broken Molds’. All IWT content is streamed exclusively with our global action sports partner RIDERS.tv.
The IWT Wave Tour
We strive to make the IWT Wave Tour for ALL riders from the fun, inclusive, and welcoming OPEN division for all genders, all skills, all ages, through the hotly contested age divisions for YOUTH (18 max.), MASTERS (45+), G.MASTERS (55+), and all the way up to the most elite PRO MEN & WOMEN in the world. We believe events are better for the sport across our Asia Pacific region when we bring everyone together like this, and it’s a huge amount of fun too!
For 2022 the IWT has added two new event locations and tweaked the overall tour structure to better suit more riders from more places across our Asia Pacific region. We’ve included wave events at the legendary Margaret River, Western Australia, and an elite Fiji Invitational event, where we will ride the dream spot known as Cloudbreak. We’ve then introduced a new tour structure with a series of 3 star wave events leading up to The 5 star Grand Final Aloha Classic, where champions will be decided. This new structure allows us to reduce competitor numbers in the Grand Final, which controls costs, improves media delivery, better suits the limited event window permit from Maui County, and reduces our overall impact on the environment by requiring less air travel, by fewer people. All this while strengthening the overall competition structure to ensure the best of the best rise and have their chance to prove themselves all together in one stunning final showdown. Overall Champions include their best IWT Wave Tour event results, plus for the major divisions (M,W,Y,M), the compulsory hold (qualified riders seeded) 5 star Grand Final result. This ensures the best overall riders come out on top, fair and square, and the fans get one hell of a finals day to watch LIVE!!! Classic stuff.
All of the IWT Wave Tour events on this calendar are confirmed for 2022. No doubt it will be harder than it was in 2019 to travel, but each event will go ahead, and each rider at each event will earn points for their overall ranking. Riders count their best IWT Wave Tour event results from a possible 6 events on the Wave Tour calendar to qualify for a place in the 5 star Grand Final Aloha Classic. keen riders have a very good chance of successfully navigating the travel challenges of 2022 and getting to enough events for a strong ranking and a shot at securing one of the coveted spots in the 5 star Grand Final, where the big titles will be decided. The IWT Wave Tour event organisers are all outstanding, they’re strongly supported by their local communities, the riders are frothing, the fans are buzzing, and everyone is ready to go for it. As the WSL is fond of saying, “IT’S ON!”
The IWT Grand Final Aloha Classic
This is the pinnacle event of our sport. The single most prestigious windsurfing event title in the world today. To earn a place in this elite event, riders qualify by competing at the earlier IWT Wave Tour events, or, in exceptional circumstances, are granted one of the very limited wild-cards called ‘SuperSeeds’. This is The Super Bowl of Windsurfing and the whole wave riding world tunes in to see the best of the best battle it out in the giant waves of mighty Ho’okipa Beach on Maui’s legendary North Shore. This event decides the champions in all major divisions:
Open Pro
Pro Women
Youth
Masters
Champions are crowned at the official closing ceremony and party.
The IWT Big Wave Challenge
An entirely seperate competition from the IWT Wave Tour, the IWT Big Wave Challenge is all about extreme big wave riding and only the most experienced riders should take this on. To get the best big waves on the planet, this contest uses an online format, where riders and image makers enter a photo or video of their biggest wave rides using the hashtag #iwtbigwave on Instagram. An international panel of judges determines the biggest and best for Men, Women, Youth (<20) and now also Masters (45+). There are awards for the ‘all-time best’ and the ‘annual best’. We receive entries of giant waves from all across the planet, but the dominant big wave location is Pe’ahi (Jaws) on Maui’s north shore. This is where most of the top big wave riders base themselves to catch the biggest ridable waves from October through to March each year. The thunder-dome.
Global Window April 1 – March 31
#1 Biggest Ride – photo + video categories
#2 Most Radical – photo + video categories
#3 Storm Rider – photo + video categories
#4 Worst Wipeout – photo + video categories
Winners announced at the IWT Big Wave Awards in April
Categories: All-Time Awards + Annual Awards
Divisions: Men, Women, Youth (<20 at time of ride), Masters (45+ at time of ride)
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The RIDERS Movie
‘Riders of the Liquid Plains’ is a film by the great ocean action cinematographer, Jace Panebianco from Poor Boyz Productions. The movie captures 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. The hero emerges as the wild French aerialist Antoine Martin, who takes on the Wave Tour to battle with US legends Morgan Noireaux, Bernd Roediger, Levi Siver, Camille Juban, and many more across events in Japan, Chile, Peru, Mexico, USA Wild West coast, and then takes on the whole world to win the IWT Grand Final Mercedes-Benz Aloha Classic on Maui’s north shore. Watch it now on this website in the IWT Streaming tab. Be inspired! Watch it now FOR FREE on RIDERS.tv
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IWT History
The IWT was created to serve the wave riders. Until the AWT, now IWT, started in 2010, there had been no open international wave riding events on this big blue water Pacific Ocean hemisphere for a vey long time. The first event that started it all was the 2010 Pistol River Wave Bash on the Wild West Oregon coast of the USA. In 2011 the AWT (American Windsurfing Tour) was formed and expanded with events in Oregon, California and Baja. In 2013 the tour expanded to include Peru. From there the expansion went fully international and in 2016 was renamed the IWT (International Windsurfing Tour). 2019 saw the introduction of The IWT Big Wave Challenge. 2020 has seen the Covid-19 shutdown of the tour for public safety. 2021 will see a strong return with a clear structure connecting the grass roots to the elite level offering competition for all riders from entry level youth all the way up to elit pro, with a clear pathway for young riders to rise from beginner to the top of the world. Each year starts with The IWT Wave Tour open to all riders in all divisions. The best riders from these competitions gain Official IWT Qualification and rise to represent their nations in The IWT Grand Final Aloha Classic at Ho’okipa Beach Park on Maui’s North Shore at the end of each year. The IWT Grand Final crowns the IWT Wave Tour Champions. Then the most radical big wave riders battle the giants of Pe’ahi JAWS to crown The IWT Big Wave Champions.
The IWT Founders: The IWT was originally known as the AWT (The American Windsurfing Tour) founded by Americans Russ Faurot and Sam Bittner in 2010. At the end of the 2016 season, the AWT changed its name to the IWT (The International Windsurfing Tour). At the end of the 2018 season, the IWT was acquired by IWT Marketing Pty Ltd ATF Pacific Trust, owned by Australian Simeon Glasson, and partnering with original co-founder Russ Faurot through his company Sideoff Events LLC. The mission of the co-founders was to offer more opportunity, for more riders, for more fun, and to showcase the best riders from around the world. This remains the core mission today.
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IWT Vision
The Best Riders. The Best Waves. The Dream.
We bring the most spectacular wave riding action footage and star power to millions of new viewers, all around the world, with a particular interest in the under 25 digital consumer market. We’ve relaunched the sport of wave riding to a new digital generation. The IWT GRAND FINAL ALOHA CLASSIC and the IWT BIG WAVE CHALLENGE receive the strongest online engagement. These two products have the highest individual product marketing value for brand partners, but the combined IWT suite of products offers the best overall value.
Our reach is global, with opportunities to customize programs at regional, national and local levels across the Asia Pacific and Americas. With competition and community events on four continents, we can tailor a program to reach the markets that best serve your brand and business needs.
Ways To Partner With Us:
* Integration into experiences and events around the Asia Pasific
* Custom wave rider content creation and promotion
* Social media amplification and custom programs
* Surf athlete and influencer partnerships
* Digital and linear advertising
#1 The IWT Big Wave Challenge
* 5M+ views 19/20 big wave season
* #1 Naming Rights
* #2 Presenting Rights
* #3 Supporting Rights
#2 The IWT Grand Final Aloha Classic
* 5M+ views 2019 single event
* #1 Naming Rights
* #2 Presenting Rights
* #3 Supporting Rights
#3 The IWT Wave Tour (the full package 1,#2,#3)
* 20M+ views 2019 – all events
* #1 Naming Rights (the full package 1,#2,#3)
* #2 Presenting Rights (the full package 1,#2,#3)
* #3 Supporting Rights (the full package 1,#2,#3)
* 8+ global events
* 1.0M+ monthly digital reach
* 3.5M+ video minutes consumed
* 2.5M combined athlete social following
* 350K+ IWT social following
* 20M+ social views in 2019
We understand and engage with Millennials and Generation Z each and every day around the globe, serving them powerful, authentic and highly aspirational content.
* 70%+ are Millennial or Gen Z
* 70%+ have above average HHI
* 30%+ Female
We are a gateway to one of the most desirable lifestyles and audiences on the planet. Our fans are:
* Adventurous
* Inclusive
* Eco-Conscious
* Educated
* Healthy
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