MANILA – Some of the world’s best surfers are set to test the waters of Siargao in Surigao del Norte beginning on Wednesday as they participate in the Billabong Cloud 9 Invitational 2009.

A total of 48 competitors will surf at Siargao Island’s Cloud 9. The contest site is a “powerful, hollow right-hander that has been frequently compared to the renowned surf of Hawaii and Indonesia,” stated the event’s website.

The Billabong Cloud 9 Invitational, which has a prize pool of $20,000, will be held from Oct. 21 to Oct. 27. The competition will be held for two days across a seven-day window.

Stoked Inc. president JV Borromeo, one of the event’s organizers, said on “Mornings@ANC” that they have to allocate for the window because surfers “need the quality of waves.”

Filipinos who made it to the top 12 of last week’s qualifying will compete with the world-class surfers.

Among those who have been invited to the event are former world tour surfer Bruce Irons (Hawaii), Pipeline Master Jamie O’Brien (Hawaii) and World Qualifying Series shredder Owen Wright (Australia).

Hawaiian Dusty Payne, Australian Laurie Towner, Brazilian ace Jadson Andre, and
Australian Julian Wilson also received invitations.

Cloud 9

According to contest director and Surfing Australia CEO Andrew Stark, Siargao’s Cloud 9 is “arguably the world’s most perfect right hand tube,” he said in a statement.

Event coordinator Mumph Ruiz, meantime, said: “Cloud 9 has been popular for more than 13 years now, at least 15 years ago.”

He said that “manic surfers” just kept it a secret.

The right-hander produces a “smorgasbord of flawless, barreling waves,” the statement added.

RP surfing

Borromeo said holding the Cloudy 9 event is great for Philippine surfing.

“It’s pretty phenomenal,” he said of RP surfing these days. “From what I see, now it’s just grown astronomically. The lifestyle has taken in a lot of people.”

He noted that a lot of surfers go to La Union on a weekly basis. “You have the continuous flow of tourists, surfers coming in, finding that we’ve got so much to offer, so many breaks.”

Joncy Sumulong, manager of the Philippine Surfing Team, mentioned the “amazing quality” of RP surfers.

In fact, the reigning Billabong Cloud 9 champion is a Filipino. Edito Alcala won in 2008 “on the last wave on the last few seconds of the last day,” noted Sumulong.