Red Bull Queen of the Bay big wave contest planned for October is canceled with an interim virtual big-wave video contest in development for the winter.

Haleiwa, HI – (September 1, 2020) – Red Bull and Banzai Productions made the decision today to cancel the 2020 Red Bull Queen of the Bay big-wave contest in following current state and local event guidelines. The first-ever women-only big-wave competition to take place in Hawaii’s historic Waimea Bay was scheduled to begin its contest waiting period on October 1, 2020.

Waimea Big Wave Rider Raquel Heckart drops in on a big one on the North Shore of Oahu

Now, Red Bull looks forward to 2021 to bring the esteemed event back to Hawaii and, in the interim, producing a Hawaii-focused big-wave video contest this winter in the spirit of providing opportunity.

“We’ve been closely monitoring health updates globally and–while we had hoped to be able to bring Red Bull Queen of The Bay to life this year, 2020 had other plans for us,” Betty Depolito, contest director, said about the cancellation. “We’re excited to have the opportunity to bring the original vision of Red Bull Queen of The Bay–giving the top women’s big-wave surfers a day where they have Waimea Bay all to themselves in XXL swell–to life in 2021, conditions permitting. And, we still think we have something up our sleeves that will stoke out big-wave surfing fans this winter.”

Red Bull Queen of the Bay is the first all-women big-wave event to take place in the iconic Waimea Bay. The event requires pristine big-wave swells to hit Waimea Bay between the period of October 1 and November 21, with swells displaying a minimum sustained wave face size of 18’ measured by the Hawaiian wave scale. The goal of the event is to give the best women big- wave surfers on Earth a chance to surf the most storied big-wave spot on Earth on a day where they have the lineup all to themselves.

“Every year, we are in a waiting game where we cross our fingers and hope that conditions in the water cooperate and allow us to host the contest,” Depolito continued. “Unfortunately, conditions outside the water didn’t cooperate.”

Details on a new women’s big-wave video contest to be held during the upcoming winter swell season will be forthcoming from Red Bull. Until then, additional information about Red Bull Queen of the Bay, visit redbull.com/queenofthebay.

###