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Watch history as it unfolds at Bells Beach

April 7, 2022 BY

Setup coordinator Peter Murphy (back) of Surfing Victoria alongside his son Finn in one of the grandstands. Photos: VINNIE VAN OORSCHOT

WIDE-RANGING and breathtaking views of Bells Beach await those lucky enough to get a seat at this year’s Rip Curl Pro.

A line-up of grandstands along Bells Beach Carpark and on the sand will give fans the best seat in the house to watch the world’s best surfers in action from April 10 to 20.

“The team here has certainly put in the hard yards, and we love the work that we do to bring one of the world’s biggest surfing events to life,” operations manager of Surfing Victoria Peter Murphy said.

The team at Surfing Victoria will have spent 45 days setting up the site to create an electric atmosphere at this year’s Rip Curl Pro to make sure every feature of the event’s setup is perfect.

 

The four elevated seating grandstands. The two on the left are general seating stands each with 88 seats. The two on the right are Rip Curl sponsored stands which will seat 44 and 56 seats respectively.

 

“We are stoked to have the Pro back and we look forward to having people down once again,” Mr Murphy said.

The public will be able to view the exhilarating action from the Bells Beach southern car park and on the beach itself.

Both general spectator grandstands in the southern carpark hold 88 people, meanwhile the Bells Beach grandstand seats 99.

 

The beach grandstand will seat 99 spectators.

 

Mr Murphy said seats will fill up quickly for what he believes will be “the biggest year ever” after two cancelled events.

“We know the town is excited, we know the greater surfing community is excited, that’s what’s a little bit scary about it,” Mr Murphy said.

“We have spent an enormous amount of time getting this right and we think the fans will enjoy the Pro as much as we will.”

Disabled access viewing has also been addressed since the last Rip Curl Pro in 2019.

“We have found in previous years many able-bodied people started to dominate the disabled viewing platform, so we have reduced the size of the platform to police it more effectively,” Mr Murphy said.

 

The wheelchair accessible viewing platform will fit anywhere from four to six wheelchairs as well as a carer per person.

 

Live broadcasts of the event will be viewable on big screens at the centre of the Bells Beach Carpark and at the top of Winkipop.

Rip Curl’s Torquay Store on the Surf Coast Highway will also be hosting a live screening of the event from April 15 to 17.

 

The beach grandstand located in the background at the bottom of the Bells Beach stairs.