A statement from the organizer clarifies the recent rumors. 

The Arica Cultura Bodyboard has been one of the most spectacular events on the Bodyboard World Tour in the past years. The consistency of waves and quality of the Flopos spot (El Gringo) has been a kind of showcase for the sport at an international level.

Frenchman Pierre-Louis Costes won the comp in 2023, for the third time in his career, in huge and powerful waves. High scores and incredible bodyboarding performances were on demand for the fans of the boogie board spread worldwide. 

Some time later, rumors began about the lack of payment of prize money to some athletes. This was strange, as ACB has always been one of the most impressive competitions on the world tour and apparently one of the most solid (or one that has been held for the most years).

Strangely, or not, the stop is no longer part of the world tour in 2024, according to the calendar released by the IBC (International Bodyboarding Corporation) a few days ago. 

The following statement, published by the organizer just now, confirms that the rumors were true and aims to clarify the situation. X-files solved. 

Read: 

“We believe in transparency and honesty and will provide details of the situation. For the world bodyboard championship, we request 140,000,000 million (USD 158.200,00) to hold the event. What we would cover the payments for services, prizes and salaries of our collaborators. Although $140,000,000 million may seem like a high figure, in reality, it is a third of the amounts allocated to other similar events in different regions of the country. 

In Antofagasta the prizes are $200,000,000 million (USD 226.000,00), more than double the budget we have. However, the regional government reduced the sum to $60,000,000 million (USD 67.800,00) and three days after the event began, they notified us of a new cut, assigning the amount of $33,000,000 million (USD 37.290,00). 

The CEO of the IBC accompanied us on the same day to a personal appeal to the regional government, promising a solution for December, but to date no resolution has been achieved. We met with representatives of the local and national government, including Governor Jorge Díaz, in October, but we were told that the solution would arrive in December again, failing to fulfill its commitments. 

We also spoke with MP Vlado Mirosevic in the city center, who promised to help without receiving a response to date. Due to these cuts, we have not been able to make full payment of awards and salaries and we apologize for that. We work with private companies to find solutions and cover the problems generated by all those who trusted us. 

If we had known in advance the amounts allocated by the regional government, we would suspend the event to avoid problems. The regional government played a trick on us, and with the event underway, we had to continue and do our best for all of you, trusting that it would be resolved, which did not happen. 

This has led to us being removed from the World Tour and being in a position to receive lawsuits for breach of contract. We thank those who allowed us to pay debts and ask for patience. From the bottom of our hearts, we are giving everything to comply. 

Sincerely, Organization of @acb_chile and @unionflopos”

You may find the original PR here: