The location was a mystery to most throughout the first half of the season, but an official press launch in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon unveiled the secret to media and the surfing industry.

"We're excited about today's announcement and even more excited to see the industry's reaction to our decision to hold this year's Rip Curl Pro Search in the beautiful country of Portugal," said Rip Curl Event Manager Scott Hargreaves on the day.

"The Portuguese coastline gets waves all year, but the North Atlantic Ocean swells peak in the later part of Europe's summer," continued Mr Hargreaves. "This is why we moved the event window to October, instead of the June-July period we've had for the past four years."

The change of schedule will also make this year's Rip Curl Pro Search the second-to-last event on the ASP Men's World Tour calendar, meaning for the first time it could be the event where this year's ASP World Champion is crowned.

"The hype of possibly crowning the ASP World Champion is an awesome by-product of the date change, but the main reason the ASP surfers love the Rip Curl Pro Search is because it has delivered perfect waves and amazing experiences in each of the four years it's been held in Reunion Island, Mexico, Chile and Bali," said Mr Hargreaves. "With that said, we'd definitely like to present both the Rip Curl Planet Trophy and the ASP World Title Trophy on the same stage!"

2005 Rip Curl Pro Search winner Mick Fanning (AUS) is also enthusiastic about packing his boards for Portugal:

"The Rip Curl Pro Search is always exciting for me and I think it's a favourite for all the lads on tour because it really breaks things up," said Fanning mid year. "I haven't been to Peniche before but when I found out we were going there I had a chat to my mate Tiago Pires [Portugal's first ASP World Tour surfer] and he told me the waves in the area are world class. I got a win in the first ever Search Pro and I've always done reasonably well in them, so hopefully Peniche cops plenty of swell during the event waiting period and the Rip Curl Pro Search continues to deliver some of the best waves we ever see for World Tour competition."