Here's Who's Invited to Natural Selection Surf So Far

A new surf event will be hitting the eyeballs of surf fans this year – and it won’t be run by the World Surf League.

Set to kick off in February, the 2025 Natural Selection Surf – an extension of snowboarder Travis Rice’s extreme backcountry freestyle event – will take place somewhere in Micronesia against the backdrop of world-class waves. The details of the event's structure are still under wraps, but contest organizers are promising an exciting new format.

The goal of Natural Selection Surf is to bring together an eclectic mix of surfers to strut their stuff and vie for bragging rights at a dreamy locale. A few months ago, the Natural Selection folks hinted at what type of top-leve icons would be invited to compete.

"Who gets invited to NST?" they wrote on their IG. "Well, to put it simply: 'The mad ones.' The surfers who are spontaneous, unafraid of challenges, unpredictable, powerful, (usually) flawed somehow, sometimes unproven, have elite talent, down for an adventure, competitive but irreverent — probably really fun to be around for a few weeks on a surf trip. Always down."

As of this week, the NST team began dropping the names of invitees on their Instagram. And so far, the announced competitors are an epic indication of what's to come. First to be introduced was Mikey February, the stylish South African who, no matter where he's surfing, is drawing lines that are pleasing on the eyes.