ASP International and Fantasy Surfer, an online fantasy surf league created by Surfer Magazine, are pleased to announce their official partnership effective this weekend at Stop No. 5 of 10 on the Foster’s ASP World Tour, the Boost Mobile Pro presented by Hurley.

“The ASP are eager to promote Fantasy Surfer to our global audience and to further enhance interactivity between our fans and the webcast,” ASP CEO Brodie Carr said. “The game is a great opportunity for tour followers from around the world to increase their involvement in each and every round of ASP events.”

Created in the wake of popularity gained by fantasy leaguing in more mainstream sports like basketball and football, Fantasy Surfer was built to bring greater recognition to the Top 45 and to help the fans get more out of the webcast. The game has since expanded to incorporate the ASP Women’s World Tour as well.

“We are very excited about the partnership and honored that Fantasy Surfer is the official game of the ASP,” Surfer Magazine Publisher Rick Irons said. “It is something we have wanted to do for a long time and we are confident that the association with ASP will take the game to the next level.”

At present, roughly 12,000 people play Fantasy Surfer and growth of the game has increased 40% since last year. Even though the game is an American-based product of Surfer Magazine, founders are quick to point out that anyone from anywhere can play and that Fantasy Surfer already has a strong following in Australia, Brazil and Europe, not to mention amongst the surfers themselves.

“I don’t play, I coach,” 8X ASP World Champion Kelly Slater said. “I give advice to some of my friends on who to pick – the inside info. I don’t want to give too much away, but once you get in there and take a look at the stats and start figuring out who has beat who, how many times, and in what kind of waves the whole thing gets pretty dynamic.”

Players create virtual fantasy surf teams by picking a designated number of surfers using an allotted budget and then earn points based on how far their surfers advance in ASP elite tour events. At the end of the season, players with the highest number of points in their ‘clubhouse’ (you can join one already established or create your own amongst friends) wins. The player who has the most points overall wins a boat trip to Indo, but there are plenty of other prizes available too.

The Foster’s ASP World Tour version of the game – Fantasy Surfer presented by Boost Mobile – can be accessed at www.fantasysurfer.com. The ASP Women’s World Tour portion – Women Fantasy Surfer presented by Billabong –is online at women.fantasysurfer.com