Tow-in surfing will have an official world tour, and it will start, appropriately enough, on O'ahu's North Shore.

The Association of Professional Towsurfers announced this week that three contests will make up the 2006-07 APT World Tour Tow-In Surfing Circuit.

"It's not time for something like this, it's past time," Hawai'i big-wave surfer Garrett McNamara said. "Tow-surfing is still in its infant stage, so there's still a lot of work to do. But having a world tour and recognizing a world champion is a big step in the right direction."

In tow-in surfing, surfers are pulled into massive waves by hanging on to a rope attached to a personal watercraft. Once on the wave, the surfer lets go of the rope and surfs. Most teams alternate positions between surfing and operating the watercraft.

Wave faces are usually around 40 feet and higher for a tow-in surfing contest to run.

The first contest on the new tour is the North Shore Tow-In Surfing Championships, scheduled to run anytime between Dec. 15 and March 31 off Hale'iwa.

The second contest is the Red Bull El Gigante Viene Tow-In Surfing Championships, scheduled to run anytime between May 1 and July 31 off Puerto Escondido, Mexico.

The third contest is the Iquique Chile International Tow-In Surfing Championships, scheduled to run anytime between May 1 and July 31 off Iquique, Chile.

McNamara said he and partner Keli'i Mamala plan to enter all three events.

"Those are three good places to run a contest," McNamara said. "So as long as there's not some 100-foot wave somewhere else in the world when one of the contests is on, we'll be there."

Pe'ahi — also known as "Jaws" — off Maui is not on the tour because no sanctioned contests are scheduled to run there. Pe'ahi features the most famous tow-in surfing waves in the world.

Many other of Hawai'i's top big-wave surfers are expected to participate on the tour, including Jamie Sterling, Shane Dorian and Brock Little.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.