Seven of the 15 qualifiers for the 2010 Dream Tour

Kelly. Mick. Joel. Just some of the names of the World Championship Tour (WCT), surfing's equivalent of the "big leagues." To qualify for the WCT, you need to earn enough points on the World Qualifying Series (WQS) to end the season ranked in the top-15. This is no easy feat, considering the quantity of surfers, the caliber of surfing and the general lack of waves on the WQS.

Barring earth freezing over, BNQT would like to introduce the new qualifiers (in order) for the 2010 WCT.

1. Daniel Ross (AUS)
2. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
3. Jadson Andre (BRA)
4. Adam Melling (AUS)
5. Owen Wright (AUS)
6. Luke Munro (AUS)
7. Jay Thompson (AUS)
8. Nate Yeomans (USA)
9. Dusty Payne (HAW)
10. Brett Simpson (USA)
11. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
12. Tanner Gudauskas (USA)
13. Travis Logie (ZAF)
14. Marco Polo (BRA)
15. Blake Thornton (AUS)

Hawaiian qualifier Dusty Payne flying high

Good amount of Aussies on the list, but there always are. The refreshing part is there are six surfers from the motherland USA, including Nike 6.0 surfer Dusty Payne, who is clearly pumped. "To be on the World Tour the first year I tried, I can't even describe how I feel right now, I'm so stoked," said Dusty.

Dusty had an incredible year; he qualified for the 'CT, scored numerous magazine covers and even landed a part in Modern Collective. How did he do it? "It's important to balance free-surfing and competing," Dusty said. "You've got to free-surf to compete. If you just compete all year, you'll just go loony. This year I just tried to balance out contests and free-surfing trips and I guess it paid off in the end."

You'll see DP and the rest of the qualifiers at the Quiksilver Pro in late February 2010. Until then, check out these highlights of Dusty en route to qualifying at the O'Neill World Cup of Surfing.

Dusty Payne - Qualifies for the WCT at Sunset from LIEBER VISION on Vimeo.