*** Official MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal Contest Thread ***

[StuAzole]

This is a horrible, horrible contest. In the brazzo contest at least you know what you're signing in for and many times you get it better than you expected. This contest is marketed as almost a Portuguese pipeline and it's always blown out junky that end up being decided by who throws the most twirly birdies. Lame.

I don’t get this view. It’s a beach break. John started the day w a barrel, Leo basically ended it with a barrel. Ethan advanced surfing like Ethan. Italo advanced then lost surfing in the air. Gabe destroyed, Jack flailed, Marshall surfed quick and Kade bogged. Is is perfect Supertubos? No. Was it a good day of comp surfing? Yes.

And 20+ years in, when will people understand that ”twirly birds” are part of surfing just like turns, cutbacks and barrels?

 

[StuAzole]

Yep this contest venue sucks. Barron and John out early.

John must have major FOMO watching Nate and crew scoring epic Cloudbreak. I wonder if WSL will run if it gets that big during by their event later in the season.

John has been pretty vocal that he wants the title this year. Im sure lots of those guys wish they were in Fiji last week.

I wonder if you can run heats when it’s that size. What’s the paddle time back to the line up after a make? Or a wipeout? Do most guys have boards in their quiver that’ll work? How do you score it? It’s a ten or a zero? I’d love to see Gabe, John, Jack, Baron etc give it a go but maybe it’s a stretch to run a comp.

 

[theramrod]

I don’t get this view. It’s a beach break. John started the day w a barrel, Leo basically ended it with a barrel. Ethan advanced surfing like Ethan. Italo advanced then lost surfing in the air. Gabe destroyed, Jack flailed, Marshall surfed quick and Kade bogged. Is is perfect Supertubos? No. Was it a good day of comp surfing? Yes.

And 20+ years in, when will people understand that ”twirly birds” are part of surfing just like turns, cutbacks and barrels?

I pretty much agree with this. I watched a good bit of the afternoon and I kept going back to the thought "this is so much better than the wavepool"

 

[mundus]

John has been pretty vocal that he wants the title this year. Im sure lots of those guys wish they were in Fiji last week.

I wonder if you can run heats when it’s that size. What’s the paddle time back to the line up after a make? Or a wipeout? Do most guys have boards in their quiver that’ll work? How do you score it? It’s a ten or a zero? I’d love to see Gabe, John, Jack, Baron etc give it a go but maybe it’s a stretch to run a comp.

Today was not terrible, yesterday was.

 

[freeride76]

Yeah it was OK to pretty good beach break- problem is that is the best day of the waiting period.

It's like Mundaka- a shitty contest venue because there aren't enough good days in any given 10 day window, especially in this late Winter/early Spring slot.

 

[brukuns]

It got better, cleaned up. It was fun, I admit. I still don't agree with this venue, it's bad more often than not. I hope than don't try to finish tomorrow, instead only run a few heats and leave the finals for the 16.

 

[sponge]

 

[StuAzole]

It got better, cleaned up. It was fun, I admit. I still don't agree with this venue, it's bad more often than not. I hope than don't try to finish tomorrow, instead only run a few heats and leave the finals for the 16.

That’s fair. The September end of year really fucks them in Europe. But today was very contestable.

I can take or leave Sunset, Bells and Margarets. I do like a good beach break in the mix. They should do South Straddie instead of Margarets.

 

[tedshred]

Leo is one of the best surfers who's not a wizard. He's not as talented as the likes of John and Gabs but you can't count him out in any venue, he's an all around great surfer (although I'm not a fan of his style).

Was thinking he's kind of Jeremy Flores 2.0. Scrappy euro guy that's not afraid to speak his mind and consistently beats guys who are out of his league skill wise.

 

[One-Off]

I tuned in briefly today. One thing stuck with me. They were interviewing or talking about Leonardo Fioravanti and he said (or they said he said... and I paraphrase because I don't remember the exact words)- "I've been dreaming about winning the world championship ever since I started surfing."

I thought that was weird. When I was a grom I was dreaming of my next surf session, or my next wave. There was never anything extrinsic to the pure act itself that motivated me. To this day it's all about getting a good wave. Sure there is some desire perform better but even that doesn't matter if the wave was good and I didn't totally choke.

I don't know. Did any of you have dreams of competitive greatness? Was that ever a motivator? I got kicked off the surf team in college (NSSA) because I didn't get out of the water after my heat at Blacks because the waves were too good.

 

[StuAzole]

I tuned in briefly today. One thing stuck with me. They were interviewing or talking about Leonardo Fioravanti and he said (or they said he said... and I paraphrase because I don't remember the exact words)- "I've been dreaming about winning the world championship ever since I started surfing."

I thought that was weird. When I was a grom I was dreaming of my next surf session, or my next wave. There was never anything extrinsic to the pure act itself that motivated me. To this day it's all about getting a good wave. Sure there is some desire perform better but even that doesn't matter if the wave was good and I didn't totally choke.

I don't know. Did any of you have dreams of competitive greatness? Was that ever a motivator? I got kicked off the surf team in college (NSSA) because I didn't get out of the water after my heat at Blacks because the waves were too good.

He was bread to be a pro. It’s different for kids who are exposed to the industry early on.

 

[freeride76]

Yeah, exactly.

Bred, though.

Bread is the doughy, yeasty shitt you eat.

 

[brukuns]

Off for the day as it should have been from the get go (I think they ran the women's quarters). Due to wind (look at the "glass" on the forecast chart)

I'm not an expert but the last day of the waiting period seems to be the best by a safe margin?

 

[StuAzole]

Yeah, exactly.

Bred, though.

Bread is the doughy, yeasty shitt you eat.

I must have been hungry.

 

[brukuns]

Bread, dough.

 

[sponge]

Wed 3/13 0730 WET: The contest is ON HOLD until 1200 WET.

 

[Northern_Shores]

For all you Joe Turpentine lovers out there, this is my surfboard

 

[sh3]

I pray that's true, NS

 

[Boneroni]

For all you Joe Turpentine lovers out there, this is my surfboard

View attachment 175097

You're sponsored by rockstar?

Impressive.....

 

[Northern_Shores]

I pray that's true, NS

It really is. Bought it for $290 used. It's the Average Joe 5'11" 43,3L
The board came with the meticulously placed sticker and a GoPro snout mount. I'm not man enough for the GoPro up front, so I had to rip it off. Kept the sticker. The chicks think I'm a sponserd surfer!