I’ve got some good news and some bad. First the good: Round 1 is done and over. Kelly won, and now stands one heat away from claiming his ninth world title. Now the bad: Today was arguably the worst day of surf in Dream Tour history. Last year’s Mundaka contest was a rough one, and with all but the final taking place up the road at Bakio, it had most of the ASP Top 45 begging not to come back. But Billabong staff and contest organizers figured they’d remedied the situation by moving the alternate site an hour away to a beachbreak near the town of Sopelana. Well folks, this call was 10 times worse than last year’s. It was miserable. The Billabong Pro Mundaka is kind of like that old family dog: you love him, and you’ve got some fond memories of him, but eventually you just have to put him to sleep. Billabong and the ASP would be wise to do that to this event. It’s simply too fickle, too inconsistent, and too undependable to constitute a Dream Tour locale. Sorry for the bitterness folks, but man, today was about as bad as it gets.

Most Defining Performance:
Everyone who actually found the beach at Sopelana proved themselves to be true road warriors. Marriages were tested, heats were nearly missed, heck, even the ASP’s CEO barely found the place. And just to rub a little sea salt in the wound, when you finally did pull into the car park, you came to the quick realization that the surf was complete and utter crap.

Upset of the Day:
Eneko Acero (Eneko who?) taking down Jordy Smith and Adriano De Souza constitutes a lofty win for the unknown Euro. And for Jordy and Adriano, I guess they can just chalk it up to bad luck in shitty surf.

Insight That Would Have Helped Your Team If We’d Only Known:
Don’t say we didn’t warn you about how over it the Top 45 are, and you also can’t say we didn’t tell you to be on the lookout for a few crafty wildcards. The one thing we did blow was the forecast. Long-range forecasts are dicey at best, and from the looks of things several days ago, there wasn’t much on the radar. As you’ll see below (should you choose to keep reading), there’s a fairly significant swell on the horizon and this thing could be over by Sunday.

Talk of the Beach:
The swell of the century is said to be en route to Mundaka. Fishermen are moving their boats out of the harbor, surfers from all over Europe are gathering, and Billabong’s contest staff is in absolute froth-mode. That being said, Mundaka’s a fickle bitch, so only time will tell how massive it will really get.

Wildcard Report:
On a miserable, wind-torn day like today you’d have to expect a wildcard or two to sneak through, and today those honors go to Nic Muscroft, Mikael Picon, and Eneko Acero. Eneko’s win was by far the biggest—as he upset both Jordy Smith and Adriano De Souza.

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