One in the Sun; Rip Curl Pro Search Portugal Opens with Upsets
By Tim Fisher
After yesterday’s complete and total devastation, it was something of a surprise to wake up and find the predicted 40 mile winds had blown themselves out. It was also a surprise to find that the sun, when it came up, had made it above the clouds.
The obvious call was a return to Mohle Leste, which was doing its 2-3 foot wedgey thing down in the corner of the beach, and looking a whole lot cleaner than yesterday. It wasn’t amazing, and it sure wasn’t the kegging sandbar pits of Supertubes, but it was definitely the best surf anyone on tour had seen since Jeffreys Bay. Jeffreys was a long time ago, so the perspective is helpful.
Nathaniel Curran and Phil MacDonald were among those out at dawn, warming up for the first heats of the day. Nathaniel had the unenviable draw of Tiago Pires in heat three. On paper, this was the toughest matchup of the round. Who wanted to surf against the giant-killing Portuguese Tiger in round one? Tiago is a man who’s shown he’s capable of pulling 10s out of nowhere when the occasion calls for it, and Nathaniel, great surfer though he is, hasn’t proved he can match that on the World Tour. Tiago, in front of a baying home-country crowd? Fuggeddaboutit.
But Nathaniel can surf a heat, and played his cards smarter than anyone else in this stop-start day of competition.
With 500-odd on the beach (who’d been warmed up nicely by having Portuguese-speakers win the first two heats of the day), Tiago and Nate paddled out as the tide sucked the life out of the swell. Tiago over-amped and fell, Nathaniel caught two mid-range keepers then sat on him. Game over.
Tiago was not stoked, mock-applauding the judges on his way up the beach then hurling his board through the competitor’s area. Save for a 3rd in France, he’s had a very ordinary year, and is on the bottom end of the qualification bubble. More than that, as we’re running the New Format, this is the last time we’ll see him at the first and last World Tour event we’ll see in his country this decade. Curran, way, way down the rankings, will take his confident, canny start into the next round.
After three heats the contest went on hold, and free-surfing hordes descended. Coco Ho, Alana Blanchard and Steph Gilmore went out, as did Jordy Smith, and Contest Director Damien Hardman sat down and thought through his unenviable role. It looks like there’ll be swell all week but picking the eyes out of the conditions is going to be tough. Today’s wind rendered Supertubes uncontestable through the morning, though Kelly Slater, Joel Parkinson and Dane Reynolds proved it was more than surfable this afternoon as the last heats of the day were being contested two miles back down the beach.
Other notable heats included: Chris Davidson going down to injury-replacement Pat Gudauskas after coming second in Spain.
The Portuguese-born-and-raised (but German national) Marlon Lipke surfing above and beyond himself in the best waves of the day to take down Michel Bourez.
Owen Wright completely dismantling Kekoa Bacalso as conditions deteriorated in the afternoon.
Make no mistake: the kid is gnarly. Like, Jordy-and-Dane-but-with-a-comp-head gnarly. That’s a big call, but we’ll going to stand by it. Owen’s already qualified for next year’s tour, he beat Kelly and Dane at Bells back in April, and he can surf anything. ANYTHING.
Tomorrow, we might see Supertubes. If we do, Owen will be standing tall. Make sure you tune in to the webcast to see him rattle a few cages.
RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Jihad Khodr (BRA) 13.10 def. Tim Boal (FRA) 10.84
Heat 2: Heitor Alves (BRA) 8.50 def. David Weare (ZAF) 4.10
Heat 3: Nathaniel Curran (USA) 11.00 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 9.67
Heat 4: Ben Dunn (AUS) 12.33 def. Phillip MacDonald (AUS) 11.67
Heat 5: Marlon Lipke (DEU) 14.66 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 10.77
Heat 6: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 11.84 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 10.17
Heat 7: Owen Wright (AUS) 12.03 def. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 8.76
Heat 8: Kai Otton (AUS) 9.90 def. David Luis (PRT) 5.90
REMAINING RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 9: Dean Morrison (AUS) vs. Justin Mujica (PRT)
Heat 10: Mick Campbell (AUS) vs. Bruno Santos (BRA)
Heat 11: Chris Ward (USA) vs. Michael Picon (FRA)
Heat 12: Roy Powers (HAW) vs. Dayyan Neve (AUS)
Heat 13: Tim Reyes (USA) vs. Jay Thompson (AUS)
Heat 14: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Nic Muscroft (AUS)
Heat 15: Greg Emslie (ZAF) vs. Aritz Aranburu (EUK)
Heat 16: Dustin Barca (HAW) vs. Drew Courtney (AUS)
RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. TBA
Heat 2: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. TBA
Heat 3: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 4: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 5: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. TBA
Heat 6: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. TBA
Heat 7: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 8: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 9: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. TBA
Heat 10: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. TBA
Heat 11: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 12: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. TBA
Heat 13: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 14: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) vs. TBA
Heat 15: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. TBA
Heat 16: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. TBA
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Round: Eight heats of Round 1 (New Format, sudden-death style)
Conditions: 2-3 foot wedgey breakwall rights, losing all power on the lower tide before briefly turning into 4-5 foot wedgey rights for Marlon Lipke’s heat.
Best heat: Lipke vs. Bourez. It would have been Owen vs. Kekoa, but those boys didn’t get the waves. Lipke did, and he lit them up. He’s an adopted Portugeezer, and gave the crowd plenty to cheer for after their man Tiago went down.
Who’s laughing: Marlon; Ben Dunn for beating Phil Macca right on the buzzer; Kai Otton for getting his first round out of the way against vastly outclassed local wildcard David Luis; and Owen Wright. Though all of ‘em have bigger fish to fry.
Who’s hurting: Tiago. Gotta feel for the guy. You’ll always feel hard done by when you surf the last heat before they put the comp on hold due to conditions, but he had the entire country pulling for him on live TV.
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