A surf contest dedicated entirely to tubes, reserved for the best barrel riders on the planet, and only running when the ocean delivers, you guessed it, picture-perfect cylinders. That’s the simplest way to describe the vision of Capitulo Perfeito, and over the past decade-plus, it has grown from a small local contest in Portugal to one the most unique and entertaining in the whole world.
With the COVID-19 pandemic interrupting the contest’s annual run in 2020 and 2021, Capitulo Perfeito is finally celebrating its run of ten contests. That’s a milestone for a grassroots event that’s grown to attract world-class talent. Most of those 10 contests were run in absolutely mind-blowing conditions at waves like Supertubos and Carcavellos — competitors waiting for the call and then diving into a 72-hour scramble to arrive on site for the big day. As somebody who’s had the fortune of watching this contest in person, I can tell you that 72-hour call and red-eye flights are both a massive challenge as well as a major contributor to the anticipation. There’s anxiety, there’s a lingering “what if” in the air until the sun finally comes up and you see that the ocean delivered exactly as you’d hoped.
As you’d guess, 10 years of running contests on the best day of each winter has produced some incredible imagery. To commemorate that, Capitulo Perfeito has compiled some of its best photos through the years. Here’s a small collection — proof that organizers are only making the call when the waves are truly “all-time.”
