Italo Ferreira can lay claim to the first 10-point ride of the 2017 men’s championship season. After boosting a massive aerial rotation, he managed to ride out of what everyone watching had written off as an impossible landing. Lakey Peterson scored a perfect 10 yesterday in her second round heat, neatly beating Silvana Lima when she followed it up with a 9 point ride.
Following a frustrating Round 1 loss to Joel Parkinson and rookie Joan Duru, the Brazilian came into his Round 2 heat against giant-slaying rookie Leonardo Fioravanti. On a roll the entire heat, Ferreira hunted out 12 waves in the 30-minute heat and by the time he caught the historic eighth wave of the heat, he already had Fioravanti in a combo situation. That was the wave that landed Ferreira the first perfect 10 of his ‘CT career.
Italo, who had already unsuccessfully attempted one air earlier in the heat, said he felt a change in the wind just before taking in the overhead sidewinder that would provide him the perfect ramp. He soared above the lip and fully rotated in the blink of an eye, his stocky frame and muscular arms making his silhouette resemble a spinning cartoon Tasmanian Devil. Air dropping back into the wave, Ferreira plunged into whitewater, at one point completely disappearing from view as if he’d missed the landing once more. Then there was a flash of a red singlet-clad shoulder, a glimpse of his black hair, and finally, the wave receded enough to reveal the third-year veteran standing tall on his board as the crowd and fans cheered.
Funnily enough, Italo still wasn’t done. Grinning from ear to ear, he hopped into a switch stance tail slide reverse to celebrate what he knew would be a massive score.
“I think it was the best for my first 10-point [ride],” Ferreira said after the heat. “I’m so happy and my board is working so good, I was just enjoying myself. Yesterday I fell on every single wave, so today I wanted to go for something big and I did it.”
“I learn so much [each year on tour]. Last year was hard for me — I got good results in Margaret’s and Bells, and after that, I lost in Round 3 in every single contest. I learned a lot. This is a new year, a new game, and I just play the game.”
