After three lay days and two days of small surf, the WSL and its fans found a bit of luck as the famous Portuguese beach break turned on and started cranking out head high surf.
WSL Deputy Commissioner Travis Logie took advantage of the surprisingly good conditions, calling for three rounds of competition to run and holding a total of 19 heats into the dark of night.
A full day of surfing was matched with a full day of highlights. At the end of the day, Gabriel Medina now has the best chance at the top spot and Kolohe Andino won the Portuguese Wave Series, while also earning his first ten point ride.
Current World No. 3 and 4 Owen Wright and Julian Wilson are both probably back home in Australia by now, still licking their wounds after losing in lackluster surf the day before. It couldn’t have been any better, as they watched world number one and two, Mick Fanning and Adriano de Souza, lose their round three match-ups against the local wildcards Frederico Morais and Vasco Ribeiro in the conditions they had both begged for.
In the sixth heat of round three, Mick Fanning was the first of the top 10 still in it to bow out. Frederico Morais opened with a 9.13 and Fanning never saw the lead after that. An uncharacteristic lost for the 3-time World Champ.
Adriano De Souza put up a good fight against Vasco Ribeiro, holding the lead for the first half of heat seven. But with 12 minutes left on the clock, Ribeiro found an 8.43. De Souza would stand up on six more waves, but couldn’t find an excellent score to match, leaving him packing his bags for Hawaii right behind Fanning.
World No. 5 Gabriel Medina now has a chance to take the lead and head to Hawaii wearing the yellow jersey. His win in the last heat of Round 3 against wildcard Caio Ibelli was nerve-racking, to say the least. Just after the five minute warning, Ibelli dropped into the biggest and best barrel of the day earning a 9.77 and turning the heat, leaving Medina up against the ropes.
As the clock counted down past a minute and a half, Medina stood up for one last wave. Headed down the line on his backside, he found a ramp and launched a huge full rotation air into the flats and stomped it, throwing his hands high and heading into the beach. The score wouldn’t drop until after the buzzer. Needing a 7.71, Medina scored a 9.50 and kept his chances at another World Title alive.
Fellow Brazilian and current world number six, Filipe Toledo wanted everybody to know he was still a contender as well by dominating his round three heat against Mason Ho and then winning his Round 4 heat at the end of the day with two nines (9.23 and 9.77) and a total of 19.00.
If Toledo were to win this event, he would move into second on the rankings with a much better chance at the Title going into Pipe, as we all know the aerial specialist is never a favorite in heavy surf.
Toledo earned his 19.00 within the first five minutes of the round four match-up with Kolohe Andino and Brett Simpson. It set the pace for what would become another Heat of the Year contender. Andino and Simpson both found eight point rides in the first half, with Simpson earning an 8.60 and taking the second spot over Andino’s 8.00. Simpson would pull into a sick backside pit 20 minutes into the heat to find his second excellent score, an 8.97. This left Andino looking for something big just to keep himself in the heat with the other two.
With six minutes left on the clock, Andino dropped into a bigger and better barrel than the one that earned him eight points on his first ride. When he came out from behind the curtain, he adjusted for a tight bottom turn straight up to lip for an air reverse right back into the pocket.
The judges rewarded him with his first ten point ride of his WCT career. He broke the combo but still lost to Toledo as the horn sounded.
But that wouldn’t matter, because not only did he earn a perfect ten for an epic barrel to reverse combo, but he was also announced winner of the Portuguese Wave Series after Caio Ibelli was defeated by Medina the heat before.
Frederico Morais would continue his dominance in the last heat of the day, earning another 9.13 and his spot in the Quarterfinals with just a 0.46 lead over Nat Young, who will join Brett Simpson and Kolohe Andino in Round 5 with Joel Parkinson.
