The waiting period for the Rip Curl Pro Portugal begins tomorrow. Photo: Jose Pinto
The event window for the 2016 Meo Rip Curl Pro Portugal commences on Tuesday, October 18th and runs through Saturday, October 29th.
Since its Championship Tour inception as a Rip Curl Search event in 2009, the heavy barreling beach break known as Supertubos has delivered plenty of exciting and dramatic CT moments as the event’s primary venue. Backup venues this year include Molhe Leste, the Belgas beach break area, and Nazaré.
Defending event champion Filipe Toledo (current World #7), and last year’s event runner-up Italo Ferreira (current World #12) have both yet to reach a CT final since their match up last year in Peniche, so both surfers will be highly inspired to return to the podium in Portugal.
Local wildcards played a major role in last year’s event as Portugal’s Vasco Ribeiro and Frederico Morais, on their way to solid Semi Final and Quarter Final finishes respectively, eliminated CT standouts Adriano de Souza, Mick Fanning, Michel Bourez, and Jeremy Flores.
John John Florence maintains the Jeep Leaderboard yellow jersey, with a narrowing 2,700 point lead over world #2 Gabriel Medina. World Title chase watch will be in full effect as the CT’s top two surfers put everything on the line at the tour’s second-to-last stop of the season.
Former Event Champions:
2015 Filipe Toledo, 2014 Mick Fanning, 2013 Kai Otton, 2012 Julian Wilson, 2011 Adriano de Souza, 2010 Kelly Slater, 2009 Mick Fanning
Round 1 Heat Draw
Heat 1: Julian Wilson, Nat Young, Kai Otton
Heat 2: Kolohe Andino, Keanu Asing, Alex Ribeiro
Heat 3: Jordy Smith, Kanoa Igarashi, Jeremy Flores
Heat 4: Matt Wilkinson, Miguel Pupo, Ryan Callinan
Heat 5: Gabriel Medina, Conner Coffin, Federico Morais
Heat 6: John John Florence, Jadson Andre, Miguel Blanco
Heat 7: Filipe Toledo, Wiggolly Dantas, Adam Melling
Heat 8: Kelly Slater, Stuart Kennedy, Matt Banting
Heat 9: Adrian Buchan, Josh Kerr, Alejo Muniz
Heat 10: Adriano de Souza, Caio Ibelli, Jack Freestone
Heat 11: Joel Parkinson, Michel Bourez, Davey Cathels
Heat 12: Italo Ferreira, Sebastian Zietz, Dusty Payne
Surfline’s Official Event Forecast:
Brief Overview: SW/WSW swell will fade on Tuesday as new, long period W swell from Hurricane Nicole begins to filter in. W swell offers fun surf for the middle and second half of the week with generally light winds and favorable conditions. An active North Atlantic provides the potential for stronger NW/WNW windswell/swell for the weekend and into the early/middle part of next week but local winds and conditions look unfavorable for Supertubos at this point.
Watch the event live on Worldsurfleague.com
