Photo: @CRASHGRAFIA
Is it just me or does it feel like Supertubos is absolutely firing just before every Rip Curl Pro Portugal? I’m not going off of hard data or historical records here, just a brief mental recall of the buildup to each event since the Championship Tour shifted from a Euro leg (Portugal and France) in the fall months to a single late-winter event in March.
There are waves aplenty in Portugal this time of year but even when the WSL is in town, it feels like the best of them find a way to sit just outside the competition window, even during years when the Portugal event gets a day or two of great conditions.
Welp, add this year to another instance where Supertubos blew up before the opening round. By this point, most of the CT roster has been in Peniche getting their warm-ups in for a while. With a decent gap between the Surf Abu Dhabi Pro and Portugal, there are athletes who opted to go home and regroup and there are some who may have just flown straight to Lisbon, made the drive to Peniche, and have been getting their fill of barrels ever since. Either way, this week was a good time to be in town.
According to Pedro Rodrigues, a filmmaker based in Peniche, João Chianca was the first A-list talent to suit up and get his reps in this week and it paid off in the form of a solid score. Rodrigues also caught plenty of highlights from a slew of Portuguese tube-hounds as well, including Pedro Boonman, João Mendonça, and others, with even a Dane Reynolds cameo.
And for the record, the forecast for Supertubos during this year’s event looks good too, at least to kick off the contest.
