EuroSurf Day 3
The third day of EuroSurf was generously fuelled by consistent, powerful waves, which Santa Cruz beach transformed into short, hollow sections that the athletes, regulars on the European circuit, were able to use to show off their surfing skills to the large crowd.
The organisers decided to activate the second podium so that the men's and women's heats could start at the same time.
With waves of 1.5m to 1.8m in the series, just like the previous day without wind, and plenty of sunshine, it was everything the Ocean Spirit festival needed to turn into a performance arena.
However, the falling tide forced the organisers to revert to a single podium, postponing the return of the longboarders to the waves of Eurosurf until Tuesday.
In the women's competition, the top seeds confirmed their status as favourites and progressed through the rounds without any problems. The Spanish, German, Portuguese and British riders are all through, sharing the top two places in each of the Round 2 heats. Special mention goes to the Portuguese riders Dinis and Salgado, who achieved the best total over two waves in this round.
The repechages were complicated, as the falling tide suddenly transformed the waves of podium 2 into powerful breakers requiring extreme commitment and significant risk-taking, which proved too much for several athletes.
Unfortunately, the teams began to lose their first members at the end of the first two repechage rounds, and the race for the team title is starting to get interesting.
In the men's competition, there were some fierce exchanges in rounds 1 and 2, which followed close on each other.
This time, special mention goes to Ireland's Gearoid Mc Daid, who, in the second round, split the wave in two with a powerful and committed backside turn to earn the highest score of the competition so far, 8.83 points.
Another afternoon performer was Guilherme Ribeiro of Portugal, who fired up his team on the beach with the best total score of the competition over two waves, scoring 15.70 points out of a maximum of 20.
The team title race sees four teams with all their athletes still in contention: Portugal, Spain, England and Italy.
Tomorrow, the swell is expected to remain steady for the third round for both the boys and girls, followed by the rest of the girls' repechages and the start of the boys' repechages.
What’s next?
Tomorrow will feature a single podium format.
shortboard round 3 men & women, reperchage 1&2 for men and reperchage 3 women.
Men’s 2
Women’s reperchage 3
Competition resumes at 9:15 am on Santa Cruz Beach !
Get ready for another exciting day of European Surfing !
