Adriano De Souza wins the Rip Curl Pro, Portugal

They came, they saw, they surfed. Three days is all it took for the Rip Curl Pro, Portugal to run, and every one of those days delivered green barrels and drama. Usually there’s a fistful of dud heats at any given event, but not so at Supertubos. Brazilian Adriano De Souza won the event over Kelly Slater. Though the final was low-scoring in the shadow of some earlier heats, Ads clocked a 9 for his first wave, which’d ultimately be his golden key.

“Kelly has been my hero since I ever heard about surfing,” Adriano said. “He is a living legend and to be competing against him at this level is more than a dream come true. He has pushed me more than any other surfer and I owe him a lot.”

Kelly, one step closer to another world title with the second-place finish, only needs to finish ninth or better at San Fran (v. likely) to seal the deal. “It’s been an amazing event,” said Kelly. “I can’t remember a time when we’ve had so many 9s and high 8s and we’ve all just got barrelled off our heads for three days straight. It’s been pretty amazing. Unfortunately, there was really only that one good one in the Final and I made a priority mistake and let Adriano have it. It’s obviously a good result for me and it makes things harder on everyone else. Let’s hope for good conditions in San Francisco.”

Taj Burrow was on-form all event but Kelly did what Kelly does and nailed a 10 to beat the West-Australian in their semi. “What do you say after that?” said Taj. “It was another one of those situations where we were both getting good waves. I broke my board and was paddling out when he dropped in on that left – first left of the heat – and I knew it was a 10 straight away. I’m still a bit blown away. It’s been an amazing event though. Some of the best waves I’ve ever surfed.”

And probably some of the best waves a lot of the 34 have surfed in a WT event. Will San Francisco deliver, too? We’ll see on November 1st.

Adriano, number one today. Photo: ASP/Kirstin

The afternoon glow and the glory of victory. Photo: ASP/Cestari

Adriano beat Kelly Slater, Bede Durbdige and Michel Bourez to win. Photo: ASP/Cestari

Kelly looked unstoppable on finals day. But, ultimately, not in the final. Photo: ASP/Kirstin

Taj Burrow, after winning round five against Julian Wilson and Damo Hobgood, then beat Jules again in the quartz before falling to Kelly in the semis. Photo: ASP/Cestari

Bede Durbidge eliminated Joel Parko from the event, but fell to eventual-winner Adriano in the semis. Photo: ASP/Cestari

Jules was killing it all event and nearly pinched Taj after scoring a 10 in the dying moments of their quarterfinal. It just wasn’t enough. Photo: ASP/Kirstin

Heitor Alves defeat Damo Hobgood in an all-goofy round five heat, but couldn’t put it together against Kelly in the quarters. Photo: ASP/Cestari

Michel Bourez was right at home in fast, barrelling Supertubos. The Spartan lost out to Adriano in the quarters by just 0.07 points. Photo: ASP/Cestari

Joel lost to Bede by half a point in their quarterfinal. Photo: ASP/Cestari

António José Correia, the Mayor of Peniche, is the new owner of Matt Wilko’s sardine wetsuit. Photo: ASP/Cestari

Supertubos did it’s thang all day long. This is Kelly and Heitor. Photo: ASP/Kirstin

Chris Davidson lost to Jules Wilson in the lowest-scoring heat of the event. It was neither of their fault – just v. wave-starved. Photo: ASP/Cestari

Damo Hobgood was eliminated by Heitor. Photo: ASP/Cestari

Fred Patacchia, despite a combined total of 17.53, fell to Michel Bourez in round five. He then gave his board to a kid on the beach. Photo: ASP/Cestari

Johnny Florence. This kid’s gonna be dangerous in Hawaii. Some of his wave-scores throughout this event were scarily-high, as are his tube-riding skills. Photo: ASP/Cestari

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Adriano de Souza (BRA) 15.67
2 – Kelly Slater (USA) 14.73

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING SEMIFINAL RESULTS:
SF 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 19.50 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 16.87
SF 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.83 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.03

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:
QF 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.94 def. Julian Wilson (AUS) 17.50
QF 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.70 def. Heitor Alves (BRA) 7.67
QF 3: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 17.60 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 17.53
QF 4: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 17.10 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.60

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING HEAT 5 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Julian Wilson (AUS) 6.83 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 3.50
Heat 2: Heitor Alves (BRA) 15.40 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 13.74
Heat 3: Michel Bourez (PYF) 18.93 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 17.96
Heat 4: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 17.44 def. John John Florence (HAW) 17.06

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING ROUND 4 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.13, Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.70, Damien Hobgood (USA) 14.10
Heat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 19.30, Heitor Alves (BRA) 17.20, Chris Davidson (AUS) 13.40
Heat 3: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 15.30, Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 14.64, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 11.67
Heat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.00, John John Florence (HAW) 17.84, Michel Bourez (PYF) 16.10

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 9: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 11.60 def. Travis Logie (ZAF) 8.10
Heat 10: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 13.56 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 12.30
Heat 11: Michel Bourez (PYF) 16.27 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 14.54
Heat 12: John John Florence (HAW) 17.33 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 16.96

ASP WORLD TITLE TOP 5 (after Rip Curl Pro Portugal)
1. Kelly Slater (USA) 58,150 pts
2. Owen Wright (AUS) 45,650 pts
3. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 42,450 pts
4. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 41,100 pts
5. Taj Burrow (AUS) 40,950 pts