Further Proof That Team Comps Are Just More Fun 

Say you want to have an event at your wave pool this summer. 

Invite some good surfers. Gather a crowd. Get a bit of music going. Lean into the spirit of summer. Sounds good on paper, yeah? Only, there’s a catch: The pool is running at damn near full capacity, and shutting it down for the day is gonna bleed you nearly six figures. 

Suddenly, not so nice on paper. 

Such is the dilemma o2 SURFTOWN MUC recently faced. But they were not to be easily defeated. 

Until their Senior Surf Marketing Manager, and German Surf HOFer, Quirin Rohleder and the rest of the SURFTOWN marketing crew cracked the code. They cooked up a new format for a surf event that pitted nations(ish) against each other— and it only took four hours of pool time to run. Rip Curl signed up to give it a crack with them, and it was off to the races.

It was appealing enough to rope Miguel Blanco into his first-ever session in a pool. 

“Man, it was so much fun,” he told us. “In the ocean, it’s just you and whoever you’re surfing against out there. In the pool, you’re like three feet away from a wall full of people yelling and cheering. It was also cool not just depending on yourself, like every other surf competition. It’s pretty much the funnest wave you can surf. It’s the perfect size, and so rippable. And even on the turn wave, you still get a ramp at the end.” 

Here’s how it worked. 

There were eight teams: Germany, Spain, France, Scandinavia, Portugal, Italy, International, and the UK/Ireland (see what we mean by ish?). Two guys, two gals apiece. 

Each team had to choose one member to surf each of these settings: advanced turns, expert turns, single air, double air. Turn wave one, turn wave two, air wave one, air wave two. And if a team put a girl on an air section, their score would be worth 1.5x. 

Each surfer would get only one left and one right on their setting, and each team kept four scores: Best turn on a left, best turn on a right, best air on a left, best air on a right. Can you feel the heat? 

“I liked that you only had one chance per round,” said Gony Zubizarreta. “You know you’re going to get your wave. If you fall, it’s your fault. It was interesting seeing how people would handle the pressure. Hugo and Carla were landing everything, thankfully. The Italians were going nuts, too. Even the Scandinavian team was surfing well.” 

Three teams made it to the semis. The rest had a shootout, where they were given two turn waves and two air waves to divy up. One of each counted, and earned the winning team a spot in the semis. 

In the semis and final, it went back to Round 1’s format, but with only the expert turn setting and the double air setting. 

Speaking of airs, one of the best in the world at doing them was there — Dane Henry. 

“Rip Curl sent me over to Europe for some of the ‘Dunno’ premieres. I was on the International team with Sean Gunning from Spain, Ainara Aymat from Spain, and Maya Sauer from Germany. It was my first time in Munich, which was cool. I haven’t been to Waco, but I think that was the best air section I’ve seen in a pool. The vibe actually felt similar to Stab High — everyone was hanging out and supporting each other.” 

So, who won? 

Despite Gony’s kind words about his northern neighbors, the Spanish team (Gony, Hugo Ortega, Lucia Machado, Carla Morera de la Vall) got it done in the end. Shoutout to the Italian underdogs — Diana Giorgi, Chiara Cuppone, Matteo Calatri, Leonardo Apreda — as well. Their boards didn’t show up, and they were still able to make the Finals on rental boards. 

But, by all accounts, the event was more fun than anything. 

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“Honestly, I had no idea if this format would even work,” Quirin told us. “Now I think we’ll have to bring it back.” 

Fair enough. 

Rip Curl and Volkswagen Commercial vehicles on as partners, and off they went.