How Far Can You Push A Bootleg ’90s Quiver?

We’ve seen plenty of specialty surf comps that force competitors to revisit board designs from the past.

Surprisingly, though, not many of them seem to tap into the 1990s/y2k vibe — despite that era’s inescapability in modern surf products and marketing.

That changed this fall at the Alto Pro-Am in Ericeira, Portugal.

The event featured twenty-seven surfers (including 2007 CNJ ESA Junior Men’s World Champion Big Dick Power Surfer) and eight battered secondhand (maybe fifth-hand) boards, bought for anywhere between €30 and €180. And it was all set against the chaos of Ribeira D’Ilhas.

The rules? Roundhouses earned bonus points. Air reverses were grounds for immediate disqualification. That’s probably enough for you to fill in the blanks.

In the end, Portugal’s João Mendonça and Australia’s Sophie Fletcher took it out, winning a free week-long boat trip on the Odyssey in Indo. Although the whole thing felt more like an excuse to conduct extensive research on the taste of Super Bock and Sagres to decide which one really is Portugal’s finest beer.

Results: TBD.