Hossegor’s Best Day In Years, Backstage At Red Bull Airborne, And PUKAS’ Rise From The Ashes—”No Contest” Hits The Old World

Well, isn’t Europe just an embarrassment of riches. 

For this episode of No Contest, our series with Red Bull, we join the Wold Tour as it takes over Hossegor during the Quik Pro and Josh Kerr and the WSL’s inaugural Red Bull Airborne event. Then we road trip south through the Basque Country and Spain, to Portugal’s craggy reefs, shifting sandbars, and thriving Old World charm. 

In France, Victoria Vergara walks the streets of downtown Hossegor with us, where during the event you can’t help but run into anyone and everyone milling about—drinking wine on the terrace at Cafe de Paris; waiting for a hot stone and a filet at Le Touring; standing in line for an almond milk flat white and avocado toast at Waxed (or, god forbid, giving themselves over the the local flavor, with a fresh croissant and espresso and La Boulangerie in Estagnots); grabbing a chicken karage or poke bowl and rapping about the sandbars with Sushi Phil and the Louvine crew; shucking moules and smashing frites at Chez Minus; or closing it down at La Centrale’s favorite all-night social hour at Coolin. 

We go backstage at Red Bull Airborne to get the full story on #StepOffGate, Jack Freestone’s easy entry in front of a visibly annoyed Griffin Colapinto, see the finalists learn they’ll be officially on the tour next year, and crown Yago Dora the first champ.  

And while the Quik Pro was running just a stone’s throw from La Grav, the fabled sandbar saw what many a local, including Leo Fioravanti, are calling the best day in years.

From there we head to Spain, to see how the PUKAS crew and the Letamendia’s are rising from the ashes of the largest fire in surfboard manufacturing history, not skipping beat building the best boards in Europe, handling manufacturing on the Old Continent for …Lost, Channel Islands, Bob McTavish, Chris Christenson, Son of Cobra, Eye Symmetry, and a host of visiting world class shapers and designers, continuing their forty year tradition of “Surfboards and Bikinis” in the Basque Country. 

From there we stow away for a cannonball run with Wilko through Spain, and into Portugal for the last stem of the European leg. 

Secret Portuguese resident since 2016, Kanoa Igarashi, breaks down the local flavor, with his take on the surf Mecca that is the Lisbon – Cascais – Ericeira -Peniche – Nazare zone, and explains one of Lisbon’s most famous signature sweets, the venerable pastel del nata, which as Kanoa notes, translates literally to “Egg Custard” which, trust us, isn’t eggy at all…

Closing the episode, the world’s best set loose upon the shifting sandbars of Peniche and Supertubos, with more than a few plump sardines getting picked off. 

This is No Contest Europe.