Mick Campbell is one fiery fire-crotch. The 'gingah ninja', as his fellow aussies call him, narrowly lost his round 1 heat to wildcard Bruno Santos in 3-4 foot lefts this morning. He promptly snapped his board in half and stormed off the beach. Its nice to see some fire and passion out of these guys. Mick does have a reputation for a short temper, famously getting into a post-heat shower-fight with Hawaiian Andy Irons a couple seasons back. As it turned out, Micks temper tantrum proved to be far more exciting than much of the waves for the event thus far. Bad winds at Supertubos forced contest director Damien Hardman to move the event around the corner today to a mushy peak called Lagido. It wasnt super and it wasnt exactly tubing, but it was clean, and it was rideable, and after a painful Mundaka contest, the tour has definately become that guy at the bar at last call. Desperation has set in, standards have been dropped, we will take anything at this point...
Next call on competition will be made at 8am local time.

REMAINING RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 9: Dean Morrison (AUS) 12.50 def. Justin Mujica (PRT) 10.34
Heat 10: Bruno Santos (BRA) 14.67 def. Mick Campbell (AUS) 12.76
Heat 11: Michael Picon (FRA) 13.16 def. Chris Ward (USA) 8.73
Heat 12: Roy Powers (HAW) 14.17 def. Dayyan Neve (AUS) 11.00
Heat 13: Tim Reyes (USA) 12.00 def. Jay Thompson (AUS) 10.87
Heat 14: Nic Muscroft (AUS) 13.66 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 6.00
Heat 15: Greg Emslie (ZAF) 15.67 def. Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 11.40
Heat 16: Drew Courtney (AUS) 17.17 def. Dustin Barca (HAW) 16.70

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Nathaniel Curran (USA)
Heat 2: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Roy Powers (HAW)
Heat 3: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. Heitor Alves (BRA)
Heat 4: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Marlon Lipke (DEU)
Heat 5: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. Nic Muscroft (AUS)
Heat 6: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Drew Courtney (AUS)
Heat 7: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)
Heat 8: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Bruno Santos (BRA)
Heat 9: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Owen Wright (AUS)
Heat 10: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. Dean Morrison (AUS)
Heat 11: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Michael Picon (FRA)
Heat 12: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Greg Emslie (ZAF)
Heat 13: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 14: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) vs. Ben Dunn (AUS)
Heat 15: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Jihad Khodr (BRA)
Heat 16: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. Tim Reyes (USA)

Australian Owen Wright won his Round One heat today at the Rip Curl Pro Search in Portugal. The tall, lanky 19-year-old goofyfooter is unquestionably the biggest threat of the wild cards on hand. The guy has just completed one of the most dominating seasons in history Down Under, going undefeated in every Pro Junior event he surfed. Meanwhile, he became one of the first surfers on the WQS to clinch a spot on next year's Dream Tour.

Now it looks like Wright will be surfing against Kelly Slater in Round Two, which is one hell of a tough draw for both surfers. Every heat at this point is a last gasp for Kelly's dwindling title hopes this year. Slater's just coming off a close call in Spain that had him seething with the judges. His Europe trip hasn't been going well, which means he could be ready to roll over (doubtful) or he's due on a red-faced-with-rage breakout (probable).

Yesterday, Wright sent his Rip Curl buddy Kekoa Bacalso packing for the North Shore, so, even if he were to get past Kelly there's little evidence he'd roll over for a guy like Mick Fanning, who he could easily run into next.

Wright has already earned his spot on next year's Dream Tour. His surfing is dynamic. He flares above the lip with a full arsenal of acrobatic moves, and he leverages his ultra-long legs well while in the pocket, going inverted in the blink of an eye. Style-wise, he's been known to get on his horse, but then again, so do guys like Dane Reynolds and Jordy Smith. Which, begs a couple other questions...What's up with all the frickin tall guys? And where have all the midgets gone?

With ten surfers mathematically in the title hunt, we know things are going to get interesting this weekend at the Rip Curl Pro. By Saturday that number is likely to fall to five guys. It's hard for me to not be pulling for Kelly at this stage. But I won't be the least bit surprised to see Mr. Wright play a huge role in the destruction to come. Stay tuned.

In what seemed like some sort of cruel joke, the biggest swell of the decade hit Portugal's Supertubos for the Rip Curl Search Event, and after 3 lay days the contest got underway in 2-3 foot dribblers. The storm that generated this massive swell lashed the coastline, bringing howling winds again today to Portugal's famed beachbreak, which is normally known for its world class tubes. The size of swell and conditions forced contest director Damian Hardman to move to the wind and swell sheltered spot down the beach known as "the Wall". Instead of hair-raising pits, the first round was greeted with inconsistent mushy rights against the jetty. Only 8 heats were run with a 3 hour break in the middle because of inconsistent conditions. I would hesitate to call them 'upsets', but there were definately some suprise results on the day. Brazilian Jihad Khodr continued his relative "roll" by beating France's Tim Boal in heat 1. South African Davey Weare was another victim of the Brazilian claims, losing in a wave starved heat to Heitor Alves. Nate Curran shocked the Portuguese fans by taking out their national hero and only wct surfer, Tiago Pires in heat 3. Chris Davidson is fresh off his best career result, a 2nd at Mundaka, but came up short against California's Pat Gudauskas, an event wildcard. Owen Wright is another Wildcard to get a great start, beating an in-form Hawaiin, Kekoa Bacalso. Both Wright and Gudauskas have been on top of the World Qualifying Series this season, and will be on the WCT next year, so making heats as wildcards this year will do well for their confidence. Contest directors are expecting the swell and wind to ease over the coming days, and will attempt to get the contest going again tomorrow morning at 8 am local time.

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Jihad Khodr (BRA) 13.10 def. Tim Boal (FRA) 10.84
Heat 2: Heitor Alves (BRA) 8.50 def. David Weare (ZAF) 4.10
Heat 3: Nathaniel Curran (USA) 11.00 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 9.67
Heat 4: Ben Dunn (AUS) 12.33 def. Phillip MacDonald (AUS) 11.67
Heat 5: Marlon Lipke (DEU) 14.66 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 10.77
Heat 6: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 11.84 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 10.17
Heat 7: Owen Wright (AUS) 12.03 def. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 8.76
Heat 8: Kai Otton (AUS) 9.90 def. David Luis (PRT) 5.90

REMAINING RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 9: Dean Morrison (AUS) vs. Justin Mujica (PRT)
Heat 10: Mick Campbell (AUS) vs. Bruno Santos (BRA)
Heat 11: Chris Ward (USA) vs. Michael Picon (FRA)
Heat 12: Roy Powers (HAW) vs. Dayyan Neve (AUS)
Heat 13: Tim Reyes (USA) vs. Jay Thompson (AUS)
Heat 14: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Nic Muscroft (AUS)
Heat 15: Greg Emslie (ZAF) vs. Aritz Aranburu (EUK)
Heat 16: Dustin Barca (HAW) vs. Drew Courtney (AUS)

Peniche Portugal is a beautiful place, to be sure, but things just got ugly there as a massive storm forced contest officials of the Rip Curl Search to head for the hills as an enormous swell destroyed the main tower at Supertubos.

"We
really wanted to run today, but the site structure at Supertubos is too
badly damaged today and the conditions at Lagido never materialized,"
Damien Hardman, Rip Curl Pro Search Contest Director, said. "We're
still seeing plenty of swell on the forecast and better weather."

Hardman has also decided to go with the new one-and-done format for this event, leaving no wiggle room for mistakes. Word on the street is Joel Parkinson is still being bothered by the ankle injury. Luke Egan has reportedly been telling reporters that Joel reinjured it during his heat at Mundaka.

Meanwhile, Mick Fanning, the new ratings leader, is as hungry as ever. While most of the touring pros remained in hiding, Fanning and his buddy Taylor Knox stepped up to provide some entertainment for the small crowd on hand by towing into a few bombs.

The Rip Curl Pro Search will be webcast LIVE via http://live.ripcurl.com

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS:

Heat 1: Tim Boal (FRA) vs. Jihad Khodr (BRA)

Heat 2: Heitor Alves (BRA) vs. David Weare (ZAF)

Heat 3: Tiago Pires (PRT) vs. Nathaniel Curran (USA)

Heat 4: Ben Dunn (AUS) vs. Phillip MacDonald (AUS)

Heat 5: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. Marlon Lipke (DEU)

Heat 6: Chris Davidson (AUS) vs. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)

Heat 7: Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) vs. Owen Wright (AUS)

Heat 8: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. David Luis (PRT)

Heat 9: Dean Morrison (AUS) vs. Justin Mujica (PRT)

Heat 10: Mick Campbell (AUS) vs. Bruno Santos (BRA)

Heat 11: Chris Ward (USA) vs. Michael Picon (FRA)

Heat 12: Roy Powers (HAW) vs. Dayyan Neve (AUS)

Heat 13: Tim Reyes (USA) vs. Jay Thompson (AUS)

Heat 14: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Nic Muscroft (AUS)

Heat 15: Greg Emslie (ZAF) vs. Aritz Aranburu (EUK)

Heat 16: Dustin Barca (HAW) vs. Drew Courtney (AUS)

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:

Heat 1: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. TBA

Heat 2: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. TBA

Heat 3: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. TBA

Heat 4: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. TBA

Heat 5: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. TBA

Heat 6: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. TBA

Heat 7: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. TBA

Heat 8: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. TBA

Heat 9: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. TBA

Heat 10: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. TBA

Heat 11: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. TBA

Heat 12: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. TBA

Heat 13: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. TBA

Heat 14: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) vs. TBA

Heat 15: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. TBA

Heat 16: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. TBA

Joel Parkinson got a good look at Mick Fanning passing him in the ratings today. The two were in the water at the exact same time as Billabong Pro contest director Mike Parsons was forced to go with Kelly Slater's double-heat format in order to salvage what's left of the waiting period at Mundaka. Mick and Joel were surfing their heats simultaneously in the crumbly afternoon conditions.

Parko was surfing against Australian Drew Courtney during his first heat of the competition, and the crumbly beachbreak surf was clearly torture on his sore ankle. Parko has been nursing the injury since the mid-season break in the tour, and while he was trying to downplay its impact at the Hurley and Quiksilver Pro events, where he lost early, there's no question it's hampering him. While Joel is putting his board in all the right places there's been a lack of authority in his moves. His inability to put any real force on his bad ankle is a giant crack in his surfing foundation.

Such problems are usually magnified in smaller, crumbly surf, which is what Parko's been dealing with at each event since the second half of the season began. Just a little over a month ago Parko was holding what looked like an insurmountable ratings lead. But after his third straight early loss in a row Parko has handed over the lead to his old buddy Mick Fanning, who's been on a tear in the second half.

Fanning's solid surfing wasn't translating into results early in the season, but all the hard work seems to be paying off now. It's worth noting that Fanning won his world title in 2007 during a season that was rife with small, mushy surf. His speedy, laser sharp approach is paying dividends.

Fanning beat South African David Weare today to advance on to Round Three of the Billabong Pro. If his luck turns and he loses in the next round, there's still an outside chance for guys like C.J. Hobgood and Kelly Slater to claw their way back into the hunt for a world title.

Don't count on Fanning to falter here though. Mick's the type who, when smelling blood, can capitalize. He's also one of the only surfers out there right now who can rattle Kelly Slater, as he did at Lower Trestles during the Hurley Pro.