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)