The shifty sandbars of Peniche, Portugal, offered up some fun surf in the 4 foot range this morning, but just as the contest was set to run Round 3, a heavy fog rolled in and put a stop to that. Luckily, Round 2 was finished up yesterday at the backup venue of Belgas, with clean 4-5 foot peeling lefts for the final 3 heats. Contest organizers are expecting some solid surf on the horizon, hoping to get underway at the primary venue of Supertubos tomorrow, with Jordy Smith taking on CJ Hobgood in heat 1. Its looking like we may finally get to see Supertubos live up to its name. Fingers crossed...

REMAINING RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 14: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 15.17 def. Ben Dunn (AUS) 8.83
Heat 15: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.00 def. Jihad Khodr (BRA) 10.07
Heat 16: Tim Reyes (USA) 13.06 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 9.50

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Jordy Smith (ZAF)
Heat 2: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. Bede Durbidge (AUS)
Heat 3: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. Drew Courtney (AUS)
Heat 4: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Joel Parkinson (AUS)
Heat 5: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Dane Reynolds (USA)
Heat 6: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Damien Hobgood (USA)
Heat 7: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)
Heat 8: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Tim Reyes (USA)

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)

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)

(Click above image to see more of Damian's work)

DAMIAN X FULTON
Southern California. Home of the Beach Boys, Malibu, Gidget, the Endless Summer, blondes with large breasts and small bikinis. The California Dream has been xeroxed into our brains for years by music, TV, and movies. Now once you turn off the television, and actually see it for yourself, the reality just might ruin the dream. Artist Damian Fulton has grown up in this contradiction, and it shows in his paintings.

Damian Grew up 10 miles inland of the beaches of Orange County, in Southern California. Surf City USA was off beckoning in the distance, and for Damian, his Schwinn Stingray was the only way to get there. As a result, he developed a very different vision of beach culture in Southern California, a vision which would be shared when he took up painting. Damian attended college at Cal State Fullerton, painting vans, murals, and even self-publishing an art magazine. His paintings and cartoons could be seen on surf contest posters, and in publications such as Surfer and BMX Plus Magazine. Damian has gone on to a career in advertising and directing, but still finds time to paint.

visit damianfulton.com for more of Damian's work

The grand finale. The money shot. The icing on the cake. Here it is..




and here's the credits...