Copacabana's own Matt 'Wilko' Wilkinson won the Saquarema Prime in a final against fellow countryman and defending event champion Kai Otton. The competition, held at the lefthand point of Itauna Beach, enjoyed great waves throughout the event, including a picturesque finals day with sunny skies and head high sets.

Despite finishing second, Kai Otton has managed to stamp his name onto the event trophy for the second consecutive year, an impressive feat considering the young talent fighting for Prime points these days.

Wilko's path to the final meant he had to get through the event's standout performer Gabriel Medina. Up until the semis Gabe had enjoyed a magic run of last second comebacks over Ciao Ibelli, Brian Toth and Jonathan Gonzalez. His luck would run out against Wilko, who easily dominated their semifinal matchup.

The win comes at a great time for Wilko, as his three results thus far this year on the World Tour-- two 13ths and a 25th--had him sitting just outside of the top 22 spots and qualification for next year.

Final Heat Scores:
1) 18.43 Matt Wilkinson
2) 8.63 Kai Otton

Is there another family in the action sports world who've had as big of an impact on the board riding community as the Fletchers?

The Currens? The Hos? The Keaulanas? The Malloys?

I've never seen Chris Malloy skate, but I doubt he's got moves like Christian. Naysayers might posit that the Fletcher family's collective talent for board sports is rivaled only by their inherent ability to self-promote. But it would be foolish to write them off as strictly slick marketeers looking to hawk a product.

One could argue that there have been others who have had a bigger effect on the business side of the industry. The O'Neill's, The Burtons, The Hawks, The Alters, The Warbricks, just to name a few.

But I'm talking at a performance level--the progression of the act of board riding.

If you examine their pedigree you'll clearly find they've earned their position as board sport royalty:

Papa Herbie is a longboard pioneer who may have invented both deck traction and tow-in surfing. Mama Dibi comes from the legendary Hoffman clan.

Christian took pro-level vert skating skills and applied them to surfing, challenged conventional wisdom and helped usher in the aerial revolution. Nathan--who walked away with nearly all the big XXL awards a couple weeks ago--may be the best crossover talent (surf/skate/snow/moto) our world has ever seen. Christian's son, Greyson, is a skate prodigy.

That's four generations of board sport excellence and a helluva arguement for DNA and genetics as predetermination in the nature vs. nurture debate.

Here is a mini-documentary about The Fletchers from FUEL TV:

Our comrades over at Surfer magazine have from time to time enlisted the teaching skills of a certain 11-time world champion to give the average bro or brah a glimpse into what it takes to surf like him. I doubt there's a surfer in existence today who wouldn't make a deal with the devil to surf like Slater, but in all likelihood this is about as close as you're gonna get. These tutorial features have been sprinkled into the publication over the past couple years, and now, for the first time, Surfer has collected and published them digitally for your convenience. Check it out here.

Unless you fancy long walks to the nose and First Point Malibu, odds are you aren't excited by one-foot waves. However, if you can find a way to take that one-foot wave and wedge it into another one-foot wave, voila! You've got yourself the equivalent of an aquatic mini-ramp.

Case in point, this recent session with SaltyBeards' Nick Rozsa and filmer Chris Papaleo. Discovery of this fun little wedge and light winds turned into an all-day skate session for Nick.

With three days of competition done and dusted in unexpectedly good conditions this week in Saquarema, Brazil, only 16 surfers remain from the 96-man field. A dying swell provided much more action than expected, allowing for a full day of heats today.

There were standout performances by many of the remaining surfers, including Kolohe Andino, who posted another heat win over Nat Young and Jean de Silva in the three-man no-loser round.

Fellow Tour rookie Gabriel Medina is also still in the draw, though his road has been considerably bumpier. Gabriel has faced Canary Island surfer Jonathan Gonzalez twice in this event now, once in Round 1, and again in the no-losers round, and has finished in second place both times. He will now have to get past Gonzalez in the man-on-man heat in order to book himself into the quarterfinals.

With the swell having faded for now, expect the event to resume on Sunday in Saquarema.



UPCOMING QUIKSILVER SAQUAREMA PRIME ROUND OF 16 HEATS:
Heat 1: Hizunome Bettero (BRA) vs Sebastien Zietz (HAW)
Heat 2: Kai Otton (AUS) vs Perth Standlick (AUS)
Heat 3: Kolohe Andino (USA) vs Jean da Silva (BRA)
Heat 4: Alex Ribeiro (BRA) vs Romain Cloitre (FRA)
Heat 5: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) vs Willian Cardoso (BRA)
Heat 6: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs Jonathan Gonzalez (CNY)
Heat 7: Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) vs Keanu Asing (HAW)
Heat 8: Nathan Yeomans (USA) vs Filipe Toledo (BRA)