Volcom’s Totally Crustaceous Tour (TCT) – Rumblefish Surf Series, Portugal
You always get tons of fun when you attend the Volcom’s TCT Rumblefish at Praia do Amado. Oil tankers of fun actually. The 2015 Rumblefish stood to its tradition of fun, nice waves and excellent surfing. 101 kids surfed perfect 2 to 4 foot waves to pieces under a warm sun and that lovely eastern wind that turned the Ocean into a playground. We should have had a veteran’s category so the staff could surf too without the weekend crowds. Perfect left and right peaks seemed to salute the kids who well deserved Neptune’s good mood.
So many kids attended the Rumblefish, so it was pedal to the metal but everyone caught tons of waves and the judging was pretty easy although a lot of heats were really tight with small differences between winners and losers.
Early standouts at the girls division, Concha Balsemão and Yolanda Hopkins (a TCT veteran) disputed the title in a close final with Yolanda coming out on top ahead of Concha, Mafalda Lopes and Beatriz Burgos.
Squids were a class of its own; it’s always the funniest division. Those 10 and under are pure stoke, all smiles and excitement. João Mendonça, from Arrifana Beach, 25 km North of Amado and arguably one of the most beautiful beaches in Portugal beat the competition with our own Santiago “Stoke” Graça trailing just behind him, little Matias Canhoto placed third and Maria Balsemão, who beated a lot of boys of her age on her path to the final, placed fourth. Nice one Maria.
Alfonso Antunes is a regular winner at the TCT, and after last season’s World Championships in Trestles where he made it to the Squids final, he is now competing in the Groms Division. This time Martim Paulino outsurfed him to secure the first spot with Alfonso in second, Joaquim Chaves in third and Sebastião Ramirez in fourth.
Juniors. That’s where things start to get really serious and tails and rails fly all over the waves. The four finalists went nuts on the 3 feet offshore peaks but in the end the battle was between Vasco Dinis and João Moreira with Vasco taking the win for less than half a point. Could have been either way but it was a well-deserved win, Simão Teixeira took 3rd and Salvador Couto placing 4th.
The ranks of the Pro Am Division have some seasoned TCT competitors such as Tomás Alcobia and Francisco Duarte. On another well disputed final the nimble and fast surf of Frederico Magalhães made him win the coveted Rumblefish trophy, ahead of Francisco Duarte, Francisco Porta and powerhouse André Faria. Great final guys!
The prize ceremony went down with the sun setting and we believe a hundred kids left the beach stoked and ready for more. Hopefully most will show up next year for another day of fun and good vibes. See you in Tenerife for the second European stop of Volcom’s Totally Crustaceous Tour!
Thank you to the Algarve Surf Club and School people, Sergio Wu (17 TCT’s) and Zara Mata, to Leo Belime and Tomás Alcobia for all the help, the Surf Planet surf shop, Nuno Mestre (on his 16th Rumblefish attendance) of Portimão’s Secret Spot Surf Shop, Rui “Anglet” Sá, our part time Northern redneck speaker, Diogo Ferreira for keeping everyone in line and last but not the least Jam Traction for the extra prizes, the new bran from Marlon Lipke and Gony Zubizarreta, great product from greater people.
See you next year. Yeeeeew!
H-Man
Results:
GIRLS (20 and under)
1 Yolanda Hopkins
2 Concha Balsemāo
3 Mafalda Lopes
4 Natasha Fernandes
SQUIDS (10 and under)
1 Joāo Mendonça
2 Santiago Graça
3 Matias Canhoto
4 Maria Balsemāo
GROMS (13 and under)
1 Martim Paulino
2 Alfonso Antunes
3 Joaquim Chaves
4 Sebastiāo Ramirez
JUNIORS (16 and under)
1 Vasco Dinis
2 Joāo Moreira
3 Simao Teixeira
4 Salvador Couto
PRO/AM (20 and under)
1 Frederico Magalhāes
2 Francisco Duarte
3 Francisco Portas
4 André Faria
Via Voclom