2017/2018 OVERVIEW - surfworldtour.blogspot.com
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My first contest in professional surfing, was on Oct, 2008 in Vila Beach, Imbituba, Santa Catarina, Southof Brazil, only 400 km from my town; Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul; I used to catch a bus by Santo Anjo company at midnight-12:00 pm in Bus Station in Porto Alegre, and arrived in Imbituba at 6:00 am next morning; and let my baggage in bus station and went directly to the Contest, my first was Hang Loose Pro Santa Catarina.
After the contest in the late afternoon, I used to go by bus to Garopaba beach only 60 km from Imbituba, and stay ina "pousada" from some friends from my State, RS. So early in the morning, I came back to the event in Vila beach
I will never forget it was so nice, I arrived in Imbituba downtown and I used to have breakfast in a bakery, pastry and coffee. Some people from the event also had the breakfast there. The Australian B. Durbidge(AUS)overcame the FrenchJeremy Flores(FRA) and clinched the championship. My family name by mother side is "Flores"(common in Brazil)
In 2009 was so nice the most famous and with more titles of all the times in professional surfing,
the American of Cocoa beach, Kelly Slater(USA)clinched the event Hang Loose Pro with taught Final againstAdriano de Souza(BRA)in a Friday exactly on my Birthday, it was wonderfull, I knew a Skol model; she was from Florianopólis and was so nice and beautiful too.foto skol
In 2010, the contest moved to Billabong Pro.
The WCT World Championship Tour was supported by ASP- Association of Surfing Professionals. My first photo soearly when I arrived on the shore(foto)was from the Brazilian surfer Jadson Andre(BRA)he overcame the great championKelly Slater(USA)in tie Final.
In the final of the year, ASP announced the 2011 Contest will move to Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro. I became so happy and anxious too. Because Rio de Janeiro is 1,500 km far from my town, I will have to fly the airplane, stay in some new place, and so.
In May of 2011 around 2:00 pm I arrived in Rio de Janeiro for the first time by Azul Airlines, at Santos Dumont aiport in downtown; I tried to find the some hotel, but I did not know anything in Rio de Janeiro, so later in the afternoon, it was getting darker and raining. So I decided to go the Novo Rio Bus Station and stay there at night. The next morning I caught a bus to Barra da Tijuca through "Quinta da Boa Vista". The contest would be Posto 4 - Sheraton Hotel - when the bus was
arriving in Barra da Tijuca, I got so shocked with the Barra da Tijuca line up. It was beautiful and powerfull too.The competitions started in Arpoador beach, in South neighbornhood of Rio de Janeiro. Arpoador beach, close the rocks was so nice too. I did not know any direction in the huge city, but the people are nice and always helped me and still are supporting me whenI go to Rio..
The next years the contest continued in Barra da Tijuca, in Postinho, Posto 2 - Pepe -famous Brazilian surfer- beach, close to
Olegário Street, in 2015 the event was supported by WSL - World Surf League - that replace ASP. During these years, I used to stay in Downtown, close to Central Station -the biggest train, underground, bus hub in Rio de Janeiro - and caught the 309 -Alvorada Bus to Barra da Tijuca, and took almost two hours and I get off in Passarela, and went walking to the shore.
In 2016, the WSL provided Van Service to take the people to Grumari beach that was farway and there was no public transportationto there.I woke up so early 4:00 am and took the bus 316 -Yellow Line - to Recreio Shopping at 5:00 am(around 90 minutes) and at 7:00 am there took the Van from WSL to Grumari. The people from the VAN service (foto)were so nice. The Vans went and came back from Grumari to Recreio Shopping all the day. But the contest was disputed in Grumari only on the first days of the event-stage in Brazil. After the big structure in Postinho -Barra da Tijuca - had been rebuilded after the strong "ressacas" in the Ocean
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In the final of the season, WSL announced the 2018 event will move to Saquerema, 100 km from Rio de Janeiro, which has better condictions of waves for professional surfing; the Sea is higher and owerfull. Saquarema(RJ), is famous all over the world, there contest there since 1992- is called "Maracanã of Surfing"- Maracanã is the most famous soccer stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In 2017, was my debut in Saquarema, in Itaúna beach. I stayed in Rio de Janeiro, caught a bus at 6:00 am and arrived in the event around 8:00 am. I will never forgot when the "SWELL" arrived in Saquarema, the sea was so high with strong and fast wild, the water looks like shake machine,
there were no competition on this day. I was on the "shore", I used to go every days of the stage, for filming, some photos.
This year, 2018 the contest was in Barrinha beach, close the the rocks and the church in the mountain. In the last day of the competition, on May 18th, I took the bus to Bacaxá at 4:30 in Rio de Janeiro, and get off on the highway and took a bus to Itauna beach and arrived on the shore so early and stay close two persons of Espirito Santo State, northern of Rio de Janeiro state.
They were so nice and calm. The young man was surfer I guess, and his girlfriend was photographer. I work close to them all the time, from Quarterfinals to the Final, so I went close the podium for filming the Filipe Toledo(BRA)victory. In 2015, he clinched the championship in Barra da Tijuca too.
The surfer of Ubatuba(São Paulo) overcame Wade Carmichael(AUS), even been overcame, the Australian surfer was so happy in the podium, the dispute the Final in that famous beach, Saquarema.
Let's remind the years, and the champions, since my first WCT/CT:
year site champion
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2008 Vila beach -Imbituba -SC Bede Durbidge(AUS)
2009 Vila beach -Imbituba -SC Kelly Slater(USA)
2010 Vila beach -Imbituba -SC Jadson Andre(BRA)
2011 Arpoador/B.Tijuca -R. de Janeiro -RJ Adriano de Souza(BRA)
2012 Arpoador/B.Tijuca -R. de Janeiro- RJ John John Florence(HAW)
2013 Barra da Tijuca-R. de Janeiro -RJ Jordy Smith(SAF)
2014 Barra da Tijuca-R. de Janeiro- RJ Michel Bourez(PYF)
2015 Barra da Tijuca-R. de Janeiro- RJ Filipe Toledo(BRA)
2016 B. da Tijuca/Grumari - R. de Janeiro-RJ John John Florence(HAW)
2017 Itaúna beach - Saquarema -RJ Adriano de Souza(BRA)
2018 Barrinha beach -Saquarema -RJ Filipe Toledo(BRA)
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Only for comenting on since I entered the World Circuit of Surfing in Brazil, we have:
Brazil with 5 wins;
Hawaii with 2 wins;
AUS, PYF, SAF, USA, 1 win;
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This text above was written by Paulo Piqueres - surfworldtour.blogspot.com /surfworldtour.com/surf pro channel Paulo Piqueres started working with professional surf in 2008 at Hang Loose Pro, Imbituba, Santa Catarina, Brazil;he is graduated in Business Administration at Unisinos -Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos -São Leopoldo, RS, Brazil and Postgraduated in Advanced English at PUC - Pontifície Universidade Católica, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
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