See what happens? I finally release my surf sin into the world about burning Griff, he gets a huge win in Portugal. Truly unsure if I still need that penance, boys. And you’re welcome, grom.
To the blind eye, there were moments of perfection out there during this contest. By ‘the blind eye’, I am referring to anyone who is not on social media, thus not seeing any clips of Supertubos the week prior to the event. The WSL just missed the window, as evidenced here. There were waves at certain points in the event though, most notably the last 7 heats of R32 and almost the entire R16.
If you didn’t read the Portugal Preview, I did happen to mention everyone to make the quarterfinals. I was wrong about a rookie going on a tear. There were 3 freshmen to make R16, but all came up short of QF’s. I also told you there would be some shaking of the ranking tree after this event. Deivid Silva & Matthew McGillivray both dropped 11 spots. Jack Robbo, Ethan Ewing, Zeke Lau, and rookies Lucca Messinas, & Sammy Pupo all dropped 8 spots. Italo jumped up 6 spots, Kolohe up 4. Conner Coffin was in need of a result and graduated 9 positions. Griffin hit the home run and moved up a whole 20 spots. All in all, the rankings and results are starting to sort themselves out, as we see some separation at the top and the bottom. As of now, Miguel Pupo is the only surfer above the cut line to have a last place finish this year. Moving on.
Here’s the descending list of guys to fall short to Griff in Europe:
Filipe.
John John.
Kolohe.
Slater.
Jaddy.
Not quite the easiest route to victory. I’m really not sure what happened to Kelly, but he looked completely lost during their heat in R16. Slater had only caught one wave much through the halfway mark of the heat, even letting Griffin slide into at least one in and out bowl on a right. Cola Bro #1’s most impressive heat win to me was that of his quarterfinals match against his friend and mentor Kolohe Andino, where he notched the first 10 point ride of the year.
In the beginning of the heat Kolohe looked his part, being the older and more experienced competitor in the water, with two quick scoring waves. Griffin also fell on his first two rides, looking a bit frantic on each turn he fell on. I thought he was in trouble. His balls to the walls approach quickly paid off on his 3rd wave though, where he clicked a 7.83 for a backside air reverse, into the flats, on a closeout. A smaller version of the 10 to come later in the heat. Two waves that didn’t end up as keepers were the most notable to me. The wave following the 7.83 – He had just hucked a boost on a closeout, now knowing he can get a high 7, and Kolohe had just taken off on a right down the beach and ripped 3.5 turns on it (got way underscored). Griffin kept his composure on a left and hammered the first section before the face got all soupy and frothy, still finishing with 2 solid turns – a 7.0. There was also a 6.27 on a right that was just surfed really well, aside from the tiny hiccup in the 2nd turn.
Overall, just what an event for Griffin. Really reminded me of Kanoa’s first CT victory at Keramas in 2019. Could we see Griff finally start to shine through, similar to Kanoa of recent? I hope this was the confidence builder he needed. The USA needs an actual threat on the map.
A few other things I did take note of:
- Italo looked insanely crushed after his loss to Filipe in the semi’s. Maybe this was the WSL’s camera play and dialogue, but he seems to be a different version of Italo than we have seen before. Many have speculated that Instagram has taken his soul…
- Yago Dora and Liam O’Brien have both been missing from the past 3 contests due to injury. With a month gap between now and Bells, one can wonder if we will see either of them for the Australia leg.
- The judges seemed to be all over the place. From Filipe’s 8.0 to Griffin’s 6.83, they were dealt a tough hand with some tough conditions, and mixed surfing. Something needs to be fixed with the judging situation. Don’t ask me what the solution is.
- My pick for Rookie Of The Year, Imai deVault, is the lowest ranked full time rook, and has yet to make it out of R32.
That seems to be about all I have to say about the “Europe Leg” of the tour this year. Can’t say I loved it, definitely didn’t hate it, but I think it could be replaced. Stoked for Griffin to get that win. Bummed for Kolohe, what a burden on the shoulders. I fucking hope he wins one of the next two contests. Bells window will open the week before Easter, where Kanoa will have the yellow jersey. Cheers.
-hwilsin