Hugo Santos Takes First In Santa Cruz, Portugal
On the 7th and 8th of August, the largest European skimboarding competition of the year was held: The International Skimboard Santa Cruz 2010. This event was the Portuguese leg of the European Skim League and was also part of the Ocean Spirit Festival For the 8th consecutive year. The best skimboarders of Europe and the rest of the world travelled to compete for $6000 of prize money in the Open division and $300 in the Women’s Division.
The contest had 113 contestants in total, 46 in the Open division and the rest in Boys, Juniors, Mens, Masters and Women, where a number of countries were represented. For the first time ever, this event was attendedd by the top amateur competitors in SkimUSA from 2009. In addition to America’s top amateurs, Jason Wilson, Bradley Domke, Miles Grobman and many other skimmers from UK, France, Spain, Holland, Brazil and even Latvia were on hand for one of the most well represented skimboarding events ever.
The competition started on Saturday afternoon with two competition areas. As many may not be aware, Western European beaches have extreme tide swings of up to 20 feet in a single day. As such, there is ordinarilly only a short window of time when the waves are best (usually near high tide). This makes two competition areas running simultaneously a very good idea for well attended contests, as it maximizes the possibility for all competitors to get the best waves possible.
In the first round there were some surprises with Miles, Mário Gomes and Rafael Santos being eliminated. In the second round, which benefited from better conditions with a better tide, some Portuguese old school including Pedro Lopes, Lino Curado and João Dinis, and also the Frenchman Romain didn’t make the cut. One standout performer was Diogo Abrantes who won all his heats.
On day two the Open quarter-final started early in the morning with stacked heats. Once again Diogo won his heat with Mega getting second. In the following heats Simão Pinto, Brad Domke, Hugo Santos and André Abrantes all made it through eliminating Jason Wilson and Eduardo Joaquim (who got second at this event last year).
This was followed by the boys division which Perry Pruit won after receiving a standing ovation following a brutal airdrop. José Brites snagged second place with a solid performance.
In Junior, Max Smetts charged his way victory displaying spectacular skimming and charging some of the most powerful waves in the sets. It is no surprise he went pro at his next event! Francsico Fernandes hooked up the second place spot.
The Men’s division had more participants and competition was a little tighter. But in the end there was no stopping the Americans as 1st place went to Dan Macdonald, also from SkimUSA. Pedro Ferreira skimmed in great but not enough to get the win, and settled for 2nd place.
The Masters final was a fight to the end, with Diogo Ferreira outsmarting Artur Costa, who took 2nd. Pedro Santos finished 3rd.
This year the womens division had $300 of prize money which brought many girls to the contest. The ones that made it to the final were Sofia Lopes, Libby Rendal, MariaNick Pichon and the old school Maria Rebelo. The conditions were very hard for theses girls and in the end the prize money travelled to the U.S. with the victory of Libby Rendall. Although national champion Sofia Lopes gave her best, she was more conservative with her wave selection and it cost her in the end.
Returning to the pro division, the semi finals were very competitive. The first semi-final Bradley Domke had to sweat to stay in 1st place, and Emanuel and Simon fought head-to-head for the second place spot that would get them in the final, but Mega eventually won out. Simon got 3rd and Diogo Abrantes 4th. In the second semi final, the presence of Filipe Macedo was a bit of a surprise. Filipe is a young man who skimmed very consistently throughout the weekend but ended up in 4th in this stacked semi final heat. Third place went to the Spainiard Rafael Castillho that couldn’t top Hugo Santos and Andre Abrantes, who charged the biggest and best waves of the semi-finals.
So it all came down to Brad Domke versus the Portuguese trio who had the home court advantage. The conditions for the final were big and difficult, but it was possible to find good waves for those who knew how to look. In these 25 minutes where the five best waves counted toward the final score, the fight was primarilly between Hugo Santos, Brad Domke and Mega. André was not at his best and finished in 4th place. Among the other three most thought that either Hugo or Domke had won following the heat. Hugo skimmed much as you would expect him to, getting far out and catching big waves. Domke on the other hand had a different style linking together numerous tricks on many waves as well as some good wraps. Emanuel was consistent, but without making a spectacular wave he didn’t have a shot at the top spot. In the end the victory went to Hugo Santos, who once again showed that he is one of the world’s best skimboarders.
The awards ceremony is always a spectacular scene in Santa Cruz, taking place at the pool and podium of the Ocean Spirit Festival. In the awards ceremony SkimUSA chairman Harry Wilson delivered a trophy to José Costa for his contribution to skimboarding worldwide with eight years of running the Santa Cruz International, creating a place where skimmers from all over the world unite not only to compete but to share experiences and good times.
In addition to the efforts of Jose Costa, this competition couldn’t be held if it wasn’t the great support from Torres Vedras City Hall, ManelSport, Billabong, Exile Skimboards, Zap Skimboards, Ceres, ESL, ContaFirme, Pizzaria La Rampa and Santa Cruz Ocean Spirit Festival. Thanks to everyone for making a great event!
Professional Final Results
1) Hugo Santos (Zap Skimboards)
2) Brad Domke (Exile Skimboards)
3) Emanuel Embaixador (Zap Skimboards)
4) Andre Abrantes (Victoria Skimboards)
Words by: Rui Marinho
Photos by: Rui Tavares Duarte
Stay tuned for more pictures and video coming next week!
Go Portugal….. what a great contest.. Santa Curz is always fun!
Ridiculous!
Great write up
Hi there, just stopped by doing some research for my Billabong site. Amazing the amount of information on the web. Not what I was looking for, but good site. Have a nice day.