Nicolaus Von Rupp and Carina Duarte are the champions, male and female, of the Allianz Algarve Pro, 4th stage (penultimate) of the Liga Moche 2014, which took place between the 6th and 8th of June, at Praia do Amado.
The return of the main Portuguese surfing competition to Aljezur after an absence of 16 years was marked by a heavy Saturday at sea, with hard heats and a lot of emotion surrounding the possible consecration of the national champion in this stage, which was not confirmed. .
The best Algarve in the competition was Luca Guichard (Algarve Surf Clube), who repeated the 5th place achieved in the 2nd stage, in Ericeira.
The return of the main national surfing circuit to Aljezur was made possible thanks to the support of the Algarve Tourism Board and the Aljezur City Council. “Surf is part of the products that we want to include in the region as a complement” to the tourist offer, justified Desidério Silva, president of the Algarve Tourism Board. “We (Aljezur) are a surfing mecca,” stressed José Amarelinho, mayor of Aljezur.
The radiant sun that warmed the last day of this race, Sunday, the full beach and nearly ten consecutive hours of surfing and good waves at Amado proved that surfing is in the soul of the Algarve. “You can count on us unconditionally”, promised José Amarelinho. “We will be here next year”, guaranteed Desidério Silva.
The Allianz Algarve Pro provided the biggest waves in the four stages of the Liga Moche 2014, there was rain and sun, and presented the athletes with an imposing physical challenge, on Saturday, a very heavy sea day, with waves of 2,5 meters and texture irregular, requiring an unusual paddling effort to overcome the break.
Vasco Ribeiro, leader of the ranking, could have won his third national title at Amado, had he won the competition, benefiting from the absence of current champion and vice-leader in the ranking, Frederico Morais, in Mexico in training for the qualifying world championship. But Vasco Ribeiro was eliminated in the quarter-finals by Pedro Henrique, director of the surf film «Algarve», released this year.
The Algarve appeared in this competition with 19 male surfers and one female surfer. Ten Algarvians were eliminated on the first day, Friday, June 6th.
On Saturday heavy, with the difficult sea conditions limiting the journey to four hours of competition and preventing the start of action in the women's squad, seven surfers from Algarve clubs were eliminated. Marlon Lipke (Surf Club of Faro) was the big surprise in the Algarve in the 32nd round (second round of the race).
At the start of the third round (16) for men, with which the action began on Sunday, the Algarve was only represented by the twins of Tavira, Joackim and Luca Guichard (Algarve Surf Clube).
Joackim was eliminated in the first heat of the day. Luca even made it to the quarter-final stage man on man, where he was eliminated by Francisco Alves, surfer from Costa de Caparica who did very well at Amado: he eliminated Gony Zubizarreta in the semi-finals and only lost in the final to the unstoppable Nicolaus Von Rupp.
“I am very pleased with this victory. The (sea) conditions were difficult and I have a special relationship with Amado. I have many friends here and it was here that I had my first championship (a Rumble Fish, 15 years ago)”, declared Nicolaus Von Rupp, Allianz Algarve Pro champion.
In the women's frame, the Algarve's Yolanda Hopkins (Clube Naval de Portimão), who came from a final in the previous stage of Liga Moche 2014, lost in the first heat (quarter-finals), eliminated in the last minute by Constança Coutinho.
The national champion in title, Carina Duarte, was very strong in Amado and won the women's final with a big advantage over her opponents. Only Teresa Bonvalot, who has already won two stages, challenged the champion's leadership, but without success.
Amado could have decided champions, but instead he relaunched title fights. Vasco Ribeiro and Teresa Bonvalot could have resolved the issue if they had won this Algarve stage. But the victory of Carina Duarte, who equaled Teresa Bonvalot in won stages, and the early elimination of Vasco Ribeiro relaunched the championships, postponing all decisions for the last stage, in Cascais, between the 26th and 28th of September.
CURIOSITIES
Marlon Lipke – Sunset
On the day of the difficult digestion of the defeat, Saturday, Marlon Lipke showed great sportsmanship when organizing, calling the surfers and receiving guests at the door of the sunset party on the beach, which ended a wintry day and greeted the sun's return to the Algarve.
Guichard Gemini – DJs
As usual in this Moche League, the Guichard twins are the service DJs for the beach parties that are already becoming a tradition in the championships of this circuit. O Amado was no exception and Joackim and Luca Guichard showed that they are as artists in the musical mix as in the maneuvers on the waves.
Pedro Henrique – Podium
Pedro Henrique is world champion of kite wave, has already been a junior surf world champion and has competed with the world surf elite in the WCT. He is a friend of the Algarve and, therefore, he made a surf film about the region this year. He has now achieved his first podium in the Algarve in Liga Moche, a competition in which he debuted in the previous stage, with a fifth place. No Amado was ranked 3rd.
João Guedes – Coffee
João Guedes entered the first heat on Sunday, at 08:15 am. Minutes before, the surfer from Porto wanted to drink a coffee and couldn't. Minutes later I had the first wave of the day: an excellent 8.50. After all, he was wide awake.
Comments