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RIP CURL PRO SEARCH: DAY TWO
Morning squalls turn into afternoon freesurf (plus, Peniche to revolutionize wave-powered electricity!)
As we've mentioned before, Peniche calls itself the Capital de Onda, or the "Wave Capital" of Portugal. And while this could be arguable -- Ericeira, an hour south has a dozen damn good reefbreaks within 10 miles of town, and used to host the annual WQS event -- there is no doubt that this sandy little peninsula has no shortage of surf. And unlike Ericeira, beaches face every which way, so when it's onshore at one, it can be offshore -- or at least sideshore -- at another.
Also, in case one needed further proof that Peniche is, in fact, a "Wave Capital", the town is about to become home to the world's first wave-powered electricity generator. A Finnish company called WaveRoller just signed a $4.4 million USD contract on October 2nd (how's the timing?) with the European Union to demonstrate its technology.
According to their website, the "WaveRoller captures this kinetic energy [of wave action] using a specially designed bottom-mounted moving wing. The captured energy is converted to electricity using traditional technologies." A proto device was installed in 2008, but construction on the real deal, which is predicted to generate 180 megawatts of power, is expected to begin "soon."
Of course from a surfer's perspective, there are all kinds of questions: how deep will the thing be? What happens if there's a giant, long-interval swell, like the one on the way? How will Wave Roller affect incoming swells? Ect. Stay tuned for more on this story. And see the second-to-last slide in today's coverage for a computer animation on how it works.
Back to the surf at hand. The morning saw gale-force SW winds and sideways rain blowing straight into the main contest site, prompting organizers to duck, cover and call a lay day before being buffeted back into the dunes. Surfers, event officials, media types and other hangers-on enjoyed a slow, lazy morning sipping strong little coffees and catching up on email.
But one can never let one's guard down, especially in Europe, and especially in a place that calls itself the "Wave Capital." By lunchtime, as predicted, the storm front passed and the wind switched around to light north. The swell picked up. And Supertubes showed a glimpse of its close-to-shore, a-frame sand-bottomed barrel glory to a few of the Top 45, including Fanning, Adriano, Kelly, Taylor, Michel, along with wildcards Owen Wright and Pat Gudang, who tried to out-punt each other in the sideshore wedges.
"It was really, really close to being super fun out there," frothed Gudang after his midday session. "It'd be great to see the wind switch around a little more east and the swell pick up to six- to eight feet." Indeed it would.
Thing is, if this storm continues according to models, it's gonna be a helluva lot bigger than that. Which, as you can imagine, is causing the bulldozers to go into overdrive. As of midday Tuesday, there were giant sandbags and two man-made, hundred-yard-long, six-foot-high sand berms protecting the contest site. Which, not to sound all dramatic or anything, may or may not be enough to protect the scaffolding and judging tower from the Atlantic's impending onslaught. Stay tuned.
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October 20, 2009
