Adrian de Souza won his first ASP WCT event yesterday in his 4th year on the tour. He was crowned champion at the Billabong Pro Mundaka in the Basque Country. It was his 3rd final this year so it has been a long time coming. Conditions unfortunately have not been good for the event with little swell arriving since the event started. He beat Chris Davidson in the final and took out Kelly Slater in the semi-final. The good news is that the Dream Tour is now wide open and anyone in the top 6 can win it. There are only two events left; the Ripcurl Search in Peniche, Portugal starting on Monday and the Billabong Pipleing Masters in Hawaii on Dec 8th. Below is the top 10:

1 – Mick Fanning (AUS) 6350 points
2 – Joel Parkinson (AUS) 6306
3 – Adriano de Souza (BRA) 5773
4 – C.J. Hobgood (USA) 5748
5 – Bede Durbidge (AUS) 5524
6 – Kelly Slater (USA) 5514
7 – Taj Burrow (AUS) 5149
8 – Bobby Martinez (USA) 4914
9 – Taylor Knox (USA) 4816
10 – Damien Hobgood (USA) 4794

The Europeans did not fair great at Mundaka and will be under pressure in the last events to get the points to stay on the Dream Tour:

23 – Tiago Pires (PRT) 3376
24 – JeremyFlores (FRA) 3290
25 – Tim Boal (FRA) 3100
34 – Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 2821
39 – Mikey Picon (FRA) 2540
44 – Marlon Lipke (DEU) 1985

Below is a clip of the final - it was moved to Sopelana beach, near Bilbao, because the waves weren't good enough in Mundaka. Bear in mind that its not amazing surf but its a good indication of what can be done on very avaerage waves!



The Tour moves to our Surf Holiday destination Peniche in Portugal next week - we will be there for the whole event. Its a great part of the world for surf - we have been sending people to the area on Surfing Holidays for 4 years now and it is set to be a great two weeks of surf and fun!

Round 1 of the Billabong Pro Mundaka has been called ON this morning with clean three-to-four foot (1 – 1.5 metre) waves on offer at the world-class lefthander.
 
Event No. 8 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Billabong Pro Mundaka will be activating the new competition format, featuring man-on-man elimination heats from the outset, with Round 1 commencing at 9:15am. So if you are out in Round One you are out of the contest!

Joel Parkinson is current World Number 1 and going for his first world title but he is being hotly persued by Mick Fanning, Cj Hobgood, Bede Burbidge and Kelly Slater.
 
“We’ve got some really fun, consistent three-foot surf here this morning at Mundaka and we’ll be starting at 9:15am,” Mike Parsons, Billabong Pro Mundaka Contest Director, said. “We’ll be running the new format and we’re monitoring conditions right now to determine if it’s worth running dual-heat format.”

We at surfholidays.com are cheering for the Europeans, especially local boy Aritz Arinburu from Zarautz, and Ericeira hero Tiago Pires. European riders in bold.

Below is the Match ups for Round 1:
Heat 1: Roy Powers (HAW) vs. Jihad Khodr (BRA)
Heat 2: Tim Boal (FRA) vs. David Weare (ZAF)
Heat 3: Heitor Alves (BRA) vs. Drew Courtney (AUS)
Heat 4: Tiago Pires (PRT) vs. Phillip MacDonald (AUS)
Heat 5: Ben Dunn (AUS) vs. Marlon Lipke (DEU)
Heat 6: Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) vs. Hodei Collazo (EUK)
Heat 7: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. Damien Fahrenfort (ZAF)
Heat 8: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Reubyn Ash (GBR)
Heat 9: Dean Morrison (AUS) vs. Dean Bowen (AUS)
Heat 10: Mick Campbell (AUS) vs. Marcos San Segundo (EUK)
Heat 11: Chris Davidson (AUS) vs. Nathaniel Curran (USA)
Heat 12: Tim Reyes (USA) vs. Michael Picon (FRA)
Heat 13: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Nic Muscroft (AUS)
Heat 14: Dustin Barca (HAW) vs. Aritz Aranburu (EUK)
Heat 15: Chris Ward (USA) vs. Dayyan Neve (AUS)
Heat 16: Jay Thompson (AUS) vs. Greg Emslie (ZAF)
 
BILLABONG PRO MUNDAKA ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. TBA
Heat 2: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. TBA
Heat 3: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. TBA
Heat 4: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 5: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. TBA
Heat 6: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. TBA
Heat 7: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 8: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 9: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 10: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) vs. TBA
Heat 11: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. TBA
Heat 12: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. TBA
Heat 13: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. TBA
Heat 14: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 15: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 16: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. TBA
 
Here's a clip from last years awesome final - CJ Hobgood v Joel Parkinson:

 

Almost a year ago Volcom put up €10,000 for the first person that does a Kickflip in the water. No one has yet completed one (and caught it on camera). Take a look at the short clips below - they are sooooo close but no winner yet...it will happen soon thougsh so watch this space.....