The 12th Rumblefish VQS was once again greeted with nice weather, fun rippable waves and tons of stoked kids at Amado Beach, Algarve. After all these years it seems the Rumblefish has a respected deal with Neptune who keeps delivering the conditions for a weekend of great surfing and lots of fun.
As the forecast for Sunday wasn’t very good and the Northern wind tended tobe blowing really hard, we decided to run the whole contest on Saturday.

The low tide at early morning saw the first Open division heats in the water battling it out on difficult closing out peaks with some great surfing. As the tide came in the newest Squids Division (under 10) had their first experience at the Rumblefish. Impressive little João Vidal came on top with a couple of lengthy rides. They proceeded to the prize ceremony and it seemed the Squids were not really interested about who won, they were just stoked on prizes and the Stoneman who honored the little warriors.

The girls division had some Rumblefish veterans and the well formed peaks were pretty well surfed by them. Eleven year old Teresa Bonvacot was the standout taking first place with an unsuspected display of surfing for a girl of her age.

The Groms division was a category in itself. The 3 foot high tide waves suited their surfing and their smooth lines perfectly. Martim Magalhães had a great run on the earlier heats and couldn’t find the right waves, placing fourth in the final. Vasco Mónica placed a well deserved 3rd place through consistency and some nice moves. António Duarte placed second riding a nice long left with strong and quick surfing. After a shaky start at his first heat of the day, João Moreira got his head straight and just blew everyone all the way to first place. Great surfing João.

The quality of the Juniors surfing definitely has improved as the years go by. These 15 and 16 year old kids are ripping. In the Final, André Faria was the standout taking first place. Pedro Coelho came on fourth after a well deserved presence in the final. Pedro Alcobia who got the runner-up spot last year, came third this time and Tom Belleverge made it to second spot.

The Open division had a great field of surfers and the semi finals were as tight as it can get. Details made the difference between those who made the final and those who didn’t. This was the stage where Luca Guichard pulled off a perfect of a beast backhand 360 air that won him the Electric Volt Thrower award. Tails flying, ten foot sprays, wrecked lips and the poor waves were absolutely annihilated. Close to the end of the heat and despite the excellent surfing by Tomas Valente (4th) and Eduardo Fernandes (3rd) the decision was between Joackim Guichard and Miguel Mouzinho with the former beating his good friend Miguel with powerful snaps and stylish surfing overall.

The Stoneman putted on his own show at the prize ceremony with the help of the usual giveaway antics of Sérgio Wu, probably the most experienced and lunatic give-away-party-man in Europe. At the end of the day we were left with smiles and a stoke-o-meter broken scale.

For more information check out the official Volcom event page here