Stack, Marzo, February, de Souza and others set to compete in Europe’s Most Dramatic Surf Contest

CASCAIS (January 4, 2023) – The 9th annual Perfect Chapter powered by Billabong, the original one-day tuberiding contest taking place in Portugal, has announced its Surfers List today.

With a holding period going from January 9th to March 9th, the event will bring some of the best tube riders in the world together for a full day of competition in perfect, hollow waves at Carcavelos Beach, Cascais.

Adrian Buchan (AUS), Adriano de Souza (BRA), Balaram Stack (USA), Bruno Santos (BRA), Clay Marzo (HAW), Michael February (ZA), Nathan Hedge (AUS) and Torrey Meister (HAW) are filling in half of the heat draw, having received a direct invitation to enter the competition. Unlike previous editions, the International Surfers category won’t be going through online voting, with the 8 men mentioned above being the definitive non-Portuguese contenders for 2023.

In the Portuguese Surfers category, the final word still belongs to the fans, who are being called out to vote for their favorite chargers. That’s right: it is up to you to choose the Portuguese final contenders of one of the most exciting events of the year, options ranging from former world tour runner Tiago Pires to natural born tube rider and previous Perfect Chapter champ Nic von Rupp, among many others tuberiding experts.

In 2023, there’ll be room for the young guns too. To be able to send in your votes you’ll have to pick one surfer from the New Generation category (under 17), granting direct access to the competition to one of Portugal’s most promising surfers.

The most voted young man together with the four (4) most voted Portuguese surfers will be filling in the remaining spots on the 2023 Perfect Chapter heat draw. To complete the 16 final challengers list, the event’s organization is assigning wildcards to the defending champ Aritz Aranburu and to one (1) surfer among those left out by the voters. One final wildcard will be assigned via Trials, which are coming about within the main event’s waiting period.

The online voting is already taking place at capituloperfeito.com and will go on until next Sunday (including). The final results will be officially released the day after (January 9th).

The 16 finalists will be competing on the best day of the European Winter (offering the best tuberiding conditions) going head-to-head for 35.000€, including 25.000€ as the contest prize money (10.000€ above the previous edition) plus 10.000€ in performance awards.

Adding a little spice to the competition, this year there’ll be a special award and prize money to the first three-time champ in the history of the Perfect Chapter, leading up to a dramatic battle between Aritz Aranburu and Nic von Rupp (who’s likely to be voted in by the fans), the only two surfers who have won the event twice in the past.

Extra performance prizes include 2500€ for Best Tube by 58SURF, 2000€ for Best Score by Go Chill, 1000€ for Best Portuguese Surfer by Joaquim Chaves Saúde, 500€ for Worst Wipeout by Nixon, 1500€ (plus Ricardo dos Santos special trophy) for the most committed contender by Corona, and 2000€ for the third championship by Madpizza. Globalis and the Hiddenbay Resort (Mentawai) are also promoting a special heat between the 6 contestants in the New Generation category offering 500€ and a 7 day stay for the winner.

It is up to you to choose the Portuguese chargers who will have a shot at the most prestigious surfing title in Europe today – go to capituloperfeito.com and vote for your favorite!