Bruno Santos wins Allianz Perfect Chapter powered by Billabong

As the event internationalized its Surfers List for the first time in 2015, with the unprecedented participation of some of the best tube riders in the world, it turned out to be foreigner surfer taking the big prize home. Bruno Santos entered the Allianz Perfect Chapter powered by Billabong as an alternate, taking Ricardo dos Santos’ place in the competition. Ricardinho was originally among the most voted athletes under the International Surfers category, just a few days before losing his life victim of gunshot wounds. By wining the event, Bruno honored his friend’s memory, putting on an overwhelming performance at Carcavelos Beach throughout the day.

Bruno was indeed the man of the event. A part from a 10,000€ prize money, he was also rewarded with a 1,000€ check from Kia for performing the best score of the contest in the last heat, summing up a 18,65 total score as soon as he entered the water.

“I had never surfed at Carcavelos Beach before”, the winner said. “I was coming to Portugal with the footage of last years’ edition in my mind. Everything ended up falling into place as there were plenty of big, perfect barrels out there today. It was amazing to be able to represent Ricardinho in such a glorious way. Being able to devote him this win is more than I could ever ask for”.

As forecast failed to deliver last Friday, forcing the event’s organizers to postpone the competition, Perfect Chapter final contenders were back in the water today with hundreds of people watching at the beach. 6+ feet waves and strong offshore winds set the ideal scenario to run a barrel-oriented competition such as this, allowing athletes to perform great surf and high adrenaline moments.

“These are the moments that last in people’s minds”, event organizer Rui Costa said. “Today’s final was probably the best heat in Perfect Chapter’s history. Postponing the event was indeed the best call we could have made. We were able to show all surf fans around the world what Perfect Chapter is all about, that is, perfect waves and breathtaking performances”.

Runner-up Nic von Rupp scored the Best Tube of the event (9,75) in the final, being awarded with a 2,000€ check from Allianz. Even if he failed to find a back-up wave strong enough to take the lead, Nic easily managed to put on a show worthy of a previous Perfect Chapter winner (2013 and 2014), fighting hard to keep the title in his pocket.

Tiago Pires won the Ricardo dos Santos Commitment Award, specially designed in memory of the Brazilian surfer. Commitment, passion and raw courage were among the top criteria for picking Tiago as the honoree. The RdS Commitment Award honors this spirit and approach to competition during the Perfect Chapter, remaining as a standard event’s feature for further editions.

Last but not least, hats off for the young surfer Filipe Jervis Pereira for seizing the special prize for Worst Wipeout (500€ from Nixon). Finally, Francisco Alves was rewarded with a 300€ check from VonZipper for performing the Best Claim of the event, according to Instagram users.

Before the competition started, there was also time for an Expression Session won by local surfer Edgar Nozes. After providing the perfect scenario for a dramatic day of surfing during the 2014 Perfect Chapter, Carcavelos Beach proved once again to be one of the best beach breaks in the world, setting up the stage for an unforgettable surfing show with tones of adrenaline and suspense.

A part from the surfers mentioned above, Pedro Scooby, Alex Botelho, Alexandre Ferreira, João Guedes, João Kopke, Cory Lopez, Rodrigo Herédia, Miguel Blanco and Marlon Lipke also have been battling it out today at Carcavelos Beach, trying to add one of the most wanted surfing titles in Europe to their curriculum.

Perfect Chapter is a special event that requires big, hollow waves, featuring a several weeks waiting period over which surfing forecast is closely monitored to make sure the competition takes place on the best day of winter. Also, surfers who attend this event are picked up by the public through free web-based polling, leading down to the best and most popular tube riders.