Forecast: Oi Rio Pro
Rightio, where we we? Ah yeah, three comps down and on the road to everyone's favourite CT event, the Oi Rio Pro.
The tour has been thrown off kilter by first the cancellation of the Margaret River Pro and then the spotlight-stealing hubbub of the Founders' Cup at Lemoore. It's time to regroup and consider how best to milk a backwash-riddled semi-closeout beachbreak.
Looking at the forecast and we'll see fairly typical conditions leading up to the Oi Rio Pro with moderate pulses of mid-period southerly swell with favourable winds.
There's a chance competition will get underway this Friday, the first day of the waiting period. Morning offshores should create clean conditions with easing 2-3ft sets out of the south, though condistions will fall apart into the afternoon as sea breezes develop.
After that, a flurry of new south swells are due from Sunday through to Wednesday, the biggest arriving on Tuesday.
These will be generated by a couple of small lows moving off the the South American continent, projecting strong to gale-force S/SW winds through Rio's swell window.
An initial increase in swell will be seen Sunday, building to 3-4ft into the afternoon under onshore S/SW winds.
Monday will be clean but the swell will drop back to 3ft ahead of Tuesday's better swell. It's then that we'll see good 4-5ft sets out of the south and with a morning offshore, though again the afternoon sea breezes will knock it about. Wednesday morning will be fun as Tuesday's swell eases with a morning offshore. Expect small to tiny waves on Thursday.
Another similar if not slightly bigger episode of southerly swell is due next weekend, the end of the waiting period.
Check our live event site through the waiting period for ongoing commentary surrounding each days surfing.
Comments
‘everyone’s favourite event’
absolute classic craig :)
What, it's not your favourite ;)
LOL still laughing !!!!--!!-!
nothing beats a backwash-riddled semi-closeout beachbreak (i was on one all morning) except watching someone else milk one :))
will still be more entertaining than the wave pool event last weekend
I think id honestly rather watch the wave pool event.
I reckon it might've been deliberately scheduled that way.
Still looking forward to it. After the coitus interruptus of WA, and the underwhelming pond event, it'll be great to see real waves and lots of people on the beach.
Typical WSL selling out to all the brazos and keeping an event with the worst waves on the tour. Get rid of rio and keep cloudbreak on the the schedule
Lots of Brazos = lots of $$kaching. If theyr'e not under the poverty line. Is it obvious I don't know much about Brazil???
Not sure if you have noticed we once had the Dream Tour , now we will have the "was Dream tour!"
Fiji could not tip in the $'s needed , even though Kelly had Outerknown agree to 3 years , France is gone next year , no Pipe event , but now Pool events....
so the WSL is just about making $'s , which is their's and Kelly's right , as so far $300m has been invested , and they want a return so whatever makes $'s is the driving force behind all of this , but the question remains how many surfer/consumers are they losing by deleting the Dream Tour?
It's interesting isnt it ? Yes they are going backwards.
Though as surfers we are going forwards. People are coming back to supporting grass roots companies and knocking on the doors of the actual shaping bays of their respective towns. Or in my case building my own boards and products.
We have new forms of media outlets . I.e this site and others
It's disruption and it's creative destruction.
We no longer need the corporations to wash us feed us or dress us for that matter. They are still there, they just don't have the same force. It's a changing world but to quote owl Chapman " the wave hasn't changed" .
Surfing is different for everyone . Everyone has a different experience.
Correct, WSL will steer toward what they can get the best return from.
It will create a new breed of surfer, probably and mostly one that lives inland and will see the wave pool as a skatepark equivalent. If they can get a return from this they won't give a toss about whether current day(ocean) surfers are interested in their pools and the comps they will have in them. Might take a few years (3-5) but it looks like it will happen.
Good thing I reckon, it might slowly reduce the number of people in the water at the beaches.
Just look at how many Brazil nuts are on the tour these days, its because most of the QS Comps are run in shit small waves
that suits there style. Look how quick Medina wanted to avoid Margaret River cause he can't power surf with style like the rest of the Brazilians .
strange few weeks for "pro" surfing, not exactly going in the direction id like to see it go but mehhhh if wave pools, backwash and being scared of the ocean are how the WSL want to play it then that can have their $$$ id rather watch the Rio Dockers. sure something will give, think reverse World Series cricket
Is claiming part of the judging criteria in getting a score above 7 in Brazil?Almost every wave scored above a 7 is getting claimed, and most are only a couple of turns. It’s not just Brazzies either but pretty much everyone. Brazil’s new judging criteria - Speed, power, flow, innovation and some exciting fist pumps!
I hope one day someone with the resources just takes some cameras and some commentators to swell events like the code red swell, Jaws sessions etc
I found the giant Cloudbreak and code red swells far more riviting than the vast majority of competition broadcasts except when they have exceptional waves