By Julio Adler:

Well I guess I should bite my tongue! Pro surfing makes headlines here after all. Parko made them by being sent from the water at a very protected wedge, less than half a mile from the comp.

From the newspaper report (and put through Google translate): "The "localism" in Breakwater, practiced by surfers that humiliate and attack the other surfers who dare to catch the good waves there, reached highest level of the sport. The Australian Joel Parkinson, current world champion was expelled from water by locals while training at the weekend, for the Brazilian WCT event, which begins today in Barra."

It's the same old story, Aloha means hello, and goodbye. There are primitives everywhere.

The first day of the Rio Pro had solid six foot swell, strong southwest wind and a current running like a river. The call was easy - layday. Contest director, Daniel Friedman, is former World Tour surfer, same Bustin' Down The Door generation as Rabbit, 24th on the IPS tour in '76 and 21st in '77. A lord of style and grace, pretty much our own Larry Bertleman. Friedman had that David Nu'uhiwa kind of aura in the '70s - reverence and awe.

Now he's the man responsible for whispering the possibilities at Richie Porta, Ace Buchan and Luke Egan. He's nothing like your traditional contest director; not like Dooma, not like Pato, maybe more like an advisor.

So today, Egan wanted to go. "We shouldn't waste waves like this in Rio," he says. Ace and Porta knew there's no point going out in that mess. Daniel shook his head and probably think, 'Spoiled kids, we should surf anything, anytime, anywhere.'

ZoSea's here in Rio, studying the tour, watching how it moves from one place to another like a lurching beast. They would have a hard task ahead. But the great thing is that everybody's a councilor now! "ZoSea should do this", "ZoSea should do that", "and that and that and that". "It's simple! It's no science fiction!"

Good waves, great surfers, less time, fabulous webcast - bang!

Hey Einstein, got news for ya, they've been trying to figure that out for almost thirty years, it's not magic nor simple. Competition surfing's not war but how about we replace the two words for a moment and find a quote from Flags of Our Fathers:

"Every jackass thinks he knows what war is. Especially those who've never been in one. We like things nice and simple, good and evil, heroes and villains. There's always plenty of both. Most of the time, they are not who we think they are."

But after defending pro surfing I realise it's the small things still that show how medieval it still is. A journalist tries to do his media accreditation when the contest is off, so as not to miss any of the contest, and the media office is closed at 1PM. So instead of getting his creditation during contest downtime, a reporter must now miss one heat (I've chosen Heat 12 , C.J. Hobgood, Adrian Buchan, Kolohe Andino) to get the wristlet, and the damn wristlet gives you what..?

Tuesday's freesurf session at Postinho was one of the memorable sessions for the fans. Water was pristine blue, warm as Indonesia and ramps all over the place. Julian Wilson reckoned it was a great day of surfing just anywhere in the world for the joy of some proud locals. Kelly's been incredibly mellow this year. Maybe trying to make up for his absence last year, and that's news 'cause it shows just how committed to the tour he is right now.

Guess not a soul in the blogs and forums could take more of the Brazilian storm juju. It's not a storm anymore, it's a breeze, a warm offshore breeze.

Postscript: You might not know Neymar, he was just an example to demonstrate how abyssal the difference between a real star from a surf star. Of course all grannies knows Slater in Oz, surfing is news in Australia. Soccer, my fellow friends, is news everywhere. Pele is a better known name than...shall i be so heretical? - than Jesus. Grannies in China, Iran, Israel, Japan and even North Korea all know Pele!

Julio Adler is a native of Rio de Janeiro. He travelled as a professional surfer during the late-80s and early-90s and got completely involved with the pro surfing hustle, questioning judges and journalists and wondering what the fuck they were all doing. Around this time Julio began writing for surfing magazines and is now a regular columnist for Surf Portugal and Hardcore in Brazil. He's never had an English lesson in his life and can thank surfing magazines and Neil Young songs for his grasp of the Queen's tongue.