By Julio Adler:

It's early in the morning and I bump into Sergio Noronha and Peterson Rosa. You know Peterson, The Animal they used to call him, he was aggro like Kong was aggro when he first came out in the early '80s.

Kong and Peterson also share some others qualities, or perhaps flaws: courage, insolence, harshness, and a fierce streak of competitiveness.

Peterson won in Rio over Michael Campbell in 1998 - last minute, last wave, last maneuver, Hail Mary kind of shit. It was pouring rain, dark, a late October afternoon. There was claiming all right - big time. Fist pumps, King Kong chest thumps, it'd been seven fucken years since a Brazilian had last won in Rio.

It was hard back then to win anywhere. Really hard.

Fabio, Flavio, Victor, they were too shy and quiet to be respected by guys like Sunny, Pottz, Gerr, and Bainy. That was until Peterson stepped up and told'em to show some respect.

No jiu jitsu moves. No tricks. Just sheer individuality.

Now Peterson Rosa coaches Adriano. It's come full circle, because Adriano is his legitimate heir to Peterson's guts for glory. Adriano has recognition, money, titles, and now he want it all, like Paul Muni, 1932.

"Listen, Little Boy, in this business there's only one law you gotta follow to keep out of trouble: Do it first, do it yourself, and keep on doing it."

So Peterson did it all by himself, and now Adriano's doing it all by himself, he doesn't have a team of hipster groupies filming him all over the place, although he's hired one of the best in the country, Pablo Aguiar, and former world champion, pro body boarder, Paulo Barcelos, to take pictures exclusively for him.

It wasn't his sponsors initiative, it was his.

No Quiksilver, no Billabong, no Oakley, no Red Bull, his own pocket. You don't see many of the spoiled kids doing these things.

Today wasn't a decent day of surfing at Postinho: the current was too strong; the swell was too south; it was difficult to find a shoulder with an option. Here in Rio, not one of the local surfers in the competition can call themselves a local at Postinho, so no one knows this wave properly. Medina's been here for almost two weeks. It paid off, he surfed with ease, got the job done, and got the best combined score of the day.

But it was Slater, yet again, who competed with effortless skill.

The Bald One did the obvious, paddled out way up north, caught a wave, then let the current drag him. Got another wave, then another one, then got a ride in the jet ski and did the same thing. All of it without a stroke against the current. Economy of motion.

Funny thing is that Slater, while injured at Bells, seemed too weak for the type of surfing the Bells bowl offered him against Willian, and after that, before Rio, he went surfing one of the deadliest waves in the world.

He wasn't looking in pain at all, otherwise, always the cautious, Slater wouldn't be risking his neck, nor the world title.

But it was Jordy who's been doing the best surfing on the tour. He found his wild side again by not caring too much about the tittle. His surfing is brutal, natural, reminds us of Dane Reynolds in 2010, spontaneous.

Half of the top seeds bailed to the losers round today. Despite this I don't think the wildcards gonna be a problem for the top seeds in this contest, but Bourez is going to face Yadin who's a time bomb - nobody know when he's going to blow up - and Julian has Freestone as opponent, maybe the best heat of the Round 2.

Hopefully tomorrow's going to be a day to remember, they still have 15 rounds (mens and women combined) to go and the forecast looks...well, not promising.

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.