By Julio Adler:

Ricardo dos Santos was so focused on the event that he flew to Tahiti on Tuesday, to do what few people in the WCT would do.

Something is wrong with the contest in Rio, some juju, karma maybe.

Even the the shells at the beach knows that April and May are the two best months in the year for a contest. Most of the time it's offshore or no wind at all, there's a lot of swell, mornings and arvos are memorable.

In Rio, fall is the best time to be a surfer. But for some very strange reason, Rio always collapses during those 11 days of competition.

A friend of mine, a musician keeps asking, why does it happen with us?

We had great waves just last week. After the contest's gone there will be waves again. But hey, cheer up! It's the revival of the 80's. You can hear all those songs in Kai Neville's movies that sound exactly like Human League or Ultravox.

The 80's are back!

When you set a date for a surf contest in the 80's you run the bloody contest no matter what. That's what happened today, they had no other choice but run the whole second round today.

This is the third event of the year, so the repercharge makes a big difference for some of the journeymen. When you see Taj surfing in the second round you remember Sunset Boulevard (1950).

You're Taj Burrow, you used to be a contender for the title. You used to be big.

I am big, surfing got smaller...

Rain poured so I stayed home, safe and sound, comfortable like you did on the other side of the world. No replays, no slow motion, no coffee, no parking space, no sits. If I did go to the contest site and watch Otton vs Melling, or Simpo vs Damien, or even Travis vs KP, I would have been pissed. It's not worth the gas, nor the energy.

But they battled with honour.

After almost a week of waiting, you don't want honour, you want performance, you want somebody to take some risks.

There will be some interesting matches tomorrow, Taj vs Andino, Adriano vs Pupo, Bourez vs Bede (a body language duel), Wilson vs Zietz and Kerr vs Toledo. I'll dare to say this last one is the heat of the round and if the waves get smaller, either Kerr or Toledo can win these thing.

Rio was always kind to virgins. Taylor Knox won his only contest in Rio (in Rio of all places!), Peterson Rosa, Taj's first was here, Kalani Robb, Trent Munro...

Virgins.

It's good to have all those people out there, actually working, hard work. I'm truly amazed at how little attention professional surfing's getting here.

It might be the rain.

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.