Longboard Tour Portugal – New generation dominates Ponta Ruiva

In good waves of one meter, with little wind and cloudy skies, the best Portuguese longboarders put on a show on this beautiful beach on the Algarve coast, which had not hosted a national competition for over 20 years.

Ponta Ruiva – Click by João Cabrita

In the women’s category, national champion Raquel Bento left no credit in anyone else’s hands and dominated the final from start to finish. With a total score of 14 points and her best wave at 7.5 points, Raquel left Carolina Mendes in second place, Aurora Dantas in third and Inês Martins in fourth. Highlights include the presence in the final of Carolina Mendes, former national and European women’s surfing champion, who competed for the first time in this longboard discipline, immediately successfully.

“It was a weekend of good waves and very good weather. I had a lot of fun and got the biggest sunburn of my life, so I won’t forget this race. Thank you to everyone who came. To the regulars and the new ones, who will certainly help in the evolution of Portuguese longboarding,” said the winner.

In the U18 category, which had a direct final of five athletes, Francisco Freitas, from Peniche, dominated completely, in total harmony with the sea and entitled to the best wave and best total score of the championship – 8.83 and 16.23 points, respectively. Duarte Barata finished in second place, Beatriz Valente in third, Kika Califonia in fourth and Margarida Santos in fifth.

Aerial view of the lineup – Click by João Cabrita

“I loved this weekend,” commented Francisco. “It was a championship with very good waves and in a super natural environment. Now I like the Algarve waves more and I would really like to come back here next year,” he concluded.

The Open final was marked by the presence of the new generation, with the four finalists aged between 17 and 22. National runner-up, António Dantas, ended up getting the better of Francisco Freitas, who narrowly missed out on two categories, leaving Filipe Ferreira, also a finalist in last year’s last stage, in third place and Azorean Nicolau Filipe on Wednesday.

“Good atmosphere, great waves for longboarding and a very competitive final. I really enjoyed the championship and it seems like I started the year well. Let’s go to the next one!,” stated António Dantas.

Also noteworthy is the elimination of the current national champion, João Dantas, in the semi-finals, along with Ítalo Rosa, Luís Esteves and Diogo Gonçalves, also a former national champion.

Click by João Cabrita

For the Mayor of Vila do Bispo, Rute Silva, “it was a beautiful event and everything went very well. Let’s schedule it for next year, so we can continue with this commitment!”

“It was great! We had a spectacular and very relaxed atmosphere. All the athletes loved it! Being able to hold a race in a natural environment as beautiful and untouched as this is clearly an upgrade for our events,” stated Gonçalo Pina and Pedro Ferreira, from the organization. “We want to thank the Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina, the Municipal Council of Vila do Bispo and Memmo Baleeira for the opportunity they provided us and we hope to return here soon, for new adventures,” added Miguel Ferreira, from Associação Portugal Ativo, event promoter.