Destination Hawaii: WSL World Title Expect the Unexpected

Gabriel Medina riding Portugal in shaky weather. Medina offered both clean and off-the-grid air show rides.

The end of the WSL Elite World Tour 2015 is coming closer and closer. After Portugal closes all that remains is the final event back home, Destination Pipe Masters Hawaii. The race to the Title is shaking with unexpected rides. The ranking shake up and the final “all-in-adrenaline” surf heats of the year will not only give us the 2015 World Champion but set the stage for the 2016 World Tour. Who will be in or out the 2016 WSL Elite Tour is yet to be decided.

On October 23 WSL reported from the first days of Portugal Moche. The “Upper Echelon of Men's Jeep Rankings” continued to shake in hands of injury replacement surfers, wildcards emerging from the Qualification Series and riders focused to make an explosive year-ending. Portugal again proved that nothing is certain in the road of the 2015 World Title. We should expect the unexpected.

“Everything you thought about the Top Pro Surfers went out the Portuguese window Sunday at the Moche Rip Curl Pro as more of the elite Championship Tour's top-ranked surfers went down and the contest's intensity skyrocketed. By the end of the day, the Top Four Surfers on the Men's Jeep Rankings were eliminated, Gabriel Medina proved his wunderkind status once again, and the World Title race headed for Hawaii, to be decided at the season's final event - the Billabong Pipe Masters,” World Surf League eloquently put it to words.

Surfer Magazine described the rides and heats at Pòrtugal as “upsets in the final stretch to the World Title Race”. Gold Coast Bulletin reported that the WSL Title is at stake after unexpectedly Fanning and de Souza were “knocked out” in heat wave riding even before reaching Quarterfinals. Slater was also eliminated in the first heats.

Swells at Portugal were low but forceful and tubed evenly on the first days and got violent in the days that follow with bad weather on the shoulders of athletes. Air shows tricks display had nothing new though some perfected their air flights, specially Gabriel Medina who rose and breached surface into the air twice in a row. Under no sunny conditions the fall of Surf Giants -favorites in the run to the World Title became the biggest news.

Mick Fanning -rider responsible for one of the biggest media noise this year fell against the Wildcard rider Frederico Morais. Morais rode out and under a clean tube from genesis to the break and took home the points necessary to bring Fanning down in Round 3. Morais´ ride once again showed that Judges of WSL have a thing for clean rides.

Fans of Fanning assure that his shot at the World Title is still wide open because the main rival in the Title Road -Adriano de Souza also fell in Portugal. Analysts which used to have favorite picks and mathed out different stages are now cautious for the end of Portugal. But even WSL says that nothing is certain.

Australians Julian Wilson and Owen Wright also fell in Portugal round 2 as their hopes for the lead of the Championship dimmed out.

WSL added to the unexpected turn of events in Portugal the elimination of Kelly Slater in Round 3 by Brett Simpson and highlighted that the elimination of Adriano de Souza by a Wildcard rider rising from the Qualification Series.

“As if Fanning's defeat wasn't enough for one day, Wildcard Vasco Ribeiro from Portugal kept local pride levels high when he took down World Number 2 Adriano de Souza from Brazil in the very next heat,” WSL reported.

Now that both favorites for the World Title left a door open for other riders to break on through WSL says that the final battle will be “headed for Hawaii”.

The glory days of Brazilian Storm Riders is far from over. WSL spoke highly of Toledo, Medina and a “new young gun” from Brazil, Caio Ibelli.

“In case no one was sure, Gabriel Medina is back in a big way and means business...the fire is still burning strong,” WSL stated and described the new young Brazilian rider Caio Ibelli as a “surfer who will almost definitely be on the Elite Championship Tour in 2016”.

Ocean Life News in Brief

Ocean Level Increase Dropping Oceans Floor: International Press reported on December 5 on the findings of new research which assures that due to ocean level increase the ocean floor is sinking. The study published online in Geophysical Research Levels used mathematical equations to accurately measure the Ocean's floor impact driven by the increased of water volume weight. Using data from 1993 to 2014 researchers found that ocean level increase is causing the Ocean floor to drop globally by the milimeters. Ocean Dead Zones Up By Four: On January 8 New York Daily reported that Ocean Dead Zones have quadrupled.Researchers warned in a new study that oxygen-starved ocean dead zones, where animals and plants are struggling to survive, have increased fourfold and it may not be reversible. The new study was published in the Journal Science. The increase of Dead Zones was linked to climate change. La Niña´s Polar Wave Hitting Hard the US -Freezing Oceans: International Press reported on the Polar Wave hitting hard the US. The event is linked by experts to the influence of La Niña. “For the past couple of weeks, parts of North America have been chilling down to record temperatures, with massive snowfall and icy cold conditions putting life at a standstill for many,” media reported. The US East Coast has been particularly badly hit with the likes of Boston down to Philadelphia reaching bone-chilling lows of near 0°F , with icy winds making it feel closer to around -10°F to -20°F. Officially 18 were dead and 100 million affected. Government of Bali Declares a Garbage Emergency: On January 5 Ocean Conservancy reported on a New Waste Management Emergency in Bali. Massive amounts of ocean debri are affecting the island. The situation has reached its peak as the Government of Bali declared a “Garbage Emergency”. Clean up works have began. “Ivory Coast Village Swallowed by Ocean Increase,” Aljazeera Reports: On January 8 Al Jazeera reported that ocean increase levels are affecting infrastructure in the Ivory Coast. “Rising tides and more frequent, devastating storms are slowly destroying what is left of Lahou-Kpanda, the offshoot of what was once a major colonial town near the mouth of the Bandama River, the longest river in Ivory Coast,” Al Jazeera reported. Arctic Ocean Radioactive Levels on the Rise: IFL Science reported on January 3 on the findings of new report which assures that radioactive levels in the Arctic Ocean are on the rise. “Concentrations of radioactive radium-228 in the Arctic Ocean increased between 2007 and 2015,” the report reads. While levels have not yet reached a mark of concern the trend is worries experts. Lauren Kipp of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution addressed the issue. New World Wide Ocean Turtle Study Says 90% of Plastic Pollution Cases Result in Death: Earth Sky Org reported on January 7 that hundreds of marine turtles die every year after getting tangled in trash in oceans and on beaches. A research published in the journal Endangered Species Research took on a World-Wide Survey covering the major oceans where turtles live. They discovered that 91 % of the entangled turtles were found dead. They also suffered serious wounds from entanglement, leading to maiming, amputation or choking. Double Whirlpools Discovered for First Time: December 4 Press reported that Double Eddies have been registered for the first time in History. Tangled up Double Eddies can travel great distances affecting ecology significantly. Eddies are a natural part of the ocean environment but double whirlpools had only been theorized by mathematicians.