Peniche, Portugal, March 20, 2025 (Lusa) - The Portuguese leg of the world surfing circuit, at Supertubos Beach in Peniche, which is on its second consecutive day on hold due to storm Martinho, will once again be without competition on Friday, the organisation announced today.
"We've cancelled the event for tomorrow, Friday 21 March. We had probably the strongest part of this storm in terms of wind during the night, with a lot of destruction in the Peniche area," Renato Hickel, commissioner of the World Surf League (WSL), said in a statement.
The Meo Rip Curl Pro Portugal began on Saturday and continued for the next three days. However, worsening weather conditions and rough seas caused the competition to be suspended on Wednesday and today, and the decision has now been extended to Friday as well.
"Tomorrow [Friday] afternoon, we'll make the call for Saturday. We want to wait until Surfline's forecast is updated tomorrow [Friday] because the winds change every 12 hours, sometimes with offshore winds and other times with onshore winds. The good news is that Sunday remains a really good day to finish the event, with good swell, from a good direction, and with offshore winds all day," he said.
Miguel Fortes, WSL surf advisor, predicted this scenario to Lusa on Wednesday, who predicted that Sunday would be the day with the best conditions for the competition at Supertubos.
"We were expecting the storm, so we made a lot of progress during the first few days of the championship. That put us in a good position to finish the competition when the conditions are right at Supertubos.
At this distance the forecast is good, with the wind turning north on Saturday and on Sunday there will definitely be a competition," said the Portuguese expert.
When the championship resumes, the last 16 of the men's field and the semi-finals of the women's competition will be played, without Portuguese guests Frederico Morais and Yolanda Hopkins, who have since been eliminated.
The waiting period for the elite event in Portugal, the third stage of the world circuit, runs until 25 March. The competition will take place at Supertubos Beach in Peniche.
DN/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
