RIP CURL PRO PENICHE GETS 10 POINTS SCORES
Lisbon, April 25nd, 2004
TIM BOAL TAKES THE RIP CURL PRO PENICHE TITTLE IN EPIC WAVES

French surfer Tim Boal took is first WQS career win today during the Rip curl Pro Peniche, held in superb conditions at Supertubos, Peniche. Waves at this year's Rip curl Pro Peniche, were absolutely perfect, ranging from 5 to 7 foot sets, with long perfect barrels. Tim Boal was definitely the man to beat, has he accomplished half a dozen waves over 9,5 points.

The sun raised a little shy this morning hiding frequently behind a curtain of fog, which dissipated during the morning. The temperature was very pleasant and brought hundreds of spectators to the beach. The sixteen remaining competitors had to put away their fears, to achieve the success and immortality trough the platoon of photographers' lenses at Supertubos.

Quarter-finals started with high expectations for Portugal . Ruben took an early lead, and secure it half way with a tremendous backside barrel, on a set wave, he came out clean and very cool, so the judges rewarded him with a 9.5 score. Jonathan Gonzalez broke his board, and lost is concentration; Justin Mujica did just enough to move into semis. Patrick Bevan and Pablo Gutierrez provided a real show for the audience during the 2 nd heat. Patrick got 9.93 and 9.17 points on his best rides, and Pablo was close sitting on a 10 and 8 points rides, just too good for Abdel's 7 points scores. Negative remarks for premature the eliminations of Pablo Solar and Eneko Acero in the last quarter.

The semi-finals took advantage of the best conditions of the whole contest, and competitors chased the barrels has the horn sounded. Patrick Bevan was on fire, posting several top scores, has Ruben tried to follow. Pablo Gutierrez wasn't satisfied with his first score, and tried to move things into his favor puling into the heaviest barrel of the contest. The result came just opposite of his expectations, has he only earned and serious injury – torn knee ligaments. Justin Mujica also felt the power of Supertubos sets on his head. Confused and desperate, he dropped in on his good friend Ruben, on the best wave of the heat.

The second semi, was even more dramatic. Iker went into the lead with 17.03 points, but Tim Boal was less that a point away. While Picon was desperate in 4 th , Tim found one 9.8 points barrel, and then Hugo Savalli got a perfect 10, and Tim again answer with 9.9 points. Hugo score left a bitter taste has he still lost a place in the final by 0.03 points. The French surfer deserved more. Later, Boris Letexier took the “expression session” with a huge barrel on a St Leu look-alike, and paid a visit to the podium for the Palystation2 award.

The final started with the audience behind Portuguese surfer Ruben Gonzalez, who responded surfing everything that moved, despite speaker's Nuno Jonet warnings. He went into the lead but Tim Boal sat down and waited for a good one that came and earned him a 9.43 points. Patrick was lost in the lineup, has conditions changed a lot during the 35 minutes final. Iker also found difficulties to get good barrels, but is trouble were the not enough scores. Ruben, with 5 minutes to go, took a deep backside barrel, and moved into the lead again, but was forced to wait on the beach for the remaining time of the final, has he had completed his 12 th ride. Tim Boal with some pressure on his back, chose a good right to guarantee a barrel and two snaps, securing is first win with 2 minutes still to go. Always calm and shy, Tim came out of the water with a good smile, and more relaxed than ever confessed: “I just fell very happy, the waves were great, this is such a good place to surf, I will be back next year to defend the title”.

Rip Curl's sports marketing director, Gerard d'Avezac, had the happiest face of all as he stated this was the best example of Rip Curl politics, to hold contests on prime locations, and promised a better and bigger event for 2005.

The Rip Curl Pro Peniche is proud of having City Hall as a partner, and lots of support from Nokia, Redbull, Triudos, Buondi, Playstation2, Panrico, FPS e PPSC. The Rip Curl Pro, the longest running Surf event in Portugal history, also has the following “Media Partners”: Correio da Manhã, Record, Onfire, Surf Portugal, Sem Stress – Antena3, Surf Total, Surf Action, Notícias do Mar, BeachCam, SurfersVillage and Surf Europe. See you next year.

RIP CURL PRO PENICHE GETS 10 POINTS SCORES
Lisbon, April 24nd, 2004

With smaller waves, the Rip Curl Pro Peniche had to be run at Supertubos once more. Lagide didn't offer size or perfection to hold the second day of competition. The choice of Supertubos proved to be right, as waves were growing throughout the day. During the first heats, Surf was only 1 meter high, but in the middle of the afternoon some occasional sets already presented a solid 2 meters face. Barrels became the order of the day, once again. Those who made it, found out they were the way to victory.

The first heat of the day saw local talent Diogo Gonçalves almost making it to the next round. The oldest competitor, João Alexandre took advantage of tops Sam Carrier and Dani Garcia 's poor performance to pass one more round behind Luis Rodriguez . Patrick Bevan charged heat 8 with extreme confidence, leaving his opponents way behind, including portuguese Edgar Nozes – Rip Curl wildcard - who was upset with judges for missing an alleged interference call.

Micky Picon also found no difficulties to win in is first appearance at the 2004 Rip Curl Pro Peniche . A while later a big surprise came as Peniche best surfer – Nuno Silva , lost in the dying seconds of his heat, after leaving his direct opponent Julian Cuello , free to surf the best wave of the heat, and taking the lead in front of german's Marlon Lipke .

In the next heat there was already a good crowd to watch Tim Boal taking a deep barrel that earned him the first perfect score of the contest. A cool Tim later said: “ the leash was stuck as I took of, so there was not much to do, I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time ”. During heat number 13, Nuno Telmo was unlucky, has he missed a spot in the next round needing a wave of only 3.01 points. Telmo had a score under 2 points counting in is best waves, becase he spent the whole time waiting for a god one: “ I didn't want to move close to Iker, he would try to pressure me, but the waves all went to him, next week I will get another chance ”. During heat 15, Pablo Solar was a showman. Starting with an impressive ride, even José Gregório couldn't match his repertoire, has a 9 points scoring wave was is final mark.

3 rd round had a only Portuguese 1 st heat. European ratings leader started well but Ruben Gonzalez took the 1 st place half way through, Justin had to keep safe from Fernando Bento attempts. Spain's Pablo Gutierrez , again showed why he is such a strong candidate for a win at this year Rip Curl Pro Peniche . He pulled into a huge backside barrel, grabbed the rail, and made with the spray. A huge roar of “yeahs” gave him the clue to put his arms in the air. It was the second perfect score of the day. Luis Rodriguez also made in this same heat, and now is the only survivor from round 1.

Marlon Lipke went down has he failed to find any good rides, and waves were playing hide and seek with him. Tim Boal had no difficulties whatsoever during the same heat, and posted several good scores. José Gregório became another early victim at the hands of Pablo solar and Eneko Acero .

Tomorrow, check-in is scheduled to be at 9h30 where the main podium is located, there a decision on the final day location will be taken.

The Rip Curl Pro Peniche is proud of having City Hall as a partner, and lots of support from Nokia, Redbull, Triudus, Buondi, Playstation2, Panrico, FPS e PPSC .

SUPERB BARRELS IN RIP CURL PRO PENICHE
Lisbon, April 23nd, 2004

Has expected, the sun rise brought dream waves to Supertubos. The Rip Curl Pro – Peniche got underway halfway through the morning, because the organizers had to move the alternative location an extra 250 meters south. The sun helped to warm things up, but in the water, the temperature was firing up, as conditions were as perfect has they can get. 2 meters set waves, with left and right providing awesome barrels, for the fearless ones.
90 surfers showed up, and a big part of them came from Portugal , with several locals taking part to show their abilities on their favorite wave. Some Peniche regulars also made their way into the city. A good example is Fernando Bento: “as soon as I know Supertubos was breaking I jumped into the car”. Fernando Bento took a smart decision as he already booked is place in round 3.
Spain 's Pablo Gutierrez is Rip Curl biggest hope for team victory, and this morning acknowledged some favoritism, but handed most credits to France's Mikael Picon and Patrick Bevan: “they are the ones to beat, but everyone is keen on taking the win with these good waves”.
On the 4 th heat of the 1 st round, Portuguese Francisco Canelas took the win on the last minute, after spending most time in 3 rd . “I didn't know what was going on, we can't ear a thing, so it was good to know the results in the end”. A little after, we all witness the return to competition of ex European runner up, João Alexandre (dapin to his friends). With 37 years old, he found some difficulties to past through 13 year old Moran Davesac, but it clearly showed he still has a lot to offer in surfing. In the same heat, Spain 's Luis Rodriguez posted the highest scoring wave of the day (9 points), by taking a long deep and hollow backside barrel, and finishing with both arms in the air. He knew it was a hell of a ride.
As the tide came up, the barrels were harder to find, and 2 nd round started with Justin Mujica controlling is opponents. Still, Mujica wasn't pleased: “the judges are scoring low, I wasn't able to go over 6 points, they are still looking for huge barrels, but no one is finding any”. One top contender already lost. Gonzalo Zubizareta didn't found any quality waves, and when Romain Laulhe got the heat best wave, moving from 4 th to 1 st , Gonzalo had to find a simple 3 points wave. Experienced João Antunes made sure that Gonzalo wouldn't surf any more waves until the horn.
With 56 surfers still in contention, good news come to home country athletes, there are 20 portuguese in the running, 6 if them already in round 3. Tomorrow with conditions expected to change, as waves drop to half of today size.
The Rip Curl Pro, is proud of having City Hall as a partner, and lots of support from Nokia, Redbull, Triudos, Buondi, Playstation2, Panrico, FPS e PPSC. The Rip Curl Pro, the longest running Surf event in Portugal history, also has the following “Media Partners”: Correio da Manhã, Record, Onfire, Surf Portugal, Sem Stress – Antena3, Surf Total, Surf Action, Notícias do Mar, BeachCam, SurfersVillage and Surf Europe. The official website will show all the latest news, pictures, movies and results to keep you completed up to date.

Releasses by Paulo Cunha

PRESS RELEASES
pre event
HIGH EXPECTATIONS IN RIP CURL PRO PENICHE AS BIG SWELL ARRIVES
Lisbon, April 22nd, 2004 - PR/RCP003/04

Tomorrow the Rip Curl Pro Peniche will get underway. The first round is expected to run in Supertubos beach , where according to all predictions, the waves should be just about perfect, has they are known around the world.

After the recent news of Rip Curl taking the Pipeline Masters WCT under their sponsoring, it would be very hard to make things better for Rip Curl, but just like good things that come in pair, Rip Curl re-signed surf legend Tom Curren into their team . Tom Curren, the 1985, 1986 and 1990 World Champion, is certainly one true example of someone who has contributed more than his fair share to surf. Tom is still remembered in Portugal where he took the 1990 Boundi Pro title, on his way to the world title.

Rip Curl Pro Peniche waves are always the center of attention. Even in bad years, the talk goes on for the surprise, but these last days, great expectations have rose with the prediction of a big swell hitting the coast exactly during the contest days.

Everyone using the Internet has access to contents that make it easier to follow up swells and their power. This time, many voices have arisen and predict a huge success for the Rip Curl Pro Peniche . No matter which direction the wind takes, Peniche Peninsula always has a good wave breaking.

For Friday, the organizers are expecting to run the contest at Supertubos, waves will be 5 to 8 feet high, and the wind blowing from north. Supertubos is usually the place to be, when the situation is as predicted.
For photographers this is a unique opportunity to catch a good pro at an excellent wave.

Peniche City Hall held a press conference on Monday regarding the R ip Curl Pro Peniche , and showed an enormous will to make Peniche known all over the world.
Support also comes from Nokia, Redbull, Triudus, Buondi, Playstation2, Panrico, FPS e PPSC . The Rip Curl Pro, the longest running surf event in Portugal history, will be reported on the following "Media Partners": Correio da Manhã, Record, Onfire, Surf Portugal, Sem Stress - Antena3, Surf Total, Surf Action, Notícias do Mar, BeachCam, SurfersVillage and Surf Europe .