Chopes not much chop

Still no action at the Billabong Pro. With no backup venue the event is relying on a very distant call from Surfline of a small swell in a couple of days.

Chopes has become another Munkuda is the last few years. After a couple of big scary events there has been little swell and one event finished after the waiting period. Like Spain, there always seems to be great waves for the trials and after everyone goes home. Even a change of dates hasn't helped.

Luke Egan also has to weigh up the effect that a poor result in inconsistent waves could do to those on the elimination bubble before calling it on.

DeSouza wins in Spain

The Billabong Pro in Spain has been won by Brazillian Andriano DeSouza beating Aussie Chris Davidson. This is DeSouza's first WCT win and moves him into third on the ratings with two second placings.

Slater and CJ finished third and Taj was taken out by Slater in the Quarters.

Mick has move above Parko in the unadjusted ratings. Slater is now 6th and Taj 7th. Both have a mathematical chance of winning it all but basically would rely on the top five to lose in the first round of the next two events and they win both.

If you adjust the ratings now Parko is 186 points in front of Fanning with DeSouza just over 300 points behind. CJ, the only surfer in the top five without a 17th, is less than 1000 behind first.

The next event is the Rip Curl Search in Portugal next week.

Round 2 Over

And Parko is out again. With his round 2 win Mick Fanning has taken over the lead in the World Title race.

Even though it was a bit wonky and badly onshore the waves at Mundaka were very contestable and the early heats were an air-fest. It was a bit condusing to watch as they were running overlapping heats but at least there was lots of action.

Slater got through despite not surfing since France and having a dodgy knee (from golf at St Andrews). Taj snuck through by 0.3 much to the disgust of Artiz Aranburu who thought he had done enough.

Who knows what they will do today. The have at least one full day left in the contest. The wave is so tide affected that the window is pretty small but at least the days are long.

Spain on in the rain

But not at Munduka but some grovelly onshore beach break. Its got a bit of size but you wouldn't normally surf it. And its raining.

The latest call is that it will move to Mundaka this afternoon with over lapping heats. Not much help to those in the first round who will get eliminated in the crap surf.

There may be a break in the webcast as they dismantle the truck and head back for heat 1 of round 2. But the missed heats aren't much chop anyway.

Another Lay Day

Spent the last few hours checking in for each call for the Billabong Pro. Contest Director Mike Parsons must be getting a bit concerned as they packed up the infrastructure and moved to the back up beach break.

Only problem is that there isn't even a ripple there (despite the web-site claiming two feet). Bunbury was about three times the size today than Spain.

They will have to run soon otherwise they will run out of days.

Mundaka is flat again

Yet another lay day at the Billabong Pro Munduka. Looking at the webcam it will take more than a change in tide to get the event going as it is even flater than yesterday when it stuggled to be a foot.

Munduka was in danger of being dropped after last year. Apparently some dredging had wrecked the bank but the main problem is that there isn't a decent back up wave if the rivermouth isn't firing. This year the bank is great but there just isn't any swell.

There a still a few days left in the waiting period and by using the elimination round one format they bought themselves another day. They keep posting the rumour of a decent swell to come soon. Lets hope it is true.

Mundaka Sneaks Up

The Billabong Pro in Mundaka has started a couple of days ago with about 8 heats in the elimination round one run during the low tide window.

Apparently the bank is all time (Luke Egan claims it as the best in 20 years) but the swell isn't helping. The last two days have been flat and it is likely that today will be the same. Contest Director, Mike Parsons, thinks there will be a decent swell late in the contest waiting period.

Mundaka has been a bit of a bust in the last few years with only three or four heats of last year actually run there. The back up beach is crappy but apparently has a bank if they are forced there.

Webcasts from Billabong are always good and you can expect Luke Egan and Occy to commentate sometime. The video highlights and heats on demand are always top class.