As you probably well know Portuguese power player Frederico Morais made it to the final of the Vans World Cup of Surfing, rocketing up to 56 in the world rankings and claiming the Triple Crown Rookie of the Year Award.

Along the way he beat John John Florence three times and rode Sunset about as big as it can possibly be ridden. “On the big day, those were probably the biggest waves I have ever surfed, on the biggest board I have ridden, and to do it competition with that pressure was pretty special. I felt I was breaking a few of my own barriers.” Frederico told Surf Europe, the morning after a big night celebrating his amazing result.

However now the inevitable question of a Pipeline Wildcard position has been thrown up. The winner of the Sunset event, Zeke Lau had already qualified for Pipe, via a local wildcard entry, meaning Morais is the only surfer with a mathematical chance of winning the Triple Crown that doesn’t have a start in his sponsors event,  the Pipeline Masters.

The people of Portugal via onfiresurfmag.com aren’t happy about that and have organised a petition here saying, “As we know that in Hawaii, more than anywhere else, it’s hard to find social justice due to the “weight” of the sites, we decided to create this petition to the ASP also feel the weight of 11,000,000 Portuguese!” Of course other nationalities can also sign.

It does raise, yet again, the problem of the Triple Crown prize, reported as being the next best thing to a World Title, being only available to WCT surfers, and those locals who gain access to the complicated Pipeline Wildcard entry system.

In any case, no official word as yet, and hopefully will be given the chance he has earned. As soon as the word comes in we’ll let you know. In the meantime sign the petition.