You’ve by now probably heard of the altercation between Jamie O’Brien and Ricardo Dos Santos that occurred in the trials of the Billabong Pro at Chopes. A very modern altercation, it started in the water, and then took a life of his own via social media.

The ASP press release stated, “According to onlookers, the pair rode the same wave in the dying moments of their heat – with Dos Santos on the inside and O’Brien on the outside. There was a physical altercation as the surfers rode the wave, with Dos Santos being forced from his board. The altercation continued after Dos Santos surfaced and a member of the water patrol intervened to help quell the dispute.”

Both surfers failed to progress but back on land Ricardo posted  on Instagram a photo with the caption, “Thanks, Jamie O’Brien, for punching me in the face during my heat in the trials.”

Jamie later disputed this version telling Stabmag.com that “I was deeper than him and I had positioning. And the real story is, he paddled straight into me and hit me with an overhand head check. And then he followed up with an elbow to the head. So, when I took off on the wave, I already knew I was burning him, which is no problem. Then I slapped him on the wave.”

Things might have ended there, except an apology and handshake, usually the part which diffuses the situation, only added more hype. Ricardo asked that Jamie bow his head when apologising and then Instagramed the image saying, ““After the episode, @whoisjob, came to say sorry and make sure that will never happen again. For the brazilian people I told him to put his head down and be humble as a normal human! Brazil, we got dignity back!”

Yes, it seems Ricardo is a tool. Jamie again in the interview with Stab responded saying “It’s between Ricardo and I, and Ricardo made it between Brazil and I. It’s a real coward thing to do. It’s between me and Ricardo.” Since then all the social media has been removed and life has moved on. Till the next tweet….