The ASP world tour organisers and the various sponsors involved in the two European WCT legs in Hossegor and Mundaka wished they could have switched dates for the two events in light of the forecast…

The cold front sitting outside Portugal had been generating sweet southerly winds, ideal for the Spanish rivermouth while offering crosshore conditions for the Quik Pro France. Still, a break in the weather pattern, offered an excellent day of tuberiding for the first round of the Quiky Pro. And as usual in these kinds of conditions, it was the top dogs & barrels experts who qualified for round 3. Slats and the Irons Brothers were at ease in the 6-foot pounding shorey. At around the mid-tide mark, la Gravière looked, in shape and in power, much like Backdoor. Freesurfing just north of the contest site was mental: Tom Curren getting some deep pits with his front foot so close to the nose of his board (you know the stance), Parko lifting his hands to touch the green roof, the Hawaiian Roy Powers scoring an outrageous number of sick barrels. It was an epic two-hour window in fast changing tide conditions, and the guys out there didn’t waste a single wave.

Meanwhile, all four European surfers taking part in the contest will have to compete in round 2, with Miky Picon taking on Cory Lopez in a crucial heat for his WCT campaign…

Just a couple of days earlier, Mundaka offered some of its best barrels in years. As soon as the Quik Pro organisers called a lay day, rental cars full of pros rushed to the other side of the border along with SE staff photographers, Timo Jarvinen and Alex Laurel, to score incredible 6/8-foot pits grinding off the low tide sand bank.

Slater got a 150-metre barrel, Occy got some insanely deep pits and Parko claimed that he had some of the best backhands barrels of his life.

As the Bay of Biscay offers world class surfing in a 200 km radius, let’s hope that Mundaka is just warming up for the Billabong event.