On a last minute whim, North Shore veteran photographer and Freesurf Photo Editor Brian Bielmann hops over to the old world and brings back the goods.”The cool thing about it is that there’s so much surf in Portugal that as soon as that swell died down a bit, all the other breaks were working really good. And all the pros were in town for the contest. So it just made it like double bang for your buck,” said Bielmann. “I got to shoot Nazare with all the big wave guys. And then the very next day I was shooting all the surfers from the pro tour warming up on all the free surf days before the event.”
Portugal. Photo: Brian Bielmann
They don’t call it Supertubos for nothing. Jordy Smith Locked into a Portuguese drainer. “It's crazy how late they had to drop in and how tight they had to pull to make those barrels,” said Bielmann. “These were super duper technical type barrels.” Photo: Brian Bielmann
Felipe post surf glow.
Zeke Lau
Photo: Brian Bielmann
Peniche is such a chill town,” said Bielmann. “Everybody's super laid back and it's just such a relaxed, great vibe. And the beaches are just insane. They're these super long beaches and there's just surf every freaking place, just everywhere you go. With different types of breaks everywhere.”
Tatiana Weston Webb, pre-WCT victory.
Probably one of the most viral moments of the World Tour being in town was this air of Jack Robinson in front of a bodyboarder, and Jack’s apology. But, what wasn't clear in the video is that the bodyboarder unknowingly dropped in on Jack,
“The thing is though he took off from behind, and the guy dropped in on him,” said Bielmann. “So he passed him up, did a huge air and then landed it. And it was just the fact that he pulled it off without coming down on him was incredible. It was super cool because he just kinda gave him that little hand jive thing, and there were no bad vibes about it, but it was just so crazy. How did that air right above that kid?”
John John Florence
Nat Young
In some ways it was like I was back on the North Shore with the whole tour being there. But I can tell it's one of those places that everybody really enjoys being. I'm sure if it was for the contest, and they were just going on a surf trip, they'd be going to all different spots, because they’re are so many to choose from. But of course everyone wanted to just practice for the event, and that was great for me,”