Tough to beat Carcavelos when it’s really on, and the Perfect Chapter’s format ensures that it will be. Photo: Andre Carvalho/Perfect Chapter
A few years ago, I had the pleasure of heading to Portugal to cover an event. It’s was a wonderful perk of the job, but I did not expect for it to be quite so wonderful. The event was the Perfect Chapter, or Capitulo Perfeito, and in my humble opinion, it’s the way all surf contests should be run. And the list of surfers for this year’s event has just been released.
Like the other years, the 9th annual Perfect Chapter powered by Billabong is a one-day, invite-only event. While it moves around from Carcavelos to Supertubos to Nazaré, this year’s event will take place at Carcavelos.
The Perfect Chapter focuses solely on tube riding, and the invitees are barrel riding specialists. Carcavelos is a fickle place, but when it’s on, it serves up some of the best barrels anywhere. It’s a difficult place to surf, though, with tons of current and, as is generally the case on a day that’s barreling hard, enough offshores to make paddling in difficult, but one wave makes it all worth it.
Filipe Jervis seeking cover at Carcavelos. Photo: Pedro Soares/Perfect Chapter
The holding period for The Perfect Chapter runs from January 9th to March 9th, and competitors get 72 hours of notice once the event is called on. That’s because the organizers wait until the very last minute to ensure that it will run on the best possible day of the Portuguese winter. Carcavelos Beach is in a staggeringly beautiful town called Cascais, about an hour from Lisbon.
The list of surfers this year, like every other year, is packed with the best tube hounds in the world. Balaram Stack, Clay Marzo, Michael February, and Adriano de Souza are among them. The list of Portuguese surfers, though, is heavily dependent on online voting, and hasn’t concluded as of this writing, but it’s a sure bet that whoever gets voted in will be one of the most exciting surfers to watch.
International Surfers:
Adrian Buchan (AUS), Adriano de Souza (BRA), Balaram Stack (USA), Bruno Santos (BRA), Clay Marzo (HAW), Michael February (ZA), Nathan Hedge (AUS), Torrey Meister (HAW).
Portuguese Surfers:
Filipe Jervis Pereira, Guilherme Fonseca, Guilherme Ribeiro, Henrique Pyrrait, Jácome Correia, João Maria Mendonça, Luís Perloiro, Martim Carrasco, Miguel Blanco, Nic von Rupp, Pedro Boonman Correia, Tiago Pires.
New Generation:
Francisco Mittermayer, Martim Fortes, Matias Canhoto, Salvador Vala, Santiago Graça, Tiago Faria.
Wildcards:
Aritz Aranburu (defeding champ), Winner of the Trials, Portuguese Surfer TBA (rescue wildcard).
Keep an eye on the event at CapituloPerfeito.com