So far we’ve had two days of full-throttle barrel action at the Capitulo Perfeito in paradise. The event showcases nine junior surfers chasing the deepest, longest, heaviest pits in the Playgrounds zone of the Mentawai Islands.
Day one featured an unexpected surprise, as the groms traded tubes on an underground right, directly in front of the Hidden Bay resort where they are staying.
Shifty peaks jacked-up like mini pyramids, before bending into racy barrels. The nine groms had the Hidden Bay right all to themselves. On dark the wind went slack and the waves silky smooth. Portuguese power-house Martim Fortes had the best of it, winning the vote of his peers and the judges for a triple-section drainer. Wildcard Jackson Dorian was nipping at his heels.
However, it’s worth noting that this competition is three-dimensional and incorporates a surfer vote, a judge’s vote and a public vote. And on day one the online masses through their support behind Sassa Catarino. Sassa has a high rotation of classic punk tracks on his playlist and throws himself into every wave like he has black flag playing at max volume in his head.
Yesterday was an entirely different proposition as the crew headed to Kandui; a left hand-race track where you go looking for the corners if you want to come out. It was four-five-foot and velvet smooth as the groms hit the water alongside a hungry pack of freesurfers.
Could this work. A contest in the midst of a regular Mentawai crowd? The competitors knew they had no claim on the lineup and assimilated into the pack as if it were a regular session – of course this gifted posse of groms were capable of riding deeper than the average Joe and soon climbed the pecking order.
As Kandui roped and coiled and rattled bones, boards were broken and unmade barrels cursed by the competitors. Jackson Dorian hauled into the heftiest barrel, well overhead for his diminutive frame. But this one was No-Can-Doi as the wave’s nickname suggests. “That was a straight closeout,” he stated, shaking off the wipeout as he paddled back out. There were numerous valiant attempts, but few made barrels as Kandui’s racetrack tubes gobbled up the challengers. Ozi rep, Sid Englert found a front door exit on a mid-size tunnel but ride of the session went to local contender, Joaquin At-Thariq who deftly managed his speed as he dragged his limber frame through a triple – section zipper.
Thariq, as he’s known, lives on nearby Siberut island. His mother is Indonesian and his father Colombian, but barrel riding is in his DNA. Needless to say, as a local in the Ments he has clocked up more tube time than just about any other teenager in the world. Thariq will be hard to beat in his island playground, but there’s several days left in the window and from what we’ve seen so far, any of these surfers has the skill and courage to claim the best barrel and with it, the Capitulo Perfeito, New Generation title.
