INTERNATIONAL NEWS - Solid, consistent surf at Guincho and a massive day of heats saw some incredible performances and huge results at the Billabong Pro Cascais.
A cluster of Brazilians survived to fight another day, along with Stu Kennedy, Brett Simpson, Tanner Gudauskas, Jack Freestone and Matt Banting.
"It is detonating out there!" said Strider while watching the Billabong Pro Cascais surfers trying to attack that notorious Quincho inside section. With some solid sets and big open faces coming through, the judging criterion was laid out for the day as ‘surfers need to perform combinations, of major moves, with absolute completion, to get the scores.'
We know that Stu Kennedy can get his fair share of combinations out there, and he showed some of his best combos against Bino Lopes in heat 6 of the second round.
There have been many eyes on Stu Kennedy and his breakout year thus far. He was a doubtful starter at this event, and you just needed to have a look at his Facebook feed to see that he recently became a very proud Dad of a cute baby girl. He must have had a tough decision to head on out to Portugal leaving his wife and a brand new daughter behind, but here he is, ripping.
Starting off the season as a replacement surfer, (he filled in for Owen Wright) he is currently ranked 19th on the Championship Tour, and is looking like he's firmly in the mix as a rookie of the year. Currently two spots behind Caio Ibelli, the current Rookie Of The Year leader, he is very much in the conversation.
