The crowd began to fill the beach, with groups of friends and families sharing towels, chairs, and even binoculars - the truth is that eyes don't zoom like cameras. The excitement was palpable, fans eagerly awaited to see how many points their favorite scored in each heat.
As the name suggests, everything had to be perfect. The temperature was ideal for a day at the beach, even though it's winter - the most daring came in swimsuits and bikinis to get a head start on their summer tan. The lineup for those who entered the water on the 18th, updated due to two dropouts, included Anthony Walsh, Aritz Aranburu, Balaram Stack, Bruno Santos, Dylan Graves, Francisca Veselko, João Maria Mendonça, Lucas Chianca, Nathan Hedge, Nic von Rupp, Pedro Boonman, Rob Machado, Salvador Vala, Tiago Pires, Tiago Stock, and William Aliotti.
Surfing, barrels, competition: these were the keywords of the day. During the morning, there were several rounds with heats to eliminate surfers until the final four. Many said goodbye to a dream, while others dreamed even more of winning this unique competition. "Most championships, you compete and leave. Here, it's a whole experience, beyond the championship there's all this contact with Portuguese culture that the Perfect Chapter is showcasing," says Bruno Santos - champion in 2015 and semifinalist in the 2024 edition - sees this opportunity to surf the Cascais line tubes.
As the day progressed, temperatures rose and so did the level of demand. The sea was strong - there were even casualties in the surfboard department, with some broken boards ending up on the shore -, the wave sets reached two meters, and the offshore wind ensured at least one good barrel in each heat. There was no shortage of surfing spectacle to entertain the crowd all day long.
Surfing on the sand
There was room for everything at Carcavelos beach. For moments between heats or if you really needed to stretch out a bit, Go Chill prepared an opportunity to catch waves without getting wet - but they didn't promise you wouldn't embarrass yourself a little in front of friends or an entire beach. The reward and fun were worth the risk, and the constant queue that formed there sent the message - they were ready to show that a mechanical surfboard wouldn't knock them down. From kids to adults, everyone wanted to leave their mark in surfing history - even if it was in the sand and not in the water - on a day as important as this one.
The Victory
The day came to an end, with the last heat finished, the eagerly awaited results are finally known.
The prize stayed home, the winner was 18-year-old Tiago Stock, a native of Carcavelos. The beach erupted, applause and congratulations were heard all along the coast, he just won: "This is a feeling that can't be described, it has to be lived in the moment. And that's what I'm doing," he tells Time Out. Between being lifted by colleagues and friends, hugging family members, and greeting the competitors he faced, he also states: "I feel like this is where I belong, I'm part of this. I've proved to everyone what I can do and, most importantly, to myself and it's about not doubting and believing." From the moment he won to stepping onto the podium, neither the enthusiasm of the crowd nor that of the winner waned, the intensity with which everyone lived those moments was unique. This competition gave him the opportunity to stand side by side with legends of the surfing world like Rob Machado, a very important point for the organizer Rui Costa, to unite generations of the surfing world.
At the end of the night, Rui Costa reflects on this tenth edition: "We are all very happy. I think it's a milestone, celebrating 10 years with a beach like it was." The beach was filled with more than 20,000 people who traveled to Carcavelos, in Cascais, to see this story of a chapter that ends with a Portuguese victory.