After two days on hold, the third came with kaos. The primary site structure at Supertubos was destroyed high waves and heavy storms. The first round was run at Molho Lest and unfornatly Tiago “Saca” Pires lost against Nathaniel Curran. A major upset for all of us who were counting on “Saca” for a great resulta at is home country.

The first 13 heats of Round 2 of the Rip Curl Pro Search were completed on the 24th in punchy three-to-four foot waves at the second backup site of Belgas. And the young Owen Wright was the star off the day eliminating the nine-time ASP World Champion, Kelly Slater.

And them came the best day of the event, in the third round, at Supertubos, we got solid eight-to-ten foot barrels. Perfect 10 waves, broken boards and even some injuries!

On the first heat, CJ Hobgood lost is heat but staid on the water for some free surf. Then, in the fifth heat, Owen Wright got a perfect 10, in one log barrel. On the seventh heat, and after losing to Mick Fanning, Frederick Patacchia decides to give is board to a fan. On the eight heat, Adriano de Souza looses the heat to Tim Reyes and also the chance for the ASP World Champion title.

For the Quarters, the the waves were at is best and the surfers had to give all their best if they wanted to get to the semis.

On the first heat, Dede Durbidge wins with 0.32 difference to Jordy Smith, and just in the final moments. Bobby Martinez looses to Joel Parkinson, who  got a perfect 10 on an endless barrel. At the end of the heat, Bobby decides to also give is board to a kid. The came Owen Wright vs Damien Hobgood. Another perfect 10, and a win for Owen, but one big wipeout got him in a bad situation, with a neck injury and a ruptured his eardrum. The final heat of the day, confirm the great moment of Mick Fanning, giving no chances to Tim Reyes. And this was the end of the best day of surf of the circuit so far.

As i was living the beach, a got the chance to speak with Joel Parkinson and he was really surprised with the conditions, and very happy with the results.

The last day of the event, the conditions just weren’t the same but even so, there were some good waves. Joel lost to Bede Durbidge, after dominating all the heat in the last minuts, Bede made two good waves, making him one of the finalists. With Owen off with is injury, Mick went strait to the final.

And in the final, Mick proved that is in great form, and looking for the secound world title. His the winner off the Rip Curl Pro Search at Supertubos – Portugal. And i was there for one of the best surfing days of the circuit.

Then I went to see ARGONAUTEN G2. I already knew there work with the VW projects, but it was really nice to ear from them about how they develop their projects. They also presented the Berlin Philharmonic project were we had a sneak at a rehearsal. I liked it.

CHAMPAGNE VALENTINE was a waste of time!

Then came ROBERT L. PETERS and showed that we need to be aware of what’s around us, pay attention and be always receptive to knowledge… be open minded, be revolutionary. It was a very nice presentation, given by one great designer and speaker.

ONESIZE, showed their “Sponsor Main Titles” film for OFFF’09, which they directed and produced. It was ok.

Then, and after the break, came PES and the best presentation of the day. The best work showed at OFFF’09. Simply incredible. Stop motion with a quality that is only achieved with a lot of work and attention to detail.

PAULA SCHER was a goof surprise for me. She’s a designer that started in the early 70′s and her work as influenced designer’s all over the world. She led us into a time travel and showed how her evolution as a designer was so important for the definition of her own style.

And for last, the great JOSHUA DAVIS. Just like last year, he gave us a brilliant presentation, full of energy, comic moments and… F words. It would have been the best of the day but, he really didn’t show anything new from last year. He started with a new concept – SPACE – but after a while we were looking at the same projects of last year. And it wasn’t the best also because PES was simple incredible.

And this was the second day. Much better then the first.

Unfortunately I wont be able to go to the third day, so for me OFFF is finish.
Hope to be there next year.

Starting on the venue location, Fundição de Oeiras, which as a very poor acoustics and it’s hot as hell. Then, there was almost any signs to help you around.
If this was any other venue, who cares, but this one is all about communication, design, motion, digital solutions… information. And there was a lack of it.

Getting to the presentations, it started with NEVILLE BRODY, great design, good content, interesting ideas and concepts, but… what a bad presentation! The sound, the timing, the speech… even the projection had some problems.

Then… we had a lunch break!!! One presentation and a break? Why start?

After the break, i decided to see KOBAYASHI. No, i didn’t know he was italian, I really thought he was japanese! It was good, and in a way, very inspiring. Change is good, and sometimes you need to have one in your life. Take a chance.

Then it was time for EVA VERMANDEL. It was impossible to hear anything and the pictures weren’t at all what i was waiting for.

JASON BRUGES STUDIO, was very good. It could had been even better, if the sound would help. They showed some of the work that they do, and it was really good work. Very innovative and modern, with great installations.

Another break. This one, made every sense.

After the break, we had the presentation, UNITED VISUAL ARTIST (UVA). Everything was great, Dave Ferner (animation designer at UVA), gave a very smooth presentation with good timing and very interesting projects. It was basically based on the installations that they have done, and it was very well explained. Again, the sound wasn’t great, but we were allready aspecting that. If i had to chose the best of the day, it would be this one.

Didn’t saw all the JAMES PATERSON + AMIT PITARU presentation, but from a little piece that i did see, it was very nice. Very psychedelic.

And the last presentation was CHRIS MILK. His work is very nice, but the presentation wasn’t. I almost fell asleep!

And this was the first day.
So far it wasn’t impress me. Only in a negative way!

Tomorrow is another day, and theres allways Joshua Davis, which means great and enthusiastic presentation. For sure.

Yesterday, the one year old boy (almost two) fell from the sofa, nothing new, it wasn’t the first time. But this time, I saw everything and didn’t get in time to prevent it. He fell on is head and then is back. I know that it hurt him but for me it was indescribable.

I saw it and couldn’t believe. It was scary, because I believed at that moment, that it could be something serious. It wasn’t.

He cried a lot, but after 5 minutes he was playing on the sofa… again! And I’ve just lost a few more years of my life!