The fourth day of the Eurosurf 2023 in Santa Cruz, Portugal, was highlighted by drama and joy as the main candidates to the collective title experienced the stress of the competition and even loss, in the case of England’s Lukas Skinner, European junior champion who was taken out of the men’s surf contest.

Eurosurf 2023 is quickly approaching the decision point with Spain looking stronger by the day, relative to the other favorite teams for the win at Santa Cruz, Portugal, after the curtain fell on the 5th day of competition.

Spain is, now, the only team who hasn’t lost a single surfer, while Germany, on the other hand, has suffered huge blows having already lost two of its male surfers (Leon Glatzer and Dylan Groen), two female surfers (Camila Kemp and Noah Klapp) and both longboarders (Aleksander Heek and Nina Altenburg), occupying now the 6th place in the provisional team standings. A bitter surprise for the Germans who started the competition as one of the stronger sides.

On the other hand, Portugal, who had a rough start to the event, seeing almost immediately Afonso Antunes and Guilherme Fonseca going into the repechage rounds, is now in second, having lost Antunes and Erica Máximo just today and placing both of its longboarders in the qualification finals.

Italy also has had a rough time with some losses, but now sits in third. England, who lost Lukas Skinner unusually early, is fourth for the moment while the Netherlands completes this list in 5th. A pleasant surprise with a great overall performance was Beyrick de Vries, a brilliant protagonist, both in the water and in the flash interviews with some disconcertingly funny statements like the one today when he talked about how his plans after the heat consisted of “having a raw steak and a nap”.

In summary, Eurosurf 2023 is reaching its peak, with abundance of drama as the numbers illustrate. For instance, just today 32 of the 111 surfers that started the event were taken out. The future champions start to shape up but there are still many waves to be surfed and everything can still change radically. We will wait and see.

The Eurosurf returns tomorrow at 9h00 GMT and all the live action and results are available here at www.eurosurfing.org