Picklum takes no1, San Clemente surge in Saquarema, Lost 3-peats Vissla CT Shaper Rankings | Lineup

Picklum takes no1, San Clemente surge in Saquarema, Lost 3-peats Vissla CT Shaper Rankings | Lineup

[Music] all right we are back we have a lot to talk about this is the lineup podcast i’m Dave Prodan here with Mitch Salazar event number nine on the 2025 WSL Championship Tour season the Vivo Rio Pro presented by Corona finished over the weekend with California’s Cole Hund and Australia’s Molly Pickham taking away their first event wins of the 2025 season next up on the CT is stop number 10 the Corona Sero Open in Jeff Bay in just a couple of weeks but before we get to the world’s best surfers at one of the world’s best right-hand points we are honored to be joined with our friend Mitch from On the Ground in Brazil mitch how are you doing today yeah doing good Dave appreciate it you know first of all it’s been a few events this year where you have finished literally on the final day of the waiting period props to Tours and Comps you know they they waited till the very end we made sure that we’re getting the best waves and you know yesterday was one of the best days I’ve ever seen at ETA perfect peaks good wedges too and you know when the sand really got to the bottom part of the tide to me the the bars are really good and it just goes to show you how high performance this wave is how consistent it can be and why it’s delivering every single time we come here for a championship tour event but really nice to see some new champions too we have brand new women’s champion and brand new men’s champion it’s a good point and um yeah big win for waiting periods um you know anytime the WSL gets some folks coming in from finance they’re like I don’t understand why do we have waiting periods it’s like well this is exactly why the season’s proving out the point and a really good note on on you know new winners um at this point in the year is kind of two ways that that that ball can bounce you can kind of calcify those front runners and and they can kind of establish their dominance heading into the world title end of the season or we can get what we’re getting which is kind of like a mixed bag but uh let’s get into it mitch what do you got for winners and losers from the Vivo Rio Pro yeah it should be a pretty obvious one to me it’s you know the women’s top five outside of Molly Pickle everybody loses the elimination round and you know props to the wild card Arena Rodriguez she knocked out Gabby Bryan who was leading the rankings coming into this event right here in Rio betty Lu Sakura Johnson Isabella Nichols victims of the elimination round two back-to-back champion our defending champion Caitlyn Simmers also went down and you know it was just surprising but in the end as Chris always says on the broadcast that’s Sakarama like you don’t know what to expect tide gets high you have the backwash involved right here too and of course you know with decreasing or increasing swells you either get pulled too far out back or too far inside thinking that you know a certain wave might be out there in those 20 30 minutes you have in the heat but unfortunately for four of those women it wasn’t the case and for Molly perfect scenario she had the opportunity to take the lead with all four of them out and she achieved that goal dave yeah it’s a good point you know with only two regular seasons left now before the Lexus WSL finals in Fiji the the first loser for me out of Rio was really anyone who lost ground in the top 10 on the women’s side you had Laky Peterson she lost two positions from 8th to 10th admittedly she was an outside chance at the final five but really seemed to be on a roll ahead of Rio and then on the men’s side you had twotime world champion Felipe Toledo he dropped from 8th to 9th italy’s Leonardo Fervante dropped from 10th to 11th and Baron Mamia one-time rankings front runner this season dropped out of the top five currently sits eighth you know Baron as we spoke about the last time he was part of that cursed heat against Kelly Slater at Trestles he beats Kelly but he tweaks his knee in the process he can’t finish the event he starts rehabbing immediately and if you think about how gnarly Baron is at lefthand reef breaks like Cloudbreak you can imagine he’s eyeing this year as a very very strong shot at his world title unfortunately it didn’t look great for him in Rio we’ll see if he can improve for Jeff Bay luckily for him he is a monster in Tahiti so there is still a chance but yeah those are my my first losers coming out of Rio and just to you know add something to Baron right there too say you don’t get the result you want in JB you probably can’t push off the way you’re looking to i’ve actually been dealing with an injury myself on the hip for the last month and you know I had a couple of surfs down here and then Saka one day was really big but at that point I’d already done some PT with a couple of the sports therapists down here Flor and Noni they did an amazing job but it’s not a guarantee that it’s going to work within you know the next few days a week two weeks down the line that’s a process and for Baron yeah Jay might not be the opportunity but in Tahiti if it’s big or if it’s just barreling there’s really no performance surfing that you need to do it’s less stress stress on your body less movement and of course you’re picking a straight line the entire time so hopefully he gets to that point where he just you know needs to be looking for a semi or a final and I think once again you know he’s really proved this year that that he’s a world title contender and I would love to see him compete at the Lexus WSL finals come Fiji second loser right here and I think it’s you know something that we touch on every single time we come down to Rio it’s really the diversity and how difficult it is to read the forecast right here in Sakarama changes every single day you probably have four seasons within an hour tides waves and of course the wind is a big factor right here too as soon as it gets a certain size and it becomes choppy it’s either too dangerous or the backwash makes it even more difficult so once again props to tours and comps but I think it’s just a testament of why this event is so important for the schedule on tour because this one and pen are the only two beach breaks on tour and to be considered the very best especially in the calendar year you have to be able to prove yourselves at locations like this yeah it’s a good one it’s actually related to my second loser coming out of Rio which was just the backwash right and maybe Mitch you can explain this to civilians like myself as far as Sakura goes the conditions this year were relatively clean relatively ripable there were some lay days in there but on the run days pretty clean and yet this element of the backwash it it kind of occasionally provides some really high-fi moments but more often than not it really seems to plague the timing and potential explosiveness of even the world’s best surfers so so what what gives it this break in particular Mitch yeah it’s really just the way the beach is developed and it happens a lot more on the right which is really the alley right right there that’s closer to the rocks you don’t necessarily see it a ton on the left depending on the swell direction but I saw it a whole lot in the afternoons on the right-handers i mean I think it was the one heat that Molly Pickham was able to make it through to the uh into the semifinals the second day we ran and I’m just thinking to myself that’s the person who won the event if she’s struggling out there imagine just the average Joe and in the end it comes down to timing at this wave more than anything but even even with that mindset if you’re not in a grind kind of process and looking to get couple of fours a couple of fives just to be able to make the heat then you’re probably not going to do very well out here and that’s why we had both champions Cole Halman and Molly Pickland they were the two most adaptable surfers out there in the lineup and that’s actually my third loser it’s a lack of adaptation because you go into this event thinking okay just another regular beach break it’s heavy i know it kind of has that Hawaii style power but if you don’t have the ability to adapt in 30 40 minutes out there then what’s the whole point of even competing in an event like this the reason you go why you go through the QS is to be able to prepare yourself for for situations like this and note in advance that it’s a beach breaks it’s complex you got to bring the right boards you got to bring a multitude of boards too and that’s why this event is not only on the CT also on the Challenger Series to be able to prepare you once you get here yeah no it’s a really great point um you know third loser for me coming out of Rio were actually the Brazilian fans that were looking for a hometown winner right you got huge shout out to Luana Silva um look great all the event but the rundown for the other Brazilians in the event Miguel Poopo semi-finals very respectable Yagoa quarters Idlo quarters Felipe Toledo round of 16 allejo Munes and Sakura local boy Xiaoianka round of 32 you know the Brazilian fans they are passionate they are well-informed it’s really like a high IQ surfing audience i’d say it’s only really rivaled by like the Australians and that place goes off when one of their own takes the takes home the win on sort of their home beach but wasn’t to be this year um bummer for them but awesome show from everybody all the same um so yeah that’s my third loser coming out of uh Rio who do you got for the winners Mitch yeah I mean first winner to me is somebody who we’ve talked about all season long but in the last five events he’s only lost once before the semi-finals and that’s San Clemente’s Griffin Cole Pinto our runner up on the men’s side what an incredible turn of events after having a lot of close heats in the beginning of the year not making them maybe doubting himself even a little bit and especially at certain events where he was dominant before two-time champ in Portugal he had won before in Punta Rock and at Salador loses out early right there he’s probably thinking to himself “What do I need to do just to be able to make a heat at this point?” And you know a a cut was really the thing that we’re looking at right Dave same thing with Italo a few years ago and you know survives the cut after that though doing well at Bells look at what he did o over at home at lower trestles and of course here making another final where he just come off of a final against Jordy Smith and in WA and Margaret River as well so props to him he’s up to number six in the rankings right now we have Jeff Bay where he’s done very well in the past he’s made it into finals day before and of course in Tahiti we all know how good of a barrel rider he is and pressurees off not having to compete at home in the Lexus WSL finals anymore you already proved your point during a regular season event you won the event as regular season event in Fiji last year so really it’s a world of opportunity for him whether you’re the five seed or the one seed a possibility of a world champion from California is definitely something I see in the future it’s a great point on these like world title contenders that get very close to kind of touching the stove with the cut you mentioned Italo before and Griffin this season and their ability to bounce back so quickly is they’re like I this isn’t who I am you know i’m I’m here to be like winning events and winning world titles and it’s a really great parallel and not similar my my first winner from Rio or actually just the San Clemeni boys in general right you had Griffin and Cole they’re in the final cole came away with the big win and then Matt Biola lost surfboards they’re based in San Clemente all but seal up uh their three pet shaper of the year on the Vista CT Shaper rankings they got Griffin and Cole in the men’s final Iago in the quarters and then both women’s semi-finalists and Caroline Marks and Aaron Brooks obviously everybody rips on tour but I don’t know maybe there’s something about the you know San Clemeni Beach Breaks and the Rio Breache Breaks that added up um you know you got 204s San Clemeni Pier T Street Lost Winds Riviera State Park and so on i know they’re not what they used to be but but maybe you know Cole’s win and Griffin’s final and you know the way that Lost Surfboards is performing maybe it’s a big boon for the uh bring back our beaches sand campaign and get some juice going for that uh down in San Clemeni no you’re 100% right and not only right there in San Clemente they either go north or they go south they got plenty of beach breaks and options right there too you go to Oceanside you go to North Orange County with both Newport Beach and Huntington where they have a plethora of both amateur and professional events too so you’re accustomed to surfing beach breaks like this and no you’re totally right i mean for how she I’ll just go straight into him as as one of my winners because for him imagine growing up in so many of those different waves and your style maybe doesn’t necessarily translate to a lot of events that you’re probably thinking he could potentially win now you come into a wave that matches power with power and not only that an open canvas too so he gets the opportunity to let loose you know and more than anything be comfortable with his surfing ability on the right equipment too that’s something I’ve really seen with his relationship both with Matt Biolas and with Gian Bernini the team manager props to Gian he did an amazing job down here with the Mayhem boys he was on site every single day and not only that taking care of them at their house too but yeah I I think how she’s really allowing himself to surf the way he wants to now freely it seemed like the cut was something that he was pressured by too really close here remember I mean it was a tie breaker that he had against the Lego Mun over there ata makes it all the way to the semis was looking for a good result that lowers at home he got it defeated Jordi Smith who was still number one in the world at that point and as of right now he’s got a second event win in under two regular seasons so far so props to Hi he’s really turning into one of the greats I would say out of San Clemente yeah it’s a great one and I mean currently rated 12th on the rankings as you mentioned little bit of a sleepy start to the year for him was sort of touching the stove on the on the cutoff but he’s ranked 12th he’s got Jeff Bay coming up i’m looking forward to seeing him surf there tahiti um great tube rider i mean it’s not inconceivable that he could crack the top five and then be a real danger man out at Cloud Break he has such a different approach to the tour he has such unique tools and I think the judges really respond to that when when when he’s on and you know what’s crazy about it too i remember talking to our head judge Lud Ped a few years ago right before uh Cole qualified and he was like “Dude I’m having trouble scoring this guy because it just seems like he places the board so well but I don’t know if his timing is off or something.” But it’s the amount of spray that he always has that maybe misguides people i just think that a lot of times for power surfers and I was talking to Jordy Smith about this the other day to be able to be a guy that big and place your board in the pocket at the right time is so extremely difficult and the only people can that can really acknowledge that are people the same size as you so props to him he’s finding his feet on tour and it takes a while as we all know but in second year not many people can say that they’ve already won two events on tour interesting another goofy footer uh Wiggly Dantis comes to mind his timing and placement and spray was like out of control on tour to the point where surfers were complaining about his scores cuz that was just like that it’s a good one yeah uh second winner for me maybe uh somewhat controversial i may get like a sternly worded email about it but uh you know in the immortal words of Englorious Bastards is uh Lieutenant Aldo Rain i’ve been chewed out before uh second winner for me were actually Australia’s Huey Vaughn and Maui’s Matt Miola surfers who number one were not in the event although Huey’s brother Joel is and is in the hunting for Rookie of the Year and number two they’re not and have never been on the championship tour however during the late days in Rio the the Swatch 9’s event was running in Waco Texas and holy Huey and Matt went crazy in the pool and not only they go crazy but they really commanded the attention and praise of the world’s best surfers CT standouts world champions global media and beyond so it’s not a put down to the Rio event but I I think when something like Huey and Mass performances do what they did in the surfing world and beyond it’s worth calling out so they’re my second winner coming out of the last couple weeks it’s coincided actually a couple of times this year i think they did staff high in Japan we had a layday in one of the Australian events and people get motivation out of that i mean you have a lay it’s a surf comp and especially in a controlled environment like a pool you know you’re going to see incredible stuff so yeah really astounding i mean Huvon’s been a contender to to be in the Pro Junior World Championships a few years in a row he got injured literally days before we started the event in the Philippines this year but look at him now i mean he’s no doubt going to be there at the end of this year and props to Matt Mayola too the fact that his body is still sustaining everything that well over nearly two decades of surfing this way is just mind-blowing and I think it just goes to show you how much we’ve progressed both in technology to prevent injuries but where technology has brought us with surfboards and and fins too so yeah those two guys definitely deserve their flowers and if it if it weren’t for people like that we probably wouldn’t have the performances we have in the 30 40 minutes that we see on the championship tour within a heat you know I think they play off for one another really well like 100% there’s one is non-existent without the other and I’m going to die on that hill right there because I truly feel that if it’s not for that extra motivation that you get from seeing something that inspires you you probably wouldn’t go out there and try yourself so yeah props to those guys for sure and you know props to this woman too my third winner is the event champion first time she’s ever won outside of Hawaii and it’s Molly Picklam and you know the the most impressive thing about it was that she knew that there was an opportunity to capitalize on you know the loss of all four women in the top five outside of her she did it she’s now leading the rankings where she’s been a runner up at JB4 and we all know how good she is in terms of barrel riding some people call her the best barrel rider on the female tour and I probably agree with that so the seating right now uh for the Lexus WSL finals on the women’s side is going to be really interesting because there’s such a huge gap 1 two and three in comparison to four and five those three are a lock but in which position are they going to end up come September or late August over there in Fiji so I’m interested we’ve never seen Molly really be higher than a four seed in the finals before i think she would do amazingly well if she’s one or two personally I can’t argue either molly is my third winner as well um first CT win as you mentioned outside of Hawaii first CT win since Sunset Beach 2024 so it’s been a minute she’s been super consistent all year three semi-final finishes two runner-ups and now this win she’s on top of the rankings and and I would argue that this particular win’s hitting at the right time of the season right we’ve got two more regular season events before Fiji she’s in pole position she’s got a taste for winning right now so so I I wouldn’t be surprised if she went on a bit of a run here before the finals to cement that number one spot and as you mentioned Mitch you know going into the WSL finals as the number one seed versus the number four seed radically different as you pointed out she’s arguably one of the best tube riders on the planet especially on her backhand um I’m really looking forward to seeing what she does this season yeah and I mean just an example given last year Katie had been one of the you know four or five seeds in 2023 first year on tour she garnered experience from that moment right there but coming into next year she already had the experience of competing in the finals once and now being the one seed she had an opportunity to surf three matches against Caroline Mars who had just been world champion the year before so there’s absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain from an opportunity like this and I think not only is she deserving event she’s also showed the consistency this year in comparison to the previous years too where she hadn’t won an event in the back end of the season either she only won at Sunset before this so props to her she’s obviously evolving and with the help of Fletch in her corner too i feel like they’ve been doing some great work in the offseason it’s a great point well that’s it for winners and losers from the Vivo Rio Pro presented by Corona we’re going to take a quick break to get a word in from our sponsors and when we come back we’re going to talk surfboards all right welcome back to the lineup podcast i’m Dave Prodan here with Mitch Salazar it is time to discuss where we’re at on the 2025 Vista CT Shaper rankings shaper ranking we’re into our third season quick reminder of how we calculate the rankings it is a combined ranking men’s and women’s we count all surfers finishing in the quarterfinals or better the Shapers receive the same rankings points that correlate to their respective surfer finishes higher the surfer finishes the more points that Shaper receives we’ve been tracking the Vista CT Shaper rankings from CT-1 at Pipeline we will do it all the way through the next two events in Tahiti and in addition to being honored as the 2025 CT Shaper of the Year at the WSL awards 2025’s Vista CT Shaper rankings winner will be gifted an overnight stay and surf at Surf Ranch Lamore courtesy of the Kelly Slater Surf Ranch and the WSL well we mentioned it already uh it feels like Matt Biololis and Lost Surfboards out of San Clemente California they’re walking into their three repeat of CT Shaper of the Year uh over these next couple events still not mathematically locked but that might happen after this next event i have a hard time imagining anyone challenges something wild would have to happen but they’re just too good we’ve been talking about them all year the the depth of their team both on the men’s side and the women’s side they’re not just putting up the numbers they’re not just taking the surfers agency and and having those surfers gravitate towards lost surfboards they’re they’re putting up the wins they’re putting up the results and you know if you take a look at the combined rankings right now we’ve got Lost Outfront Sharp Eye in second DHD in third Channel Islands in fourth JS in fifth all awesome programs um but then you look at the breakdown of the men’s and women’s rankings separately lost historically has had such a strong women’s team they still do they’re way way out in front but at this event they actually leaprogged over Sharpie on the men’s um men’s only rankings as well so just a huge performance both men’s finalists Yagodora both women’s semi-finalists i don’t know what else there is to say at this point mitch what were your observations from on the ground there yeah first of all it was really cool to see both Gian Bernini from Mayhem and Yufu Penrose from Sharpie he was the team manager you know he’s been the team manager for Sharpie for a good number of years he actually lives in Southern California himself too but did an amazing job with Jake Marshall lana Silva obviously making the final for them as well but um you know I think their their absence of Felipe at this event probably cost him the lead on the men’s side four-time champion at this event we all know how dominant he has the best record here ever in the history of the Rio Pro and of course in Sakura he’s the king of the place but this year we have a brand new champion mayhem had both men’s finalists griffin Cole Pinto and Cole Halchmond and then on the women’s side they had two semi-finalists too aaron Brooks Caroline Mars and the big difference this year once again they were able to get another strong surfer on the women’s side and that’s Betty Dakura Johnson i know she didn’t do well at this event right here but she already has two wins outside of that she’s also made it in the finals day multiple times and Gabby Bryan’s also having the best year of her life so you lose Carissa Moore that she’s you know still in her leave of absence we’ll see if she even returns to competition eventually but on the men’s side dude Yagodora has been leading the charge for them all year long now you have the resurgence of Griffin Cole Pinto cole Halman could potentially make a run for the world championship in these next two events as well and let’s not forget about the guys in JS2 who hadn’t been even in the mix in the top five in the first two years of the system and they’re still remaining in number five at the moment so props to them 83,530 i know it’s not a huge amount but they’ve slowly developed their program a lot more and that has a lot to do with Miguel Poop props to him best result ever here in Rio made it to the semi-finals for the first time dave it’s a great one another note on JS in Rio was that uh current men’s front runner Jordi Smith collected a a quarterfinals result um writing JS surfboards i actually got a few notes from the boys of law saying like I think he was writing like a mayhem in the quarters but as we kind of calculated he was writing the JS in the round of 16 it’s the it’s the surfboard that you won your last heat on that gets you the result so um they were they were um gracious in in being updated on that but it’s another point i mean like we mentioned it before Jord’s collected results for three different board companies this year and Smith Shapes his own label with his father Graham um JS Surfboards and then Mayhem um you mentioned Sharp Eye so that Marcio Zuvie one of the best shapers on the planet Yufu Penrose um their team manager you know historically and I think in the last season and a half they’ve struggled on the women’s side right joanne DeFay she’s taken the season off off Tatiana Weston Webb she’s taken the season off but they actually posted probably their strongest result ever on the women’s side with Lana Silva uh picking up a runner-up finish uh Tatiana Weston Webb came back as a wild card she picked up a quarterfinals finish and then the other wild card um Arena Rodriguez also a sharpeye team rider so that balance really played out for them as well you know one thing I was noticing while watching Mitch and I’m curious if this was the actual case with you being on the ground is you know similar to when we talked about the equipment choices at the other Beach Break on tour at Super Turos in Peniche it felt like everyone was fairly conservative in their choices they were just going with the standard polyurethane thruster setup um I didn’t see a ton of variance but I’m curious if you noticed anything from being on the ground there yeah probably only two people where I saw that it’s the open-mindedness as you said of Jordy Smith he rode two different JS’s throughout the event was riding the mayhem in the quarters but as you said points count for the last heat that you won so that was in the round of 16 he was riding Jason Stevenson’s board he was just switching up his size more than anything so the length went uh and tried a 63 on one of the ladies when it was smaller just to get things going with it and feel it out ended up riding a 6’2 in the end the majority of the time Jake Marshall was on his trusty 77 which is the bestselling model of Sharp Eye but it was a PU the entire time now the one variant was Cole Hosman was on a F1 model which is a great model but not one of the bestselling from Mayhem really high performance maybe not as bladey up on the nose so just a bit more volume for him fits his style really well but the one that he rode in the morning of the finals against Jake Marshall in the quarters was actually a Brazilian blank that was an EPS so the stringer is a bit different it’s more of a carbon wrap down the middle and then he eventually transitioned into a normal PU in the afternoon which was both the semis and the final for him and of course just adding more stability with a bit of a lower tide fuller tide he was on the EPS epoxy which was a Brazilian blank right i think I heard maybe it was Cotay mentioned that Italo’s uh Patterson was an EPS core as well too i know it’s he’s got that cool spray on it but I’m not sure if that’s the case throughout the entire event it’s actually like a blend that they have right here Tikico and Teco from Silver Surfboards um they make most of the Timmy Patterson’s down here in Brazil and they make a large portion of Eto’s boards throughout the entire year but he was riding the same board um that he was at lowers in that heat he traded it out because he wanted more of a feel of PU during the heat that he lost to Ethan Euing but yeah it’s it’s like a carbon mesh within um uh the actual laminate so instead of just going full carbon on top it’s actually uh glued together with the actual uh epoxy resin and what it does it just has a little bit more spring and you know it’s a bit different in terms of texture too but you have the right fins especially in terms of the right beach break too things going to work but I think that day alone we were increasing the swell throughout the day and yeah just with the tide dropping too you wanted something just a bit more stable so I understand why you wanted to switch but in the end it it just seems like PUS are the better option on a lower tide out here makes sense now let’s do some more psychology mitch I’m going to put you in the Better Help Therapy uh chair here well the therapist chair cuz I want you to I want you to speculate um we talked about Cole Hman and how he’s a a physically a different kind of surfer his approach is different i think that point of difference is really playing out in terms of results in a lot of ways right um he wrote a slightly different construction in the morning you mentioned but I’m just curious like at a beach break like it um we talked about the backwash on the higher tide we talked about how that that that does plague you know timing it does it does create a little bit of like nursing a surfer’s turns but like if if point of difference and different lines is really scoring well like why aren’t we seeing just a little bit more experimentation at beach brakes like that is it because is it because that backwash and maybe that uncertainty kind of it pushes everyone more towards the most familiar piece of equipment they have i’m just curious cuz I I feel like anytime you see them free surfing something that looks a little different you’re like man that that would have to be a great score even in those conditions right i think and it’s a valid question and a great one too Dave thank you for uh for asking that cuz I probably feel like a lot of a lot of amateur surfers on the line probably think to themselves like why can’t I surf that way you know 90% of the time but I think it all just comes down to trusting yourself and for Cole I noticed that a lot in the way he carries himself you know brings the chest out has that swagger cool demeanor about him but at this point after the cut you shouldn’t really care about winning or losing those close heats anymore it’s like prove your point if you’re one of the best surfers in the world you got to able to demonstrate in any type of surf and it of course when it comes to a beach break that changes multiple times a day too you got to be adaptable especially in a final day situation where you’re probably going to surf three different times in completely different conditions the one thing I will say about Cole he’s definitely one of those guys that has maintained the same fin the entire time i’ve seen him both on the Challenger and the CT John Tech flex the entire time something really stiff that holds but he does experiment a good amount with the big rig the F1 the driver 3.0 i know they’re probably close to releasing the Driver 4.0 and of course probably the most the most adaptable board on the market the Subdriver and that tends to be a board that you always have to have one of them in your quiver now when it comes to competing putting on the Rashgard there was one heater in particular against Canoa that won him the the event he had an eight and the backup was a nine he scoured the lineup for about 10 minutes to be able to better the backup not a single wave came through but to me that just proved resiliency and ways to adjust in the moment psychology is one thing but more than anything trusting yourself and having that confidence in both your equipment and what your your abilities are and yeah of course the board has a lot to do do with it i think it just comes down to the surfer in those big moments i appreciate that insight Mitch and uh before we move off of the uh the board talk um very happy that you’re getting your hip worked on down there water’s warm the waves do look like a lot of fun what were you riding yourself down there yeah I brought uh kind of some beater boards per se just cuz I know that this wave has a lot of power if it snaps it’s okay i’m cool with it that’s the whole reason why I brought them down retro Tripper uh with a good uh little wing in the back tail of it too worked amazing the big day that we had out here i surf with Joe and he was on his Timmy Patterson it was a two plus one um but yeah me personally the Retro Tripper is something that I brought to both Portugal and here knowing that it’s a Beach Break changes quite a bit works really well with power and I did have a Subdrive 2.0 and light speeded material which is one of their EPS epoxy constructions with a carbon down the middle i really like it works well when it’s small handles when it’s big too and that actually I bought that off of Racket Mayhem so that one actually has FCS fins in it i ride the MF largest in that and the other one I was just riding a really good Mayhem Temple and a largest from Futures but yeah it changes so much down here you just want a board that’s versatile you know but um in the end Beach Break you know it’s going to be fun and you’re going to be able to get a few sessions in when you’re down here for the event but what about you Dave i know Cali’s been warm still and I’m looking forward to get back home and surfing in trunks too it’s you know it’s warm south of Point Magoo it’s still pretty frosty up here you know event far county and um yeah I think what do Wade Good all call it like Sunday surfing like where he would like break out the log or break out the mid-length i think every day is like Sunday for me up here but I’ve been uh just been cruising i’ve been surfing my little guy so I’ve been uh I’ve been riding like a Jeez at this point it’s like 15 years old still goes great but it’s like a uh Hayden Shapes he did a collab with Alex a long time ago it’s like Wow yeah yeah it’s like a 92 um so yeah just been cruising at the point brakes with my little guy and uh it’s nice it’s nice just to like stand up and like trim and go as long as you can but um yeah I think actually I think I have like a mid twin coming from CI and then a better everyday i got to follow up on that but um yeah looking forward to doing some wiggles uh before long yeah no I I feel like what they’ve been releasing so far this year I have the OG Puddle Jumper which is the very first version but just a bit more refined right now which I left in California cuz I didn’t want anything to happen to it just in transition from like the airport and stuff like that i was like that thing’s brand new i’ve ridden a few times i don’t want anything to happen to it but that has a five fin option and to be perfectly fair Californians we don’t need a whole big quiver you might need just one or two boards throughout the entire summer just to have fun so always have something like that in your pocket and I feel like round nose fish is a perfectly good option as you said you have the Mod Quad now too and CI has an incredible board coming out called the Better Everyday that I know you’re waiting for which is to me one of the most high performance shortboards and adaptable shortboards on the market i am waiting on it yeah and and shout out on the puddle jumper i think um your former CT stalwart Koh and Dino released like a little clip on Instagram the other day i I think the waves are like 4 in and it’s like he is tearing the things apart so that board looks insane so yeah congrats to all the board builders congrats to Lost of course and um we’ll do a formal congrats here maybe as soon as the end of Jeffrey’s Bay on on their repeat unless something wild happens but uh yeah thanks to Vista thanks to all the board builders around the world and not just the shapers but the team managers the sanders the glassers everyone that puts so much effort into building the world’s best surfboards for the world’s best surfers we’re going to take another break to get a word in from our sponsors and when we come back we will talk fantasy answer listener questions and we’ll get out of here all right everybody welcome back to the lineup podcast i am your part-time co-host Mitchell Salasad and that is the great Dave Prodan let’s talk fantasy this year the lineup pod is running the CT fantasy contest will be playing all season long and awarding the overall top three fantasy winners at the end of the season with gift cards to the WSL store valuing 50 to $150 update on fantasy rankings Dave Post Rio in our line of fantasy mega league our winner of the event is Daniel 11 1221 111 points number two coming in at snake 5 120429 points l probably stands for something he comes in at number three 1198.3 jeffro01 at number four 119715 really close between number three and four by the way and dingoes we all love some dingoes at number five 119660 but our overall rankings Dave they have changed joey Pepperoni gets dropped down to second place because Dane Gurr moves up to first 650358 he’s leading pepperoni is down to second 642711 lmp wow they’re up to number three in the overall 640576 perry Nara at number four 639203 and Anthony Ptocow at number five at the moment he dropped two spots since lower still in the top five though very respectable 6326 88 all right Dave give it to me power Surfer and how did your team do post Rio i I feel like I’m constantly in the middle of our the lineup podcast mega league right down the median which is pretty good it’s um reflective of our audience i finished 533 in the event overall in the league I’m 557 so that’s pretty close on the women’s side uh tier A I went with Katie Simmers i was hoping for a repeat she got dumped in the elimination round so that didn’t go super great um tier B did all right i went with both the Mayhem Team Riders Caroline Marks and Aaron Brooks semiinal finishes for them that was pretty respectable and then tier C I went with Luana Silva seemed like an easy one like um her partner Xiaoa he lives in Sakura she’s been on a heater and yeah she really performed i went with the finals what did you do on the women’s side and then we’ll go into the men’s i had Katie of course back-to-back champion and I was expecting Lisa Semi right here i had Laky Peterson she works with Landra Dora i was having high hopes especially the way she’s been surfing lately has wave starfed heat against Aaron Brooks i got friendly fire in the quarters i had Aaron also tier B she made it to the semis good result for her props to Aaron by the way sneaky sneaky rookie year and she’s doing well i’m I’m really stoked no world champion probably but I I really like what I’m seeing and I had Tati i had to go with Tati um was looking forward to seeing her surf and Caroline just outclassed her in the quarterfinals props to Caroline though she gets another good result she’s just outside of the top five now let’s go men’s tier A power surfer who’ you have Dave tier A power surfer i went with Iodora uh as my power surfer and Italer as my second tier A i don’t think those were super controversial picks but they bowed out in the quarters as we talked about tier B I went with Jack Robinson Leonardo Fia Ravante Felipe Toledo and Joel Vaughn all four of them got bounced in the round to 16 and then tier C probably a couple curve balls but I felt like they were like inspired picks that didn’t pan out for me uh Marco Mo and Person Croissanto um remember Person when he was on tour i just think he’s like a really good surfer then Marco I kind of thought beach breaks in France beach breaks in Sakama we might see something explosive they both got bounced in the elimination round so probably not the best showing out of my men’s but who’d you have Mitch i had Yago Power Surfer of course no shame in in that loss in the quarterfinals i had my good buddy Canela Igarashi was coming off of the final over there at Lowers he loses to eventual champion Cole Houseman in the round 16 trp Jack Robinson had a couple of moments had one sick barrel against Real Wida in the elimination round and the winner Cole Hman props to Cole did very well 15138 points by the way just from Cole Hashman alone so awesome to see there from the big goofy footer i add Jovon loses a close heat to Ethan Ewing round of 16 had one sick alleyoop uh wanted to see him do another style of air though after Huey’s inspiration in the pool connor Olirri he loses out quite early i I thought the waves match his power very well here he didn’t get the result that probably he was looking for marino same thing and um just want to say one thing about Marco i spoke to him after he lost and he was like “You know what i’m still having a ton of fun i’m enjoying the process but I don’t feel the same push or motivation post cut.” He feels like he needs inspiration to be able to perform and I told him “Hey write things down short-term goals during the event short-term goals during the year and long-term goals also for the entire season.” And he was like “You know what dude i’m going to take you up on your advice i got to start doing something more like that.” So I think Marco’s going to have a good bounce back at JB they were going to leave pretty soon and they’re going to score over there i already saw the forecast and it looks really fun i made a joke about the better help therapist but you’re doing it in real life Mitch hey well we both have degrees in sociology we try to help people out right so you got to you got to study the environment and try to help anybody along the way especially when they’re your friends i mean why not he’s got a little bit of the like high school grad gap year because he’s so young and he’s a rookie and he’s like “Hey I graduated i’m safe i’m going to cruise.” But you’re right like you know you can have a gap year with goals man what’s the the the freshman 20 is what they call when you gain that weight like in in freshman year something that or the freshman 15 I don’t know but unlimited food court yeah no I feel you well and I also had Al Cleland you know he wins his opening round he to me was one of his best performances throughout the year so far and then Liz is a narrow narrow one to Yodora in the round of 16 but once again he just it just doesn’t seem like he can overcome those big names in the round of 16 i still want to see him crack the quarterfinals he has two events left this year to potentially do that but overall I’m excited to see Al at both those events you know like JB hopefully is firing i’m I want to see how he goes and then we just have like a Tehobu man like and he is like proven on and off tour that he he goes like I’m excited to see what Al does in these next couple events as I’m about to say to me overall this rookie class is still one of the best I’ve ever seen you know look at the three guys that re-qualified Marco Joel and and Al they all had big moments in in pre-cut events and now post cut events you know they’re still finding their groove and you’re coming up against top seeds who have a lot more to gain out of it you know people that are making a push for the World Championship as a rookie yeah you probably have those aspirations yourself but it’s very unlikely that it’s going to happen in your in your first season on tour so just keep packing at it and if it happens cool and if it doesn’t well you always got 26 and you got to learn from your mistakes and and make those adjustments on the fly too so I expect them to do very well in the next two events especially as you said Allen and Tahiti we didn’t see him in the box unfortunately but I feel like if you get him in Tahiti if you’re his opponent you better watch out cuz that’s a motivated dude right there um I like it want to say a big thank you though um all of our listeners seriously you guys are doing amazing um thank you for writing in your questions but just participating in Fantasy is huge for us Dave and um you know what’s in store we got exclusive Yeti and WSL gear signed jerseys a lot of other cool stuff in store and make sure to set your event before every event now because the opposite of what the pre-cut events are this event right here JB is going to be huge time zones are very different for a lot of people worldwide make sure you have it at least a day in advance as well but just a couple of sleeper picks for yourself um anything you saw at this event in particular Dave in Sakura it really different to any other stop we’ve had on tour so far it’s a great question i mean we we kind of covered a lot of it i think less so what I’m seeing out of Sakura but more at just like this point in the year right the only thing that matters to these surfers are the final five and if you look at that that cutoff on the men’s and women’s side we’ll start with the women’s we mentioned Molly Pickham she’s in the front runner spot you know unofficial lineup team writer Gabby Bryan she’s number two reigning world champ Katie Simmers number three betty Lucer Johnson number four isabella Nichols number five six seven and eight on the women’s side are really gnarly you got Caroline Mark she had a great event in Rio tyler Wright twotime women’s world champ and then Aaron Brooks who won Fiji last year as a wild card and the spread at the moment between Isabella Nichols in fifth and Aaron Brooks at at eighth is less than 5,000 points so I think that that particular group is going to be really interesting to watch over these next few events and then on the women’s side we talked about Jordi Smith he’s number one iago Dora is number two keno Garashi is number three idlo is number four ethan Euing is number five that is a super gnarly WSL final five on the men’s side but just outside the cutoff Griffin Colinto at sixth Jack Robinson at seventh and Baron Mamia at eighth the spread between Ethan Yuing at number five and Baron Mamia at number eight again it’s about 5,000 points so with 20,000 points on hand in these last two events a lot can happen i’m really looking at that like number four through number eight space on on on both sides but what about you Mitch was there anything that that stood out to you in Brazil that you’re going to keep an eye on um you know both at JB and Tahiti you know me I’m a big stats guy and I feel like the stats at this event let me down so bad i was I was just based on that you know throughout the majority of it but I like surprises and it was really cool to see once again I I think having new champions is always good it just goes to show how good the tour is and how concentrated it can be on certain surfers at a time but that goes to show that you can prove yourself at any given moment against the world’s best and uh we’ve seen that against Jordy Smith the last two events we saw that against Italo with Ethan Yuing who had already made a final right here made it into the semis and now for Griffin Copinto that’s two semis in a row right here in Rio so props to him he’s had a huge bounce back this year molly Picklam on the women’s side really like what I’m seeing from Aaron Brooks a lot more um of a competitive strategy I would say rather than just focusing on her talent believing in herself a lot more too lulu’s had two runner-up performances this year really proud of her and just to be able to see her growth and elevation and confidence jb advice though don’t discount the goofies connor Olirri Italo and of course my guy Yagodora who is still in the top three conversation right there on the women’s side leggy Peterson former champ got to watch out for her and I definitely do think that Caroline Marx has a lot more to prove just outside of the top five but let’s go into our listener questions now dave probably our funnest segment out of our episode remember if we don’t get to your episode today you can always write in at the lineup pod and we will answer in our DMs as we always do let’s get straight into it dave at for Andrews have women become more exciting to watch than men now I mean that’s an interesting question i I think it all kind of comes down to like eye of the beholder stuff like I think some people like watching the men more some people like watching the women more and that’s not me politicking i just think that’s the truth i think you know in terms of narratives right as far as as far as this season goes we’ve talked about it i think you know Katie Simmers as the reigning women’s world champion so exciting uh last year had a great start to the season has still had a great season you know she’s number three in the world and I think we’ve said it before on this podcast that she might be the most exciting surfer on the planet right now um Gabby Bryan’s had an amazing year molly Picklam Betty Lou Isabella everybody um I think if you look at talent that has left the women’s tour in recent years right we have Steph Gilmore eighttime world champion still on sobatical we’ve seen her here and there wild cards she still looks amazing i I truly think Steph has like nothing left to prove um not to herself not to anybody else we’ll see if she eventually comes back but 50/50 in my opinion on whether that’s true chrismore another one like um congratulations to her and her family she got a a beautiful baby and um really seems to be enjoying uh motherhood right now i I don’t think she has anything left to prove to anybody either so you take those two and they’ve been subtracted from the tour but the talent that’s moved into that space the aforementioned talent is really really exciting i think if you contrast that and this is just my personal opinion on the men’s side when you look at John John Florence three-time world champion having a sabbatical Gabriel Medina three-time world champion had an injury this year again I don’t think they have anything to prove per se but maybe they have more to prove relative to a Stephen Carissa and the the tour does feel on the men’s side like it’s missing a couple pieces with them gone just just from my fan hat so I don’t know if that’s a great answer to the question but I I I think that the talent that’s filled that vacuum on either side it’s a little bit stronger on the women’s side than the men’s which is an insane thing to say because on the men’s side you still have like those top five Jordi Smith Yagodora Kenoi Garashi Adelof Ferrara Ethan Yuing the talent’s insane on the men’s side but I I do think it does feel like you throw in a Gabriel and John on the men’s side it becomes something supernatural i don’t know that’s my two cents what do you think Mitch i think those two men are disruptors and Medina probably still wants to prove something he doesn’t have anything to prove but he still wants to prove something i I know that for a darn fact like the guy’s just you know the alpha in the room anywhere you go he wants to be able to prove that he’s the best in the world john proved last year that he can win in that format and props to him like at this point you’ve already done all your free surfing stuff you have your enterprises you’re traveling with your brothers with your family it’s like dude go be a father go be a husband and just enjoy your life at this point now the vacuum or that gap on the women’s side I probably say has bigger shoes to be filled and I think that’s why so many eyes are on the women’s side of the field just because of Caitlyn Simmer’s impact i I still go back to the fact that she is the most important surfer on the planet at the moment she’s attracted a lot more attention uh to the women’s field and I think she motivates a lot of people to try to beat her in that sense too because you beat Caitlyn Simmers you’re one of the best surfers on the planet there’s no doubt about that but I also think the elevation of a lot of other talents on tour sakura definitely one of them we all knew how talented she was before she qualified she had won multiple challengers now she’s won multiple CT events within the same season gabby Bryan finally getting to the point where she could become world number one she held it for a good period of time molly Pickle now becoming more consistent winning outside of Hawaii but also Isabella Nichols has been a big wild card this year for me she’s won an event she’s made multiple finals still within the top five at the moment and people aren’t you know distracted about the fact that she might not be the best surfer going left on tour but she does know how to surf left and she knows how to win heats so she ends up being the top five seed she definitely has the endurance to go multiple matches during the day and yeah I think it’s all coming down to perspective but in the end I think both of them are super exciting so just props to everybody thanks for watching the tour because that’s really you know how we do things around here and really want to appreciate everybody who writes in too because some really interesting questions we’ve had the last few episodes and one of them our final question actually coming from a potential I would say potential dream tour destination in the future from at Macaroni’s Resort even these guys are listeners Dave when are you running a contest in Macaroni’s best high performance wave in the world I mean it doesn’t surprise me that they’re listeners I think uh Before we could even discuss this I think we should be doing like a lineup podcast residency at the resort to flush everything out it’s a great question i think macaronis is sort of like universally regarded as perhaps the most high performance wave on the planet i mean you’re going back the last couple of weeks an old clip of Dane Reynolds from the original Chapter 11 movie surfaced of him just annihilating the place like surfing so beautifully um you know on his backhand like barrels floaters airs you know combos huge power turns just beautiful lines i’ve had the good fortune to surf there a few times it is an unbelievable wave and it’s not new idea you know I remember Neil Ridgeway at Ripcurl back when they started doing the search events in the mid 2000s it was on the list um and it’s a good question and like I I think it goes back to kind of the answer we just had where it’s like these variety of factors that go into determining whether or not we can run event like can we get permitting is there infrastructure to broadcast it and stream it live to the world like where are the surfers staying is there sponsorship is there you know these events are very very expensive to run um to run safely and to run in a way that the world can enjoy them you know with a high quality broadcast and to run in a way where the surfers are motivated to perform prize money etc so um yeah I I’ll go back to my original point oh we’re we’re welcome to come and and check out the resort whenever you guys are ready um and uh yeah I would love to see an event at Macaronis before uh before my time at the WSL’s finished look if you need a sparring partner just ask you know I’ll go with you any day of the week and twice on Sunday too Dave you don’t have to twist my iron about going to macaroni but you know what’s so funny i hadn’t even seen this question just be up until we started recording and I was thinking to myself dude you know how many talks we have just amongst our friends and co-workers to be able to talk about like possible finals destinations and where you’d have like a perfect event you know I had dinner with Joe and Chris the other night and we were just talking about if you could have one wave on tour be a permanent one especially a left which would you have the three of us actually said macaronis just because it holds size it can be surf when it’s a bit smaller too it barrels it’s ripable it’s a high performance wave and it works on basically any kind of wind so I’m always down to go i mean if if somebody pops up the money I think we’re having an event there in the future yeah yeah two comments on that too like it is uh amazing with like how special surfing is to everyone how unique it is to everyone that that by and large the consensus is that it macaroni is the most high performance wave on the planet like you would think with like how like strong of an opinion every single surfer on the planet has about everything that everyone sort of congregated around this idea um and for good reason and uh you know secondly as far as uh you know us going um I cannot think of a more nightmarish scenario than being at macaronis with the world’s best surfers like it’s like there are some lineups where you know if we ever end up in a situation where look the only places to surf is the contest area i do my best to like stay out of the way and just pick up the scraps in fairness the scraps on the championship tour you can eat very well with them at Macaronis I don’t think a single crumb would go unsurfed if you had the world’s best surfers there so it is a it’s a venue I love going to i love surfing it’s a venue I would not want to be at live but would love to watch so it’s um thanks Macaroni’s Resort we love you guys and um yeah thanks to all the listeners that wrote in and I I guess that’s it that’s the podcast so you know Mitch thanks so much for making the time uh thanks to everyone at the Viva Rio Proed by Corona um safe travels uh to wherever you’re off to next buddy and everyone check out the Bledo Challenger Series events going on this week and the World’s Best Surfers will be back on in a couple weeks at the Corona Open Jeff Bay see you guys soon

Reporting live from Brazil, part-time cohost and WSL commentator Mitchell Salazar rejoins Dave on The Lineup to break down all the action, drama, and implications from the 2025 VIVO Rio Pro presented by Corona Cero. California’s Cole Houshmand and Australia’s Molly Picklum claimed breakthrough victories at Stop No. 9 of the 2025 Championship Tour, but the event was anything but predictable. Dave and Mitch dive deep into the biggest Winners and Losers from Saquarema–from Griffin Colapinto’s title surge to Filipe Toledo’s late-season stumble, and from the brilliance of Molly Picklum to the heartbreak for Brazilian fans hoping for a hometown champion. They break down the complexity of forecasting the wave, the challenges of Saquarema backwash, and the mental game of adapting on the fly. They check in on the Vissla CT Shaper Rankings, where Matt Biolos and …Lost Surfboards have all but cemented a three-peat as Shaper of the Year after a dominant Rio showing. The duo also answer Fantasy League and Instagram questions from fans around the world, including whether the women’s surfing is officially more exciting than the men’s, and drop hints about the final stretch of the CT season leading into J-Bay and beyond.

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