After a whirlwind week of parties, premieres, people watching, and, oh yeah, surfing, the 2014 Vans U.S. Open of Surfing is a wrap! In the men’s final, a Brazilian storm touched down at Huntington Beach Pier and Filipe Toledo and Willian Cardoso were the last men standing. Toledo took home the win and the $100,000 check, and Cardoso will rocket up the World Qualifying Series rankings after his runner-up finish. A couple more good results and we could see Cardoso back into the big leagues. Here’s a look back at the week that was …
Filipe Toledo is a freak with world title talent It wouldn’t be a stretch to label Filipe Toledo as the best aerialist in the world right now, especially after his 2014 Vans U.S. Open of Surfing performance. The young regularfoot from Ubatuba, Brazil, blazed through the field with an aggressive air first mentality. More often than not he would do a huge aerial on the outside and follow it up with an equally impressive punt in the shorebreak. The only thing we haven’t seen from Toledo is a standout performance in big surf—but that can be learned over time. You can’t teach aerial surfing like Toledo’s. Expect big things and even the possibility of a world title in the next few years… Willian Cardoso is a beast With calves the size of a small child, U.S. Open runner-up Willian Cardoso looks more like a football player rather than a pro surfer. And despite weighing in at around 200 pounds, Cardoso is surprisingly light on his feet and routinely made the inside connection as he powered his way to a runner-up finish. Maybe it’s better that Cardoso didn’t win—it would have been a tall order carrying the “Panda” up the beach. And no, that’s not a typo, his name is “Willian”—not to be confused with William.
Tyler Wright is in the world title hunt
It seemed like every time the camera panned to Australia’s Tyler Wright, she was either dancing or bouncing off the walls in the competitor’s tent. That’s the kind of energy that is needed to grind out a win at the U.S. Open. The ladies side of the U.S. Open was a World Championship Tour event, meaning it held world title implications, and with her win, Tyler Wright moves into the third spot in the rankings. A maiden world title for Wright is in range with four events left.
The U.S. Open of Surfing is better off without the concerts
Last year there was an ugly incident following the contest that marred an otherwise incident-free event. Surfers got the rap for it, but the reality was that it was a bunch of knuckleheads who had little to nothing to do with the surf contest. As a result, the U.S. Open was tapered down and more focus was put on the surfing aspect of event. And it seemed to work; this year was incident-free save for a teenager who was arrested after threatening the U.S. Open over social media. Plus, Weezer kinda sucks now.
The best people watching in the world goes on at the U.S. Open of Surfing
Maybe it’s something in the water, or geography, but whatever it is, the freaks come out for the U.S. Open. After a week of it, you tend to walk right by the religious zealot with their crazy signs and don’t even bat an eye at the teenagers with “Grab this!” hand-drawn on their butts. (One week of the U.S. Open and you become a hardened New Yorker, numb to the world’s wackos.) To really get a feel for the people of the U.S. Open, check the Instagram hashtag #peopleoftheusopen
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