- WSL / Surfline
- WSL / Surfline

The Atlantic Ocean continues to remain quite active after a late summer/early fall that will be long remembered, mostly for the devestation caused by multiple massive storms in the Caribbean, Florida and Texas. Another powerful tropically generated storm just hammered Ireland. Now, as we ease into the second half of October, the north Atlantic looks primed to continue to produce solid surf for western Europe over the next week or two. Which is particularly good news for the MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal and its Oct. 20 - 31 waiting period.

Historic Highlights from Peniche, Portugal
1:44
Finals day at the MEO Rip Curl Pro decides a new World Champion.

Here's the latest from Surfline's Jonathan Warren, updated Wednesday evening, Oct. 18 (local time in Peniche, Portugal):

Brief Overview:
Plenty of swell stacking up for the waiting period with solid size to start. However, conditions will be highly variable from day-to-day. With that said, at this point, the 21st-23rd holds good potential for the event with overhead to well overhead surf and northerly wind at Supertubos. Further out, possibly another sizable run of swell around the 24th-26th.

Swell/Surf Outlook:
Over the next few days or so, we'll be watching the progress of a large/complex storm system (comprised of two lows) as it tracks across the North Atlantic. This system may end up stalling for a bit just offshore from Europe over Thurs/Fri, the 19th-20th, then pulling out over the weekend.

The first area of low pressure associated with this system is looking to push in a decent size mid period WNW swell (280-305°), which is currently projected to peak on Friday the 20th. Then a second low is looking to quickly follow, swinging under the first one and delivering a reinforcing dose of larger West swell (broad range from 250-290°), looking to peak on Saturday the 21st.

At this point, we're looking at head high to overhead sets at Supertubos on Friday the 20th, with even some occasional well overhead waves. However, conditions are expected to be unfavorable on Friday with breezy onshore SW-WSW wind and stormy weather impacting the region.

Jordy Smith during the Semifinals of the Rip Curl Pro Portugal. A repeat of his 3rd place finish last year will be more than enough for Jordy Smith to force the World Title chase to Hawaii in December. - WSL / Kelly Cestari

If you're interested in learning more about Supertubos, Surfline has a nice piece on the wave you can check out here

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