Competition began at Stop No. 5 of the Challenger Series in clean two-to-three foot waves and light winds which saw the women's division begin to make their first moves. A notable performance from Portugal's own, Francisca Veselko, finding one of the best waves of the morning to post the first excellent score of the day (8.50) and progress onto the Round of 32. The former Junior star, Tessa Thyssen, stood out on Opening Day as the first surfer of the morning to open the judging scale with a solid performance on her backhand, and the next generation put on a show in the day's last heat as Zoe Benedetto got the nod with an excellent single-wave score of 8.50 against fellow rising stars Erin Brooks and Nora Liotta. We resume competition in Portugal on Tuesday Oct. 3.
