APP Ride of the Season: The Judge’s Choice

The past month of APP Ride of the Season has seen the world’s greatest SUP surfers

submit clips with the hope to win a trip to Portugal... Europe’s surf capital. World class watermen such as Kai Lenny and Airton Cozzolino are among hundreds of pros and weekend warriors who are pushing the limits of the sport to earn a place on the coveted trip.

One of the official APP Ride of the Season judges, Joao Maya, has been closely following the competition and is revealing what he thinks are the standout performances in each category at the halfway point. Read on for Joao’s top rides so far with added commentary.

In no particular order...

Pro Men

Luiz Diniz

@Luizdinizsup

"Textbook air reverse. Tail high, pretty inverted, full rotation. It doesn't get much better than this."

Wellington Reis

@wellingtonreis_sup

"Huge turn in a huge section. Great risk, fully committed, maximum reward. The judging criteria in one turn".

Kai Lenny

@Kai_lenny

"This is the kind of surfing Kai displays most of the time in any given location or conditions. Sharp, clean, effortless surfing, with great power and control, no matter size, wind or risk."

Unsponsored Men

Taka Inoue

taka.inoue

"A round house cutback into reverse followed by top turn combo showing great speed, repertoire and board control. Taka is a ripper in any given surf craft."

Edilson Gomes

@edilsonsup

"Despite the very small waves and some of the tricks on the clip, it's pretty obvious Edilson rips. Carving and slashing hard, making the most of the small sections on offer."

Ray Call

@rlc779

"Awesome clip. I want to be having as much fun when i grow wiser!!!"

Pro Women

Iballa Moreno

@morenotwins

"Iballa ripping some fun looking peelers. Great speed, power and tempo as she shows both top turns and rail work properly mixed together."

Vania Torres

@vaniato

"This wave looks so much fun. Vania rips this wave apart, showing power, speed and great variety of repertoire".

Aline Adisaka

@alineadisaka

"Three turn combo starting with a very committed first hack, straight into two more turns as the wave fades away."

Unsponsored Women

Josselyn Alabi

@jossalabi

"On this wave we have a great display of rail surfing and the correct way to use the paddle to assist with turns. I like the music too!!"

Emma Webb

@thrurosecolouredglasses

"Emma shows that SUP is just not about ripping hard - it can also be about style and grace. Here she is on a long SUP, showing great footwork mixed with rail surfing."

Lucy Catherine

@lucy.catherine0

"What a bomb!!!!"

The Best of the Barrels

Marcio Grillo

@marciogrillosup

"Holy Moly. This is the kind of ride we live for as surfers. Don't need any extra words as a judge. Epic!"

Sebastian Gomez

@sebastiangomezdc

"Sebastian takes off pretty deep, having to negotiate the foam ball as he flies across the section at an insane speed to find a very clean exit."

Carlos Bahia

@carlosbahiasurf

"Carlos starts with a fade into a late-almost-free-falling drop, having to knife it pretty hard in order to make it across the section while barely avoiding getting clipped by the lip in the final section. Super intense."

Nicole Pacelli

@nicolepacelli

"A late drop, sets the line with a little stall and then holds rail in perfect fashion to clear the section. So clean."

Do you think you can do better? You have until 31st August to upload your clip to instagram tagging #APPRideoftheSeason as well as #Unsponsored if you are not an APP seeded athlete.

Head to www.appworldtour.com for the APP Ride of the Season leaderboards and follow @appworldtour on social media to keep up with the latest on the competitions.