Basque Aritz Aranburu achieved his best result of the year on the world circuit, finishing second in the QS 3000 Pro Santa Cruz in Portugal and earning a valuable 2200 points for the ranking that will put him in the top 20.

On the way to the final, Aranburu defeated Gatien Delahaye, Daiki Tanaka and Tiago Camarao in round 4; Miguel Pupo, Pedro Neves and Kilian Garland in round 5; to Ramzi Boukhiam, Rafael Texeira and Jake Marshall in round 6, to Charlie Quivront in the quarterfinals and Ramzi Boukhiam again in the semis.

After surfing very solidly, winning all the heats, especially finding lefts that he attacked with power, Aritz entered the final against the Japanese Kanoa Igarashi at the worst moment of the sea, with the tide rising.

Kanoa found the two waves that gave him chances and scored 13,83. Aranburu scored 5 and needed an 8,83 that never came.

After getting out of the water, he explained: “I had a tough heat. The waves got worse and I think I made a bad selection. Anyway, from what I heard, Kanoa caught the only good wave.”

He added: “Second place is not bad, I am happy with the result. I would have liked to compete at low tide, my surfing was stronger on the left. But it is all good, I am still in love with Portugal (laughs).”

The 2200 points of second place in a 3000 give him 4990 points, which will surely put him in the top 20 of the ranking.

Final result: 
1- Kanoa Igarashi (JPN)
2- Aritz Aranburu (ESP)
3- Ramzi Boukhiam (MOR)
3- Victor Bernardo (BRA)

5- Charly Quivront (FRA)
5- Frederico Morais (POR)
5- Marcos Correa (BRA)
5- Ryan Callinan (AUS)