Menorcan surfer Joan Mercadal surfs waves of over 7 meters at La Vaca Gigante

The Menorcan surfer Joan Mercadal took part in the 10th edition of La Vaca Gigante, which brought together 24 local and international surfers, who fought in the imposing Cantabrian waves, surfing walls of more than 7 meters that the sea crashed against the Cantabrian coast.

An epic day of XXL surfing in Santander that finally crowned Indar Unanue as champion, surfer who ended up shaking the cowbell and lifting the milk churn that accredits the winners of this prestigious competition.

The day dawned cloudy in Cueto, with almost no wind and a calm only broken by the background sound of waves that were eagerly awaiting their protagonism. The tide was rising and around 12h the competition of La Vaca Gigante 2024 started with the Trials heat, a previous round in which 7 surfers faced each other to get the last place for the Main Event. The action didn't take long, leaving good waves and very powerful surfing.

With the Main Event roster now complete - 18 surfers, including Menorca's Joan Mercadal, who finished 12th overall. Divided into 3 heats of 6 riders each, the fight for the €10,000 prize money got underway in front of an increasingly large crowd that arrived at the impressive cliffs of Cueto eager to enjoy a great day of high voltage surfing. The competition format, 45-minute heats in which the surfers would add their best two waves to their scoreboard, with the best of the two scoring double points.

The first heat highlighted the local talent, with Nico García and Nano Riego taking the first two places - 23.84 and 22.87 points respectively - which gave them access to the final. The second heat was followed by the second heat, where the tables were turned as this time it was the foreign surfers Indar Unanue and Nic Lamb who got the best waves of the heat, with a score of 25.27 for the Basque and 25.39 for the Californian. Finally, the third heat featured local Juan Merodio and Frenchman Pierre Rollet, the former for getting a perfect score of 10 on his best wave - 26.90 in the combined heat - and the latter for scoring the highest combined score of the qualifying heats with 28.27 points. 

Once the list of cowboys who would fight for this year's title was closed, around 10,000 people crowded the cliffs of Cueto waiting to see what would decide the grand final of La Vaca Gigante 2024. 6 finalists and an hour of heat in a capricious sea that was not going to make things easy for the riders. 

The Cantabrians Nico García and Nano Riego -last edition's champion- made their local condition worth being very active throughout the final, adding both a combined total of more than 20 points, to finish on the podium with a third and second respectively. The French rider Pierre Rollet, one of the most outstanding names of the day, rode a bomb that the judges scored with a 9.77. However, he lacked a second wave that would have taken him to the podium, or even to dispute the victory with Indar Unanue, who was unbeatable in the final heat.