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Session at Rio das Ostras

In one hand, Brazil is a huge country, with an extensive coastline. On the other hand, skimboarding is just a tiny underground sport. So we can definitely say that there are still a bunch of good skimboarding spots to be found over here. Not too long ago, a little town called Rio das Ostras came to our attention because of some pictures that were sent to SkimBrasil by Pedro Sias and Caio Moura. It turns out that Rio das Ostras might be one of the most consistent spots in Brazil. Like many other places, most beaches in Brazil have a pretty unstable sand banks meaning that a big swell can easily shift the sand around making the waves break far offshore. At Rio das Ostras, things work a bit differently. The sand bank is really stable and can hold solid swells. It wouldn’t be fun if you could win every time, so Rio das Ostras is not as perfect as you might be thinking. Because of its position, Rio das Ostras can be very windy. By “windy” I mean kitesurfing contest windy! So you definitely need to have a good look at the wave/wind forecast before you head there.

Another thing you should know about Brazil is its crazy amount of public holidays. November the 20^th is one of them. Since the swell was looking pretty good for Rio das Ostras, we decided to put this public holiday to good use and make our way over there. In order to avoid the wind and make the most out of our session, we decided to wake up at 4am and head north from Rio de Janeiro. Rio das Ostras is a good 3 and half hours far from Rio de Janeiro so we ended up making it over there by 8am but Caio and a few other local riders were already at the beach. The waves were definitely better than any other option we would have if we had stayed in Rio de Janeiro. I must confess, we hoped it was a bit bigger. Of course, we can’t complain, the sunny warm day helped make things more fun and provided some nice light for the shots. Munir Ruffo and Pedro Sias were ripping and found some pretty decent waves. As the morning went by the tide got lower and lower making the waves break a lot better for goofy footers, which made Pedro and Munir a bit disappointed since they are both regulars.

All in all it was still a fun session. It definitely made the drive worth it and it was a good preview of what summer is going to be like.

Click photo to activiate Lightbox

What’s going on with skimboarding in Brazil?

I would say that skimboarding in Brazil is at it’s best. Brazilian riders and waves just had a huge exposure with the Foreverskim cover. We just had our first riders going to an international contest and new spots seems to be found at an increasing rate.

Nowadays, a skim session around here feels really fresh; it feels like the sport is evolving fast and on a daily basis. Because of a huge improvement of board manufacturing with new local shapers and the never easier access to information as well as high quality media surrounding the sport, there are lots of new kids riding well and pushing the sport. This new kids are the first generation of Brazilian skimboarders to actually grow up riding foam boards. They are bringing this new view of the sport, highly influenced by new American riders like Brad Domke and also by skateboarding. I haven’t been involved in skimboarding for that long but in the way I see it, the sport has never progressed this fast. The new generation is definitely raising the bar and pushing the slightly older dudes. Since skimboarding is a fairly new sport around here, we don’t have that much of a history or older riders for that matter.

For most of the time, I’ve been skimboarding in an attempt to find quality waves on more constant basis since the knowledge about the spots was fairly low. Nowadays, with a better understanding of the spots and wave forecast we are able to tell when and where it will be good. Making our sessions more enjoyable and richer on media.

We still have a really long way to go but I feel very comfortable saying that since I started skimboarding things have never been better.

The Surfing Clube de Portugal, well know for being the oldest Surf club in Portugal is organizing with the support of local authorities, brands and companies an importante skimboard competition.

With the prize money of 3000 euros (4100 usd) the event organizers hope to gather some of the best American skimboarders representing their own brands to compete directly with the best European skimboarders, most of them from Portugal, Spain and France as well as athletes from other countries.

The beautiful beach of S. Pedro do Estoril, near Cascais is 15Km from our capital-Lisbon, well known for its skimboarding tradition and suberb conditions for this sport, particulary in November and December. As usual in Portugal all competitores will be greeted the Portuguese way … warmly.

Skimboard, a spectacular and highly competitive sport, is growing all over the world and Portugal makes no exception, being one of the top nations in Europe and worldwide looked upon highly for having experienced, high level competitors and some young very promising youngsters.

With this event, Surfing Clube de Portugal hopes to contribute to the growing and recognition this sport deserves all over the world, in a way that in the near future we will see skimboard tours all over the world like we see today in Surf and other wave sports.

Photos courtesy of R. Palma

Batardubreak, French International 08 – Part 2/3 from bernardo batardubreak on Vimeo.

Batardubreak, French International 08 – Part 1/3 from bernardo batardubreak on Vimeo.

Click photo to activiate Lightbox

All photos courtesy of S. Czerepka

The sun was out and stoked on a natural high glazing over the south shore waves of Maui at the inaugural skim competition hosted by Save Makena on August 23rd, 2008.  Held at the south end of Oneloa Beach (a.k.a. Big Beach) in the Makena State Park, the 1st Annual Save Makena Skimboard Competition with a bodyboard division took place all day long from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm.  Over 650 spectators were present at Makena in support of its indigenous aura to admire the competitors ranging from 8 years old to 40.  The estimated count of 650 people was merely accumulated from that specific portion of the beach at one time.  Many observers felt there were definitely over 1000 bodies roaming around throughout the gathering.  An enthusiastic group of about 85 contestants were spread out in 12 divisions starting with 10 and under to pro in both board sports.  There were many athletes from all around the island, including O’ahu, that entered to display their skills.  One of which is a local girl from south O’ahu named, Ann Keiao Gucwa-Bucasas.  She took 1st place in the women’s division and 2nd at Victoria’s World Championship of Skimboarding in Laguna Beach, CA a month ago.

Makena is a well known spot for epic skimboarding and  bodyboarding.  The steep slope of the beach creates an  unbeatable swift ride toward killer shorepound.  The thriving skim and bodyboard culture faithful to this raw beach has been cultivated for decades.  Beyond being a fun event showcasing some of the best skim talent on the planet, the contest also exposed environmental messages.  The venue was maintained at a low-impact standard with a minimal amount of waste to embrace the importance of a self-sustainable lifestyle.  Served in compostable party-ware, free food and drinks were kindly supplied by local farmers and sources.  Another plus was the free biodegradable sunscreen and eco-friendly surf wax available for the contestants.  A nice mix of music with island vibes was donated by local DJ Lisa Buchanan (a.k.a. DJ Modika).  Surfrider Foundation and Maui Tomorrow were two vital sponsors among an honorable amount of others.  An information tent was set up with booths for Save Makena, Save Honolua, Maui Tomorrow, and Hawai’i Wildlife Fund.
SaveMakena.org is a grassroots organization committed to the preservation of open spaces by sustaining and improving beach access, building community, and caring for local coastal land.  Save Makena’s activities include: organizing volunteer clean-ups of the beach and surrounding wetlands, helping the public and youth get involved with short and long term government planning processes, spreading awareness through forums and guest speakers as well as community building with events like parties and beach contests.  This event was held at the south end of Makena-Pu’u Olai State Park.  This part of the beach was threatened in the past by development and the only reason it was made into a state park is because of citizen efforts to protect the area.  In the 80’s, there were developers who wanted to build condos at the 3rd entrance of Oneloa Beach exactly where the competition was held.  The community rallied for 10 years to turn it into a state park before achieving this victory.

Photo: DerekBPhotography.com

It was a fulfilling day of intense “heat” segments and community togetherness for all ages.  Big ups to everyone who competed especially the pioneers of skimboarding who are still out there charging.  Angie Hofmann (Community & Youth Organizer) of Save Makena gives props to each and every one of the activists who stood up and still prevail for the preservation of a very special place.  We, the next generation, continue this work and can create a beautiful outcome where local residents, historical sites, and endangered species unite to be a part of a sacred area which should be treated with respect.  SAVE MAKENA!

by:  Angie Hofmann and Jasmine Joy

CONTEST RESULTS:
SKIM:
9-under
1-Kanoa Akana
2-Bailey Honda
10-17
1-Nohea Lussich-Pretre
2-Keola Bachiller
3-Mack Crilley
18-29
1-Sean McClenahan
2-Ume Binstock
3- Rueben Cantere
30+
1-Matt Dillon
2-Jeremy Akana
3-John Tingey
Pro
1-Brandon McCormick
2- Keith Fowler
3-Clark Camp
Womens
1-Keiao Gucwa-Bucasas
2-Dustin Tester
3-Jasmine Joy

Further info:

Check out a video of the event by Frank Pulaski of MauiToday.tv:
http://mauitoday.tv/index.php?option=com_seyret&task=videodirectlink&id=2356

The following links are two vidoes of more interviews filmed by John Carty of Save Honolua.org

Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebm8yNkEq70
Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UwSeBBDsz8

Vilano Beach is a tiny beach town located on the northeast coast of Florida. The town is just a couple miles north of St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States. Situated on the north side of St. Augustine inlet, this little community started as a fishing village in the 1920’s. Up until 1995, you still had to take the original rickety drawbridge across the Tolomato River to get to Vilano Beach. In the past ten years, the area has grown into a little beach town with a budding tourist industry.

Vilano Beach is visited by people for one of three reasons mainly: to fish, to escape the crowded beaches of St. Augustine or to ride waves. Over the past decade, more and more skimboarders, surfers and bodyboarders have been finding their way to this beach for the amazing waves and unique atmosphere. The St. Augustine Inlet creates strong currents on the main beach access, making the water very deep right up to the steep coquina slopes, which is made up mostly of a mixture of ground down rocks, seashells and sand. Vilano beach is somewhat of an unintentional secret escape, meaning that unless you are actually looking for it, you would probably drive by and never know you were there.

Type of wave

Vilano is known for heavy A-frame waves and long lines from the south. The beach and waves are very rare for a break in Florida. The beach is very deep close to shore year-round, although still subject to changes from big storms, hurricanes, swells, etc. There are several spots in Vilano, but the most famous spot is Vilano Beach Access – the main beach access in the town. Also, you can actually drive your cars out onto the beach year-round, although it does close early in the summer because of turtle nests.

Vilano is a unique wave in Florida for a couple reasons. First, it is one of the most powerful shorebreaks in Florida. Through years and years of currents, tides, and storms moving the sand onto the beach in addition to the adjacent inlet, there are almost no outside sandbars. This allows any primary swell in the ocean to maintain its power and speed all the way to beach. Most other break have sandbars – whether they are 30 ft or 500ft out – that detract from the primary swell energy, and that energy is weakened by each sandbar the swell encounters.

When the beaches are perfectly formed, the beach is usually very steep – about 30 to 40 degree slope or so. The currents created by the inlet errode a very smooth transition from the slope of the beach into the water. The ocean floor itself at the shoreline is smooth and flat, which allows for waves to roll in cleanly and open up. The currents create certain variations in the sandbars that create an A-framing wave. This is not because of the tiny jetty on the main beach, but simply because of a combination of ocean floor contours and swell direction and winds (see more in Physics article). The break is best known for hollow A-frame barrels and

Food

Being a small town, there’s not a whole lot of variety in Vilano Beach. Toucan Terry’s is located on the northeast corner of the town main intersection and is within easy walking distance. Their menu has a wide selection of tasty and decently-priced food, like quesadillas, burgers, wraps, nachos, hot dogs, wings and fish tacos. Make sure you say hi to the owner, Terry, who usually has a good joke or two up his sleeve to tell customers.

Just 100 yards north or so is Benito’s Pizza, a local restaurant specializing in Italian food and –you guessed it – pizza. Their specials change year round, but the food is always good and the beer nice and cold. Other than that, there is a BP about half a mile north of Vilano Rd. to get some refreshments. For fancier fare, you can try The Reef restaurant or Caps waterfront restaurant. Both have good food, but are a little too pricey for most skimboarders on a budget. You can also go into St. Augustine for a greater choice in restaurants and food.

Lodging

There are four main hotels in Vilano Beach: Hampton Inn and Suites, Ocean Blue Motel, The Ocean Blue motel II, and the Magic Beach Motel. The nicest (and most expensive) is the Hampton Inn and Suites. This hotel is located on the Southeast corner of the town’s main intersection, right across from Toucan Terry’s. It has regular rooms as well as suites with ocean views, and a pool and a much need hot tub for those long days in the water.

The Ocean Blue Motel is next to the main beach access and has probably the best view in Vilano beach. It’s a little less expensive than the Hampton, but just as comfortable and close to the beach. The Ocean Blue Motel II is the exact same, except it is located just south of the Hampton Inn. The Ocean Blue II has a pool to relax in as well. The Magic Beach motel is located next to the Ocean Blue Motel on Vilano Rd. It also has a pool, but I’d recommend one of the other three hotels (or just somewhere else in general) than staying at the Magic Beach Motel

Nightlife

Basically, there isn’t much of one in Vilano Beach. Just drive over the bridge and head into downtown St. Augustine for some things to do at night. There are ghost tours and nighttime graveyard walks for the family, as well as an eclectic bar scene for some more adult fun. I’d suggest A1A Aleworks for the delicious food, great local beer and a nice showcase of the local talent. If you happen to be in town for the first Friday of the month, definitely check out the Art Walk, where all the local museums and art galleries open for free and provide free snacks and beverages.

Locals

There are really only a handful of true, live-on-the-beach skimboard locals at Vilano, but there are others that are at the beach almost daily from St. Augustine and Jacksonville. Everyone who skims Vilano on a regular basis knows each other, so if you’re not from around their, they’ll know. Most of the time, the locals skimboarders are more than happy to share waves with visitors. However, there is a line-up on the beach, especially when the waves are good. The local skimboarders will usually take the choicer sets, but as long as you are observant, respectful and – MOST IMPORTANTLY – don’t hit any of the tourists or other skimboarders, you’ll get plenty of good waves and board claps.

See ya on the slopes! – Tad Mask

Stay tuned for a full write up and photos in the next issue.

Lexi Hutchings was anxious to check out the river conditions the next morning, so we all packed in the car early and headed out. The river was pretty high leaving only a few spots that would be any good for riding. Some quick work was done to flatten out some sandbars to make those spots as good as possible.

For those that have never been to a flatland competition, they are usually broken up into two segments – with and without rails. In the first heat for the pro’s (w/o rails), Brent Lippencott (Sac.) and Isaac Thomas were matched up really well. Matt Ratoni (Sac.), Peter Hodgins (Sac.), and Zack Hooker all stood out in the second heat – Matt seemed to be on really on. Peter pulled a back flip, a Utah favorite, and that picture ended up in the local paper. Utah LOVES the back flip (and other cheesy standard Utah tricks of yesteryear)!

The rails segment seemed to divide the boys from the men. In the first heat Brent and Isaac were still killing it. In the second heat Peter, Matt, and Zack were the stand-outs again. One of the locals, Dillon, really got jacked up on the up-and-down rail. After his crash you couldn’t really tell what happened, but Dillon wasn’t moving away from the box and it looked like he was tugging on one the PVC pipes. Turns out his finger somehow got stuck in the rail and the screw that held the pipe on the box was instead holding his finger. Nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a screwdriver and 11 stitches… hopefully he’ll get some feeling back in that finger! (Search YouTube to see the gnarly footage.)

When the finals came around, we saw some major flaws in the judging system. In every comp you will always have complaints and issues with judging, but in this case the judging flaws became very apparent.

The final heat included Brent, Matt, Isaac, Zack and Mike “Skim” Louie. Lexi Hutchings, winner of the women’s division, was also included in the finals. Not to take away from any of these riders but everyone was surprised that Peter Hodgins didn’t make it. He landed some pretty big stuff and was very consistent throughout the comp. Isaac and Matt were definitely the standouts in the final heat. They both landed just about everything in every combo you could imagine. They were both also the only ones to land the s-rail. The two riders definitely looked unbeatable – it would be a toss up which one would claim first. Isaac ended up with first, but Matt didn’t even make it in the top three! This was pretty awkward for all the riders and was by far the biggest disappointment in the judging.

The Virgin River is a great skim spot, but the comp itself has some issues. Besides shortfalls in the judging department, the less-than-mediocre rails are definitely another issue that the comp needs to confront. The rails come from local riders and some local shops, but nobody is really taking the lead to get competition-quality rails for the riders.
FINAL RESULTS:

Pro

1st place: Isaac Thomas
2nd place: Zack “Slash” Hooker
3rd place: Mike “Skim” Louie

16-18:

1st place: Blake Zimmerman

13-15:

1st place: Tyson Hubbard

Women’s

1st place: Lexi Hutchings

With the swell up, this will most likely be a very fun and exciting event.  So far this year, the UST contests have scored with good contest conditions.  Cabo started things off with a bang with excellent conditions at Lover’s Beach.  Soon thereafter, Dewey Beach showed the contestants how the east coast is done right with off shore winds and clean waves all day long.  New Jersey is the only exception so far, but even Barnegat had glimpses of glory.

This year the UST race couldn’t been much closer.  Beaker has a strong lead with two firsts and a second place.  Morgan Just is looking ripe this year nipping closely at Beaker’s tail with Paulo Prietto in striking distance behind.  It will definitely be exciting to see the action unfold.  Stay posted for news and highlights!