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.

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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.

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All photos courtesy of S. Czerepka

Thirty six pros showed up at the fouth annual Oktoberfest at Balboa pier.  The conditions were windy, but contestable.  The pros took to the water and impressed the judges and spectators.  The forecast tomorrow is expected to be better.  By the end of the day, the swell had picked up significantly.  The wind is predicted to be offshore in the morning for round 2 of the pro heats.  There is a lot at stake for the pros.  This is the final stop of the UST and will determine who will be finishing where on tour.  Beaker has locked up first place, but the other top spots are up for grabs.  Stay tuned, this event should produce some very exciting skimboarding.

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All photos courtesy of S. Czerepka

Day 1 of the 9th annual Santa Cruz Contest was full of high hopes.   On Friday, the day before the contest, all of the visiting skimboarders were welcomed with clean 2-4 foot surf at 26th Ave.  Everyone was convinced that the good conditions would follow for the contest, but just like many other events, the conditions turned for the worst.  Contestants were greeted with glassy conditions in the morning, but soon thereafter the sun and wind came up along with a nasty trough.  That didn’t stop the pros from making the most of the conditions.  All the big names made it through the first round despite the sloppy conditions.

Contestants are crossing their fingers that the conditions will switch back for the better when the contest resumes early Sunday morning.  Here are the first round pro results:

Photo: D’Eliscu

Heat 1:

EJ Sanico 1^st

Beaker 2^nd

Jake Stinnett 3^rd

Heat 2:

Harley Nelson 1^st

Brandon Rothe 2^nd

George Bryan 3^rd

Heat 3:

Paulo Prietto1st

Koty Lopez 2^nd

Tommy D’Eliscu 3^rd

Heat 4:

Brad Domke 1^st

Matthieu Thibald 2^nd

Keith Peery 3^rd

Heat 5:

Morgan Just 1^st

Scrappy Flores 2^nd

Brandon McCormick 3^rd

Heat 6:

Brendan Stevens 1^st

Brandon Sears 2^nd

Brent Gretch 3^rd

Heat:7:

Jason Wilson 1^st

Stephen Bradford 2^nd

Ryan Parola 3^rd

Heat 8:

James Lovett 1^st

Corbin Dull 2^nd

Nate Zoller 3^rd

Heat 9: (Sorry, I’m not sure how this last heat went)

Isaac Zoller

Ben K.

Adam Loero

While the majority of skimboarding’s pros were groveling in the third stop of the UST in Long Beach Island New Jersey, a lucky few spent the weekend in Laguna. Those who stayed and those who traveled to Laguna were blessed with a heatwave and a fun south swell.

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