I have always been a fan of Brazilian surfing. What an asshole, I know. Being from Uruguay, that’s the closest to good surfing you can get. But thank God there’s a time in life when you learn that Santa is not real.
I am a real fan of Brazilian surfing because my family is from Brazil. However, you can go on the web right now and you will find that in Saquarema in 1995, Joao Gutemberg, an extraordinarily talented medium to big-wave surfer, won a stage of the Brazilian tour–a tour that had Victor Ribas’ brother, Pilinho, as one of the favorites. He disappeared soon after messing around the ‘QS. I know this because I follow Brazilian surfing.
The point is well made: I love Brazil, which gives me more credit when I say that Brazilian WCT surfers’ performances in quality barreling waves totally sucks.
There are only a few exceptions to the rule. I don’t want to get too Matt Warshaw-ish here and go to the encyclopedia, but Pepé Lopes made it to the final of the Pipe Masters in the 70s and Renan Rocha placed third at Pipe in solid eight footers–which was probably was one of the best performances by a Brazilian WCT surfer in a Pipe Masters event. Ricardo dos Santos and Bruno Santos, and all the other big boys who charge, are not included in my considerations.
We can go through the books, through Warshaw’s encyclopedia, scour the internet, and we are never going to find a solid WCT victory by a Brazilian in truly barreling waves.
We can consider Adriano’s Portugal victory in decent barrels. It was at a beach break, like most true Brazilian victories. And again, it is an exception that proves the rule. I am pretty sure Adriano will agree that Supertubos is not Chopes nor Pipe nor Tavarua.
We can also consider Adriano’s victory at Bells this year. In considering that, we wouldn’t be talking about barrels and we would start talking about bad judging, which is a whole other issue. It’s one I hope to touch on someday soon (did anyone listen to how many times Occy disagreed with judges scores during Chopes?).
At Bells, judges were ignorant in not distinguishing real rail surfing from Brazilian leg movements. Jordy knows how to use the rail. Check that event again. Check Jordy’s surfing in that semi or quarterfinal.
I do have a lot of faith in Medina. The Pipe Masters showed me that he had something that may grow into success soon enough. But now he’s letting me down just like all the other Brazilians that are on tour. They are disrespecting the perfect waves of Keramas and Teahupoo.
Like we always say, let the surfing do the talking. Check Brazilians’ results at Teahupoo, Tavarua and Bali–three of the best places on earth to surf perfect waves. Their best result? A ninth by Adriano in Bali.
In 2013, at Chopes, I thought Adriano de Souza would have a slim chance of making it through his Round 2 heat against Alain Riou. Mid-heat, Shane Dorian commented on a ride that Adriano did not complete that indicates to you how things were going. “That wave no doubt was the best wave of the heat so far. He had a great entry; it wasn’t critical at all. He just basically rode it way too high. It was a perfect, perfect barreling wave.”
Then, after missing his chance at the end of the heat, Dorian confirms, “I’ll tell you what. Adriano de Souza does not want to watch a replay of this heat again because he had the two best waves by far in this heat and this is an opportunity missed. He needs a 6.36 and that wave was a huge score.”
Brazilians do not shine in perfect waves. The only way we won’t see another decade without a Brazilian World Champion is if Gabriel Medina drinks a lot of Red Bull. If he doesn’t, we are going to need a flat year to see a Brazilian World Champion.