If you’ve been following pro surfing for a while, you remember when the term “Brazilian Storm” was thrown around all the time. All of a sudden, it seemed, there were a handful of Brazilian surfers who were taking over the Championship Tour. There had been a few before (Gabriel Medina wasn’t, in fact, the first Brazilian world champ), but there was a definite explosion of surf talent coming out of Brazil. Now, the Brazilian Storm has just become the norm. The winds are still just as high, but everyone’s used to it now.
Brazil, however, isn’t exactly known for having the best or the biggest waves. So how did the storm gather so much strength? “Filmmaker Andy Burgess explores what it is about athletes like Lucas ‘Chumbo’ Chianca, Mateus Herdy, Carlos Burle, Rodrigo Koxa, and more that have led them to become champions of the surfing world, despite not growing up in big wave surfing hotspots,” writes Red Bull for the latest episode of But Why Tho?, a creator-hosted series that explores questions, theories, and cultural curiosities around sports.
