Going left at Matadeiro
Usually February is all about powder skiing for me, but this past February was about surfing. I got incredibly lucky and scored a trip to Brazil on top of my already planned trip to San Diego. Surfing winter California waves and Summer Florianopolis waves within days of each other was incredible and an experience I will never forget.
I have a great friend named Manuel in Florianopolis, and he has been my guide and surf buddy more than once on that beautiful island. From him I feel that I have learned a little more of the differences in waves, etiquette and culture than I would have casually picked up as a traveling surfer.
The first thing about the waves is that they’re all beach breaks. Some have the influence of a point to help them wrap, gain power, and elongate, but they all have sand bottoms. This made me think that folks from Southern California are possibly a bit spoiled with so many nice reef breaks and cobblestone bottom breaks. I think it is arguably much more difficult to surf a beach break. Timing the drop and placement on paddle-in are less forgiving. Beach break waves get steep and break down the line almost before you can do a shoulder check for oncoming surfers. I think the good news is, though, that learning the timing of beach breaks is really helpful when you return to more predictable shapes and lineups.
Another thing to note about the waves in Brazil is that long period swells typically can’t penetrate all the way in. Don’t quote me on this, but I seem to recall that the Atlantic shelf extends for quite a while from Floripa to the sea, and this shelf is shallow and takes most of the energy out of swells that have traveled great distances. In my experience, swell periods range from horrible 6 second wave pool madness to 13 or 14 seconds on a good day. I think this influences board selection. Surfers need boards that can harness every ounce of energy the wave has to give to help them produce speed down the line.
Secret Spot
So this combination of beach breaks and short period swells isn’t a recipe for laid back longboarding soul surfers. Brazilian surfers all have thin little toothpick thrusters under their arms. Their goal is to master high performance surfing, and this attitude permeates into the lineup. Unlike in Southern California where lineups will be silent with the occasional hoot for a nice set wave and the occasional couple of dudes chatting about real estate prices, Brazilian lineups are loud and unpredictable. Surfers call out to each other, laugh and cackle, and maintain a continuous high decibel dialogue. I can’t understand Portuguese, but I would imagine they are saying things like “Hey man did you see that chop hop I did? So sick”, “Woah here comes an outside one! Give it to Paulo… You better go Paulo!” “I’ll go when I want. YEeeeeeooooooo!” You get the idea. Just chattering away about the waves and what they’re doing. As an often lone, and obviously foreign surfer, I sometimes got a little self conscious out there. Were they saying “Jeez look at the gringo. Why is he paddling for those ones? He’s just spinning his arms like an idiot.”? I hope not.
But there’s the other side of the louder lineup too. It’s fun! Whenever I caught a legitimate good wave, all the other surfers in the lineup would cheer. When I say ‘cheer’ I don’t mean clapping and hollaring, but I do mean something greater than laid back appreciative hooting. The feeling is like, “Nice one man! Great wave! You’re one of us now!” I liked that. They cheered for each other too. Sometime in the silence of California lineups, you can forget that everyone is having the time of their lives (because that’s what surfing is. the time of your life), but you don’t forget it in Brazil.
But maybe all this jubilation and play time atmosphere is easy to explain. Brazilian surfers are younger than Californian surfers. I think a lot of Brazilian surfers must give it up when they reach their late twenties and have families. The age range in the water tends to be twelve to thirty five (very few on the upper end) rather than twelve to sixty-five (talking about short board breaks). Can you imagine giving up surfing but still living next to the water? How do they do it? All I can think is that as kids and young adults they got to spend more time in the water than kids and young adults in the US. Maybe even enough time in the water to start to feel satisfied?? Naaah. Never. It must just be social pressure to not be a lazy surfer when you have a family to raise.
Out of the water, in part due to the young age range, and also in part due to the latin underpinnings of the culture, there is major machismo in Brazilian surfing. Style tends towards trying to appear ‘badass’. Close cropped hair, tribal tattoos, and rolling in groups are the norm for Brazilian surfers. And there are almost no women who surf. What’s weird is that the few women who do surf are really good, but you don’t see any girls learning to surf, so how and when did they get so good? I’m glad Brazilians look up to Adriano de Souza because he has learned how to be laid back and cool, and he’s probably the friendliest person on the world tour (at least from interviews), so maybe his example will help cut some of the testosterone fueled bs that surfing can do without.
I’m not sure if I’ve said enough good things about surfing in Brazil in this article. Did I mention that I surfed in boardies in January? Did I mention that most of the lineups I found had about 6 to 9 people? I think I mentioned that they actually cheered for me, and you haven’t lived until people cheer for you surfing. And Brazil always gets a bad rap for small waves. If you’re from Hawaii, then I understand, but if not, then I’m sure you’ll be happy surfing lots of days with shoulder high waves and occasional days with slightly overhead waves, and rare days with double overhead waves.
And of course, this article couldn’t be written without a tiny pitch: There are already boards in Florianopolis on Global Quiver, and quite soon there will be a great selection thanks to my amazing friend Manuel. So if you want to surf a place that is incredibly lush, beautiful, full of culture, and noticeably devoid of other Americans, you don’t even have to bring your board.
There’s a core idea in what Global Quiver is asking of surfers that has been on my mind a lot. It is that the relationship between surfers and their boards runs deep. How can I ask any surfer to consider going on a surf trip without his own boards? Aren’t surf trips shining moments of your surfing life during which it is essential to make sure that everything is just right so that you can have the best and most memorable time?
