Paul Loup Laborde a Surfing video by enako

Seriously, can someone please get me an intern?

Stay tuned for the full mockumentary.

Alex Gray, Ireland by Timo.

SE 97 is on sale now folks!

ALEX GRAY UNDER THE COVER SE97 a Surfing video by surfeurope

Photo: Caio Guedes

BRAZIL

Brazil is one of those places that for many years everyone knew where it was, but… not all that many people went to on surf trips. However, with a huge coastline taking in tropical waters of the north all the way to the Uruguan border in the south, and with breaks of all kind in between, Brazil has something to offer everyone. From urban surf scenes in huge cities like Rio, to surf towns with thriving shred culture like Floripa to nature sanctuary islands with thumping beachies like Fernando de Norohna, the variety is certainly there.

What else? Hosting the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics two years later, Brazil is undergoing something of an economic boom and recently overtook the UK in terms of the size of its economy. Meanwhile, the surf scene is equally thriving, with world class shapers, strong surf brands, a thriving artsy scene, ultra trendy health food movements and rapidly developing eco-tourism. If you want your acai smoothie to have done less food miles, there’s only one thing for it.

Surfing is a mainstream sport here and with new heros like Medina, Pupo et al. leading a whole new generation, the days of journeyman tour battlers are gone and these days Brazil’s top surfers are some of the world’s top surfers. Known mainly for beachbreaks, the surf rarely gets huge here but gets good often, and fun almost all the time.

Apres surf? if you like to party, you’ll love Brazil. Everyone knows about carnival, although it is said that when carnival comes around the locals leave Rio for the tourists. The whole nation loves to get down though, and while we’re loathe to insert some kind of samba cliché here, you’ll probably end up rotating your hips one way or another.

If you like football, jui jitsu, are a religious nutter, dig modern architecture, capoeira, bar-b-ques, drum beats, this is the surf trip for you. Oh yeah, if you dig the natural world, there’s also the Amazon, home to about 75% of the planet’s plant species. Somebody might have mentioned something about attractive women in minimal bikins too.

Get there: Direct flights from all Europe’s major cities.

Is it pricey? Cheaper than Europe or America, but more expensive than Indo.

Pietro Franca is Sancho’s filmer and lives part of the year in Hossegor, part in Floripa, and a lot chasing swells with Sanch. In between filming he pleasures women, and rips. Photo: Caio Guedes


Fernando de Noronha is a tropical island nature reserve, home to thumping clear water beach break barrels… sound shit? Bruno Santos. Photo: Renato Tinoco

If you are headed Brazil-ward and want somewhere to stay, why not check out our bros at Easy Drop Surf Camp, Itacare. Peep their site here

Our current issue SE96 featured a section on Brazil, featuring this delightful underwater image of Brazilian tube fiend Bruno Santos at Fernando de Noronha, shot by Renato Tinoco. Because we are idiots (and don’t even have the excuse of being high), we neglected to credit the image to the photographer. What a bunch of kooks we are. Check out more of Renato’s awesome work here. You’ll be mighty glad you did.

The person responsible has had a severe public dressing down, and went home to quietly punch his own fins out with dignity.

Surf Europe continues to bravely stave off the financial crisis with generous quantitive easing of the Caribbean economy. Having filled their boots on wickedly good right point (you know the one), the chaps (Ouvre, Ildefonse & shooter Laurel) are now resting by Dimitri’s gates in St Barths, getting some family vibes going and mustering up some energy so that Blacknuts can go mad this weekend out on the town. Here’s the spot where Dimitri learned to surf, still fun, still faithful, still familiar. Everybody loves home, don’t they?

Naum Ildefonse was so happy with the quality of the surf that he forwent his Hurley trunks in favour of fresh air Photo: Alex Laurel

Here at Surf Europe we love nudity. We like skin. We like the soft refreshing gust of a warm, polite offshore breeze on a dangling ballbag. The only thing we like more than a naked man is a naked French man standing in front of one of the best righthand sand points we know about. So you can imagine our glee when Laurel’s recent dispatch from the Caribbean came in hot.
Have a great day folks!

Snow is falling right now outside the window of the SE love shack in SW France. Meanwhile, the Caribbean is hot, sunny and wavey. French surfers Naum ‘Blacknuts’ Ildefonse and Dimitri Ouvre are over there right now with SE shooter Alex Laurel, and it turns out they made a good call. “That was one of the best days of my life,” gushed Naum about yesterday’s exploits, a day spent trading endless freight train right pits with Dimitri at this sand point in the middle of nowhere, with not another soul on the beach besides the lads. “I’m still tripping out on how f*cking good that day was… unreal.” With the wind coming up the lads hopped on a private jet back to Dimitri’s place in St Bart’s to regroup, where we caught up with Naum via skype, in bed spooning Laurel. Hey, what goes on tour… etc

On the Cover: Nic von Rupp, Java by Alex Laurel

The first Surf Europe issue of 2013 hits the shelves later this week! If you are thinking about dipping a toe in foreign drink somewhere in the world, why not have a peep inside first? Destinations featured include the very fine and righteous surfing grounds of France, Spain, Portugal, England, Canary Isles, Morocco, Maldives, Bali, Java, Brazil, Central America and the Caribbean. How, when, why, what board, who with, what for who to try and mate with… all these pertinent questions answered! There’s also advise on how to travel solo, get along as an unlocal, figure out a new break, even tubular troubleshooting. AND we launch the SE Reader Photog competition where one lucky reader will snag £2500 of surf gear! Yup, two-and-a-half grizzle! Who doesn’t love that?

p.s. It’s got a new bigger badder logo too, dig?

This week FROBACK FURSDAY goes underwater… to the Tahitian atolls of Tuamotu. Back in 2007, when the surf biz still had dough, O’Neill chartered the luxury 100ft supercat Haumana for The Mission, probably one of the dreamiest gigs a surf journo could ever slime his way on to. Surfers on the boat were Clay Marzo, Manoa Drollet, Ian Walsh, Patrick Beven, Roy Powers and Jarrad Howse

Raimana had warned ‘not to wear anything shiney’ seeing as the place is so full of sharks that you see em every time you stick your head underwater. This pass is the only gap in the south of the atoll, and basically is like a fish superhighway for anything gilled and swimmy between the ocean and the lagoon. Undeterred, Timo took a lungfull, and waited for Patrick Beven to swoop this beauty from the fishy perspective.