How many waves did you get?
To be honest, I only got to the bottom of one wave. They were a bit fat, some of them were hardly breaking outside. But on that one I felt like I really charged, she was blowing up behind me, caught me and I made it out of there.
Modesty apart, which one would you say was bigger, yours or Garretts?
His was bigger. It didn’t break, but it was really big. But I don’t really care if mine was bigger or smaller. I don’t surf to ride bigger waves than other surfers, or bigger barrels or whatever. I used to do that when I was competing, but now I just want to have fun. Nowadays, I just want to have fun surfing with my friends, and that’s what we did. We also broke some limits on that spot. I think it was the biggest day ever surfed there, and it wasn’t as clean as expected so it was pretty hard to surf.
How big would you say your wave was?
I don’t know, I’m not good at measuring waves..
From what I know, you are more into finding barreling waves than huge waves…
That’s true. It´s what gives me the most pleasure in life; that’s why I surf! But unfortunately, in Portugal, if I surf some slab, like “The Cave,” it won’t get people talking and it will not give visibility to my sponsor, and that is something a need, it’s my job!
The news of this session got around really fast but at the beginning, and in most of the bigger news networks, they neglected to say your name, even when they played your wave. What do you have to say about it?
I don’t see any harm in it, it was a mistake, and bad journalism in some cases. Surfing is getting really big in Portugal and everyone wants in on it, but they should be more careful and have more respect for the surfing community!
Did that session change anything in regard to the direction you are going in your career? Are you going to go in the big wave direction?
What I really would like to do would be to travel the world chasing “mutant” waves. Barreling waves, sessions where the best surfers are. We have something really special here in Portugal (Nazaré), and we have to be on it and push our limits. But to improve and push them we need more backing and better conditions.
Is it financially viable to follow that path in Portugal right now? Or even just to be a professional free surfer?
At the moment, at least for me, it’s not! I have an amazing support from DC, who is my main sponsor. But it is not enough. To go to the next level we need more. I’m fortunate because DC helps me a lot and also one of my best friends is my jetksi driver. He doesn’t get paid, just does it out of love for it and friendship.
Last question, right now, three of the Portuguese surfers who are standing out the most in heavy waves (you, João de Macedo and Nicolau Von Rupp) are all from the same beach. Is it a coincidence, or is there something going on in “Praia Grande”?
Well, we’ve all traveled and trained a bit with João de Macedo when we were young. He is crazy, but really smart and in control when riding bigger waves. In my opinion he is one of the best in big wave riding right now. So yeah, his presence in our lives probably has a lot to do with it!
