Last year, Yago Dora set the Oi Rio Pro on fire taking out not one, not two, but three world champions. By then, his qualification for the Championship Tour appeared imminent, and his win at the Azores Airlines Pro last September helped clinch him a spot among this year’s CT rookies.
But Yago’s ascension to the CT was anything but typical. Before Rio, he was better known for free surfing video parts than heat results.
According to a recent WSL profile, Yago’s proclivity for accumulating stamps in his passport came from surfing later in life. After his obsession with soccer waned, that is. “When I started surfing all my friends that were my age were competing already and traveling around Brazil to compete,” he says. “I was like, ‘Okay, I’m just gonna do a lot of surf trips and get my surfing good first then start competing.'”
As it happens, Yago has something that others don’t: a loving dad who also coaches world champion surfers. Leandro Dora coached Adriano de Souza to a world title and works with world jr. champ Lucas Silveira. With Yago’s raw talent, and his father’s coaching ability, the two are a dynamic duo, and (we expect) will be doing some pretty amazing things on tour this year.
