Archive for: Brazil

Just at Heathrow airport passing the time with a little wireless activity before I step on board the big bird to Rio. Just check the forecast and there is a nice 1.5-2m swell hitting Macumba. I will be there tomorrow and I can’t wait to get some of that action (below).

Happy Easter everyone…

I am officially counting down the hours now until I step on to the plane at Heathrow to jet off across the Altantic to Brazil. I will be in Rio tomorrow morning and hopefully by lunch I will be in the water down at Macumba getting some waves on the new board.

I have 4 days in Rio, hopefully getting in as many waves as possible. I then head up the coast to Salvador where I will see Elise for a month.
I must admit I don’t feel scared/hesitant at all about the trip, unlike I did last year. But then I guess I am a year older and have now been around the world solo, so kinda got that under my belt etc. Brazil looks as though it could be an amazing and unique experience, and I hopefully will soak up every second of it whilst I am there.

More to come…

So I had a great weekend just past. It started off Friday afternoon with the Duke team heading down to GBK for some tasty burgers, fries and milkshakes. We then all headed out after work to Dirty Martini for an assortment of champagne, muitos, beers and finger food.

Saturday was spent recovering and hitting up the gym and pool. I then took the train down to Greenwich and met up with BJC, Celeste, Richie and JC for some very tasty prawn salad, chili con carne and nice desert. Again we got stuck into the vino, bow and Guinness, leaving me, Richie and JC up until 3am talking bollocks and taking odd photos, all good stuff.

Sunday we headed down to Greenwich Market, took in some local attractions and then wandered along the Thames towpath up to the Cutty Sark pub for burger and chips and a few bevies. We topped off the afternoon with a walk over to the Greenwich Observatory and checked out the amazing views over the City of London.

Here are a few pics from the weekend:

So it is only just over a week to go until I jet off to Brazil. I am starting to get excited about the trip and have been getting things slowly organised.

One thing that did surprise me this afternoon though was the flight duration. I was checking my itinerary on the BA website and was under the impression that my flight was about 10 or 11 hours max, this would seem a little optimistic, as after looking a little closer I found out that it is 14 hours 15 mins. Although I went around the world last year, I think the longest individual flight I had was only 10-11 hours, so 14 is really gonna test me I think. I will have the PB, iPod, several books and I guess a free bar on the plane, so I can just get some red wine inside me and fall asleep hopefully.

On arrival in Rio, the plan is to get transfered to the surf resort at Macumba, check-in to the surf-camp, visit the shaper, pick up my new board and then hit the beach and be in the water for midday. Current temps are about 33 degress, nicccccccceee!
Elise has been apartment hunting for me over the past week, and I should hopefully have a nice pad waiting for my arrival in Salvador.

I have been keeping a close eye on the surf cams for both Rio and Salvador, both of which are looking a bit flat at the moment, so hopefully we’ll be getting some swell coming through over the week or so.

Portuguese has been going well, hopefully I will have enough under my belt to at least order a beer and not get ripped off etc.
Countdown continues, off to Dirty Martini now for team drinks, bring on the weekend!

So it has been a long time coming, but I finally put my money where my mouth is and decided to go to Brazil for a 6 week surf tour that will hopefully rock as much as WST06 did. OK so Brazil doesn’t really merit a World Surf Tour, but I haven’t been to South America before, so for me it is a big adventure into the unknown.

I am flying out from Heathrow to Rio on the 8th April (just 19 days now). I remember last year being kinda nervous about WST06, I wonder if I will get the jitters before I head off this time?!

So the idea behind this trip is to combine a few things that I love: travel, surfing, exploring different cultures and seeing my girlfriend. The last point actually being kinda the persuading factor in choosing Brazil rather than anywhere else. It will be interesting this time round, as I am now officially a “good boy” with a girlfriend, so its no Brasilieras for me, maybe I’ll attach a small sign to my back saying “hands off, property of Elise Boyson”, haha!

My first stop will be to check out the waves in Rio with the guys and gals down at Rio Surf ‘n’ Stay. I can’t wait to get in the sea again and score some decent waves and get back to what gets me stoked. Hopefully they will have a nice tasty swell waiting for me.

I then fly to Salvador de Bahia on the 12th April and will be hanging out for up to a month. My plan is to get in as much surfing as possible, both in and around the town, but also with a few trips up the coast to various spots. I have already started learning some Portuguese and might even do a language school when I am there, we’ll see. Apparently there is loads to see and do in Salvador, as it is the cultural capital of Brazil. It is also gonna be a great chance to hang out and spend a prolonged period of time with Elise (whom I haven’t seen for over 3 months).

I am then going to either head up/down the coast to surf some more at either EasyDrop down in Itacare, or at Bahia Surf Camp up near Busca Vida, gonna keep that one open for now and wait and see what the charts say.

I then fly back to Rio, where I will stay for a weekend at the Ipanema Beach House, see some of the town and sights etc and then head back to, what will hopefully be early summer in London!

So to say I am excited it an understatement. I really don’t know what to expect from Brazil, so I am going to go with no expectations at all, just keep it chilled, go with the flow and hopefully have a wonderful experience in the process. I am going to make another movie and I will be updating my blog out there so everyone can keep up with the latest news etc.

More to come…