"BACK FLIP" - Tribute to GABRIEL MEDINA(BRA)

 "BACK FLIP" -Tribute to GABRIEL MEDINA(BRA)

PLS Check out the "BACK FLIP" video on the channel :

SURFPROCHANNEL

on youtube.com

Historic

I was born so far away from the Brazilian Southern coast; even so I love SURF anyway, since a kid when I watched SURF films on TV, in California, Hawaii. Some friends and I had a T-shirt SURF brand already in the 80's. 

I had a closer friend that was SURFer, had a nice SURFboard; sometimes after weekend surfing on the BEACHES of Rio Grande do Sul, our state; sometimes he hurted himself with the SURFboard, other times the broke the SURFboard, he called me to help him in surfboard repair at night; it was so nice!!!

The times gone away, I went to College, took my degree, received a schoolarship from my State Government, and went to California; I studied Marketing in San Francisco State University and visited SURFshops and a SURFbeach, Cliff House, I took some photos; it was so nice, I will never forget.

By the way, I came back home, worked in Exportation business, Tradings, banks, so on; till I have the opportunity for teaching English, than I did Pos Graduation in Advanced English, at PUC - Pontificie Universidade Catolica, in Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.

Some years later, unfortunately my daddy passed away, and some real state, I had to manage this business, quited the English classes, and started working with translations, versions; at that time I went to Garopaba, SURFing Town, where I learned a lot about this wonderful sport, knew the best surf beaches in Southern Brazil.

2008

On a Saturday in March of 2008, I had my first SURFing lesson in a SURF school in Garopaba, Santa Catarina; and then I went to my first SURFing event in my life; It was an trials of SuperSURF, presented by PETROBRAS, it was on Rosa Beach, a famous SURFbeach, close to Garopaba, in Santa Catarina.

The first day that I went was a Saturday morning; I was so lost, I never was in a SURF championship; I arrived at the beach, and stay alone on the shore with tennis shoes, when I realize a SURFer was coming out ot the water; he look at me, smiled and sad "How are you"; I felt so well, it was my first time and a SURFer said HI; some seconds gone, and I said: Hey, you gonna win the event, Okay!

On the next day, Sunday morning, the surfer the I said would be the champion was Messias Felix(BRA), in fact he won the  EVENT and after the arrival by jet ski, the podium, photos, M. Felix(BRA) asked me, if I were the guy on the shore, that said I would be the CHAMPION!!!

I was in Garopaba, I went to the event of SuperSURF, by bus, early in the morning; when I was on the beach, filming with my Nokia phone;  it was able to film only 20 seconds, but I filmed many heats, anyway; so, I realized beside I tall man, with a big camera with canon for zoom and right way I said "Sir, you have a nice camera  for sure!!!"

He looked at me and answered: 

" If you really like, doesn't matter, keep going anyway "

I did not know anyone of SURF circuit in Brazil; this photographer was Mr. Sebastian Rojas, he worked in Fluir, SURFmagazine; and is considered one of the best SURF photographers in the WORLD. It was a great pleasure to know him; he said the right words, at right time, at right place.

In 2008, I went  to my first WCT - World Championship Tour in Vila Beach, Imbituba, Santa Catarina; that was easy, I caught the bus in Porto Alegre, around midnight, and arrived in Imbituba by 6:00 am; the Australian Surfer Bede Durbidge(AUS) was the champion of the Event; I was so happy because I asked for a picture to the Australian nice surfer, and he stopped by.

2009

In 2009, I went to my second WCT, I had the opportunity to watch KELLY SLATER(USA) the best surfer of all times, 11 times World Champion faced a hard final against Adriano de Souza(BRA), the great champion K. Slater(USA)won the dispute. 

In the early 2000s, the WCT - World Championship Tour - was disputed in the state of Santa Catarina, in Joaquina beach in Florianópolis, in Silveira beach in Garopaba, and then in Vila beach in Imbituba.

At the time, I filmed with my Nokia phone, capable of only filming 20 seconds, but I filmed everything I could, despite having very little storage space, not even a memory card.

When I moved back to the South, I decided to create a surf blog; I had already a simple surfing SITE, hosted on Yahoo's Geocities, but it closed its activities on October 26, 2009.

2010

So, in March 2010, I created SURFWORLDTOUR.BLOGSPOT.COM, a blog with a free domain and hosting, on GOOGLE; at the beginning of May, I went to Imbituba again, to cover the WCT, the World Championship Tour, and this time, the great world champion Kelly Slater was defeated by surfer Jadson Andre from Rio Grando do Norte, in a disputed final. 

2011

In 2011, the WCT was transferred to Rio de Janeiro, Barra da Tijuca and Arpoador.

This time, I went by airplane of Azul airlines, the day before the event, at Posto 4 in Barra da Tijuca, and that year, the champion was the surfer from Guarujá, São Paulo, Adriano de Souza.

That year, in October, GABRIEL MEDINA, debuted in the WCT, becoming champion in Hossegor France, in November, he was champion again in San Francisco, California, USA.

2012

In 2012, some friends, who enjoy SURF, and knew that I had a blog or surfing website, asked me if I knew the great new talent GABRIEL MEDINA, from Maresia beach, São Sebastião, in São Paulo.

In May 2012, I went to Rio de Janeiro again, on a flight from the Colombian company Avianca ; I stayed in a hotel in Tiradentes Square in downtown, and I went to Barra da Tijuca by bus, as at the time, Line 4 of the metro was being built.

That year, GABRIEL MEDINA was eliminated in Round 2 or Recap; the heats occurred earlier, so later on while I was at the event in Barra da Tijuca, I heard someone saying that G. MEDINA had gone surfing with some Hawaiians, at Prainha, a small beach, suitable for surfing, after Recreio dos Bandeirantes.

So, I took a bus on Lucio Costa Avenue in front of the Event, to Recreio dos Bandeirantes, and then continued walking for about 40 minutes to PRAINHA; the place is stunning, it has even appeared in movies and television soap operas.

So, when I was at the seaside talking to some friends of GABRIEL MEDINA, from Maresias beach, São Sebastião, who told me that he was going to be surfing until Sunset, as it was already late, I decided to go back to downtown, because the next day, I had to get up early to catch bus 309 from Central do Brasil to Barra da Tijuca.

2013

In 2013, I went to Rio de Janeiro again, that year, G.MEDINA reached the semi-finals, and was defeated by Adriano de Souza, with the surfer Jordy Smith, from South Africa won the EVENT; this year, unfortunately I did not have the opportunity to meet Gabriel Medina.

2014

In 2014, I went to Rio de Janeiro again, and on a day off afternoon, I was walking in Postinho, with my RIP CURL backpack, when I casually met GABRIEL MEDINA and his friends.

They were lodging in an apartment right in front of the Postinho, where was the EVENT.

I greeted Gabriel and his friends, and I wished him with from heart that he would be a WORLD CHAMPION; he was already competing in the stage in Brazil wearing yellow lycra, which means he is leading the Ranking in that event.

The SURFer was so nice with me, he thanked me for my strength, which was in confirmed, at Pipeline in Hawaii, in December 2014, the Brazil had his FIRST WORLD CHAMPION in SURFING, GABRIEL MEDINA.

Since I was a child I have been very sensitive to people, I realized that Gabriel Medina is a special person, as if he were beyond time, he transmitted to me a very good ENERGY someting SUBTLE,  difficult to explain, but I will certainly never forget that simple moment,  more than "10" years today.

2015

In May 2015, I returned to Rio, Gabriel had the status of world champion, like a lot of security, fans, media, whatever.

That year, the event in Barra da Tijuca was won by Filipe Toledo; at the time, I did not speak to GABRIEL MEDINA, but I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. CHARLES, Gabriel's stepfather and coach.

Afterwards, Gabriel Medina continued competing in the WCT, in 2015 he defeated  the Australian Mick Fanning, Adriano de Souza's rival, and Adriano de Souza(BRA)became the second Brazilian World Champion, again at Pipeline; so, Brazil already had two WORLD TITLES.

2014 - Gabriel Medina

2015 - Adriano de Souza

2016

In January 2016, I finally bought my SONY semi-professional camera, after shooting years with phones, without zoom, with limited time, and little storage.

In May of 2016, I returned to Rio de Janeiro, for the OI Rio Pro; that year, there were 3 powerful storm surges on the coast of Rio de Janeiro, the second of which was more aggressive, even hitting the event structure in Barra da Tijuca, so the event moved to Grumari beach, a little further away.

So, the WSL, the World Surf League, provided transport for surfing people, and they had to take the Van from the Recreio mall, as there was no public transport to Grumari.

I prepared my equipment, new Sony camera, memory cards, battery, etc., went early to the Recreio mall, arrived in Grumari, a beautiful beach, with rocks, blue water, and excellent waves.

It was nothing premeditated, quite the opposite, it was difficult to move from Rio de Janeiro downtown, to the Recreio dos Bandeirantes, and then to Grumari; but when I picked up my Sony camera for shoting, my first shot was of Gabriel Medina, who was wearing red lycra with the number "10".

At that moment, I was very happy, because my camera had an excellent 60x zoom, very powerful, and I could finally film the surfers doing their maneuvers.

At that exact moment, Mr. Sebastian Rojas arrived at Grumari beach; he is a great surf photographer on the world circuit ; I had known him since 2008, at my first event, a Petrobras tryout, for supersurfing at Praia do Rosa, in Santa Catarina.

I had my new SONY camera, but I didn't know how to manage the zoom -60x, was so powerful; so Mr. Rojas from Santos, São Paulo, explain me and taught me the base "shot the wave"!!!

After the reestablishment of the structure in Barra da Tijuca, the event left Grumari beach and continued with the heats at Postinho. 

On May 14, 2016, I was filming in a location right in front of the event structure, when I had a great LUCK to film:

First BACK FLIP in history in official competitions, maneuver executed perfectly, as always by GABRIEL MEDINA.

I was very happy to have filmed GABRIEL's maneuver, and I mentioned it to a friend from Rio, who is a model, and she promptly told me to post immediately it on my blog, social nets, etc.

So, I told her that I would save that 18-second video as something very special, and I would only post it when I felt the time was right.

In 2016, Hawaiian surfer J. J. Florence was champion in Barra da Tijuca; and anticipated World Champion in the Portugal stage.

2017

In 2017, the stage in Brazil was transferred to Saquarema, considered Maracanã of surfing; so I went again, we stayed in Rio de Janeiro, and early in the morning, I took the company bus to Saquarema, about an hour and a half journey.

This event was won by Adriano de Souza, world champion in 2015 on Itaúna beach, in saquarema, RJ.

That year, Hawaiian surfer J. J. Florence became two-time World Surfing Champion, again at Pipeline.

2018

The following year, 2018, I went to Saquarema again, and that year the event was won by surfer Filipe Toledo, from Ubatuba, São Paulo.

That year, Gabriel Medina became two-time World Champion at Pipeline, in a hard-fought HEAT, against his rival Julian Wilson(AUS), a great Australian surfer.

2019

In 2019, F. Toledo (BRA) was again champion in Saquarema, and surfer Italo Ferreira(BRA), from Rio Grande do Norte, became World Champion in Pipeline, over Gabriel Medina(BRA).

2020

In 2020, there were no competitions, due to the COVID19 pandemic.

2021

The Tokyo Olympics, which were held in 2021, due to the covid19 pandemic, GABRIEL MEDINA, was wronged in the Semi-Finals, in a dispute against the japanese surfer Kanoa Igarashi(JPN), in the experts' reading, the aerials of both surfers were similar, but the surfer's maneuver Japanese, it was overvalued; and Gabriel went to compete for the bronze medal, won by Owen Wright (AUS).

But the GOLD medal was won by BRAZIL, through world champion Ítalo Ferreira(RN), in a final against Kanoa Igarashi(JPN)

  

SURF debuted at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and the first GOLD medal was won by a Brazilian surfer.

  

In 2021, there were fewer events, there were no competitions in Brazil; that year, the competition model was changed to FINALS, between the TOP 5 of the season, to be played in Trestles, San Clemente, California, USA.

That year, GABRIEL MEDINA became three-time World Surfing Champion, in the FINALS model among the TOP 5 on the circuit.

2022

In 2022, there was an event again in Brazil, I went to Saquarema, for another OI RIO PRO, which was won again by Filipe Toledo, in a Brazilian final, against Samuel Pupo (BRA).

That year, 2022, Filipe Toledo became world champion for the first time in Trestles, after defeating Italo Ferreira in the grand FINAL.

2023

In 2023, I went to Saquarema again, that year, Brazilian surfer Yago Dora (BRA) was the great champion.

That year, unfortunately GABRIEL MEDINA, was not in the TOP 5, so I decided not to postpone my trip to California again, for the finals; as I had already postponed twice before, in 2016 and 2017, when J.J. Florence was world champion at Pipeline, in Hawaii.

Even though GABRIEL MEDINA was not in the TOP 5, I went to Trestles, San Clemente, and stayed in Los Angeles, California, USA.

I really like CALIFORNIA, I studied at San Francisco State University, and I intend to live in that exuberant US state in the next future.

In this contest, RIP CURL FINALS, Filipe Toledo, became two-time World Surfing Champion, I visited Trestles, a beautiful beach, with greenish water, without much space and sand, like the beaches in Brazil.

2024

This year, 2024, I already have a ticket to Los Angeles, for the end of August, as the FINALS start on September 6th, I hope GABRIEL MEDINA is in the TOP 5, as there is still a stage in FIJI, where the three-time champion likes the waves, and performs excellently.

by Paulo Piqueres

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