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Destination: Florianopolis, Brazil
Time of Year: March – September
Breaks: Campeche, Praia Joaquina, Praia Mole, Barra da Logoa, Praia Riozinho
Level: All levels
Cost: Inexpensive – Moderate

Intro: Ah Brazil, a country with seemingly more similarities to the U.S than differences and home to surf culture second only to the United States. The beach is a way of life in Brazil, and they’re blessed with thousands of beautiful miles of it. They’re also blessed with thousands of other things.

Florianopolis is a peninsula in the Southern Brazil with excellent exposure to Southern Swell and dozens of beaconing beach breaks (42 beaches in all). The beaches of Florianopolis are some of most beautiful in Brazil. Brazilians have a reputation for being aggressive in the water but with miles and miles of beach breaks, you’ll see their welcoming and friendly side. And with dozens of clubs, you see the other side of Brazilian beach culture.

Through the summer months, you won’t need anything more than a shortie and trunks will be fine for most of the time. After March though the water and air cools off and you’ll want a 3/2 fullsuit. Surf is small for the summer months, but picks up after March. Though it rarely gets big, standard short board will suffice for most days.

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I must have read my first article of the promised Ron Jon Surf Park probably in 2003 in Surfer Magazine. They touted the park as right around the corner and the first of many to come. First Orlando, then every other city in the country. We’d be surfing at night, getting a guaranteed 12 waves an hour, and picking between long rolling point waves and getting shacked in a pool. Ron Jon where have been?!

The Surfpark in Orlando touted new technology that would produce a more powerful, longer, and consistent wave that could be altered to different shapes including the elusive tube.  There wasn’t a dissenting voice among the surfing public. But since then, we haven’t heard anything. I did some digging on the Surf Park website and found a recent change of plans and another vague time-line.

In February they announced redesigns  that include a two phase development. First would come a smaller wave pool with rides of 30-40 yards and then a second larger wave pool with larger waves and longer rides (6-8 foot waves and 60-80 yard long rides). They don’t give specific dates.

In the meantime,  a guy named Steve Jones is promising a wave park in London by 2011. So Ron Jon, give us some dates! We’re dreaming of chlorine barrels.

Yes, the UK does get surf and actually gets good surf (see link “Pipeland Comes to Scotland“). Now, one entrepreneur’s vision is to have a wave park on the Thames in London. Steve Jones is planning the The Venture Xtreme project at Silvertown Quays. Surfers will be able to ride 3-5 ft waves all year round by the Thames in a wave park. (Youtube video at end)

The wave park is planned for 2011 and offers 100 m long rides that can break either left or right. For $60/hour surfers would get the chance to ride up to 10 waves. [more after the jump]

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It’s safe to say that if you’ve read about a surf spot in the New York Times, then it’s no longer an underground spot. I read about El Salvador in NYT three or four years ago, then Nicaragua and Panama. Surfing has been blowing up around the world, and surfers are by nature travelers. It was only a matter of time before it became the en vogue sport. The New York Times last week published a travel article on Peru and specifically surf in the North around Mancora. Peru has great exposure to Southern swell (they also pick up bigger Westerly and Northern swells during North America’s winter). They’ve got every kind of break, from big wave spots to some of the longest point breaks in world. Waveshunters has a good summary of the best waves in Peru (link). The best part about Peru is how many of your surfers buddies do you know that have been down there?! I’ve got one that’s surfed there.

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I just got back from my 10 day trip to Guerrero (North of Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa) and Michoacan. We scored two solid swells down there and great waves all around. It was an easy trip from the West Coast (Alaska has direct flights from LAX to Zihuatanejo and last minute fares were cheap ($450). There’s plenty of good breaks down there (favoring the goofy foot though) with good swell exposure. Winds generally picked up late morning, but did not always blow out the surf and many afternoons were still surfable. Don’t expect to partying until dawn every night (or any night), but Zihuatanejo has an old-town charm and there’s incredible fishing up and down the coast. North of Zihuatenajo there’s hardly anything on the coast at all except a few fishing villages. Overall, the area is a great area to plan a trip or to score last minute waves.

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Red Bull teamed up with the world’s best barrel riders (Jamie O’Brien, Jamie Sterling, Ian Walsh, and Raimana Van Bastolear) to film the world’s heaviest barrel in the that’s never been done before. Using a 360 cam (I’d never heard of one either) strapped to their backs, they film the barrel from all angles. The resulting footage allows you to see the barrel from the surfer’s perspective and actually move the camera around the barrel for 360 degree views! Incredible stuff. You can actually pause the camera at any point and move the camera around and see the barrel from all angles. Since most of us won’t probably ever be dropping into 10 ft. Teahupoo, it’s a good as we can get for now. Here’s the link to the Red Bull site on the project with videos. Check out the photos below.

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It’s April, which means the surf sucks everywhere in the North Hemisphere… Well, that is except for Scotland?!

Thurso, Scotland is host of the ASP O’Neill Highland Open (link), which wouldn’t have normally raised anyone’s eyebrows especially in April, except that they managed to score some epic pounding waves. Continue reading for more photos.

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San Francisco surfer Adrian Ruiz, 24, was attacked by a shark while surfing at Troncones in the state of Guerrero, Mexico on Monday afternoon. He died later from blood loss. Troncones is a small town 45 minutes north of Zihuatenajo and Ixtapa. Ruiz was bitten on the right thigh and brought to the beach. A bstander took Ruiz to a local Naval hospital, after waiting for an ambulance. Ruiz did at the hospital from blood loss. Ralph Collier, a Los Angeles-area shark expert, assisted with the autopsy. He said the fragments indicate the shark was a great white 15 to 16 feet long. Shark attacks are rare in mainland Mexico. In 2006, only one was reported. (link)

I returned from my surf trip to Troncones on Sunday. For the first 5 days of the swell we surfed the point at Manzanillo Bay (in Troncones). From reports, this sounds like the wave Ruiz had been surfing (Troncones only really has one point wave and a beachbreak). The point is a left that seems to come up from deep water and break over a rocky shelf. There’s a steep take-off and the wave quickly mushes out and the shelf apparently dives back to deep water. There’s rarely a crowd at the point. It’s sad to hear about this tragedy. It’s also spooky to know we were surfing the same wave only days earlier. Pictured below is Manzanillo Bay with Troncones Point on the far right.

Surf and art never seem to far apart. The beauty of surfing translates well to the artistic experience. Here’s a link to Ed Fladung’s blog Quality Peoples with links to art and surf and Ed’s random musing. “On a perpetual Mexican surfari,” something we’re all wishing for.

Some friends of mine are on a road trip South from California to Costa Rica. They’re surfing in Mexico and Nicaragua on the way down before hanging in Costa Rica for a few months. Check out their blog to follow them down (Surfari Collin).