Brazil Slab Detonates

Brazilians have a knack for naming waves. Take, for example, the two heaviest slabs that break off Rio de Janeiro and surrounding coastlines to the south: Shock and Avalanche. Yes, they break how they sound.

The latter blasted to life over the weekend for two days of mutant, emerald-green, below-sea-level tubes. And the sessions that came out of the swell only further solidified Brazil – and its local chargers – as a hotspot of heaving slabs, further distancing itself from the former stereotype as the land of fun, punchy beachbreaks filled with surfers solely focused on high-performance aerials. For more evidence, check out the vid below. (Which, to be fair, does include one nearly-completed high-performance aerial by Chumbo.)

Both veteran and contemporary Brazilian chargers came out for the swell, like Carlos Burle and Lucas “Chumbo” Chianca. Chumbo was only there for day one of the swell, as he had to go to a contest the second day (which he won). Here’s what he had to say: “Avalanche is a solid slab. It’s pretty close to our home, so it’s easy for us to do a strike mission out there. It breaks way out to sea, like five kilometers from the shore. It’s a pretty heavy wave. You’re out in the middle of nowhere, then boom, it just shows up. You take off behind the peak and then straight into the barrel. I got some pretty sick waves that day. I got one where I stalled a little bit, then came out really clean. It was a good day overall." Vid: Lucca Biot