The genesis
I remember being fascinated by a trip to North-East Brazil years ago when I read a book from 1955 by the French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss called Tristes Tropiques (French for “Sad Tropics”). The book documented his travels and anthropological work around Brazil and it sparked my intrigue in the country, however the idea of organizing a trip to Brazil remained pretty unattractive to me until recent times. Before getting into stand up paddling I was hooked on windsurfing for a long time. Brazil’s North-East was always a popular destination among windsurfers, but back then I never felt attracted to a trip to Brazil. I knew that it would likely entail the typical windsurf trip to Jericoacoara – as many windsurfers do in the search for strong trade winds and relaxed lifestyle – and that simply didn’t inspire me. The idea of travelling that far away from home only to find familiar faces (Jericoacoara is full of Italians) and familiar comforts was never my thing. I didn’t want to travel to Brazil to eat Italian pizza, Japanese sushi and sleep in a four-star hotel.
But what could I do to really connect with the true essence of that region? The answer came interestingly in the form of stand up paddling. Since day one, stand up paddling was a door to a new world for me. Immediately it brought a totally different perspective to my relationship with the ocean. Suddenly I was finding myself enjoying the ocean everyday, no matter what. Any body of water suddenly became a playground for my little adventures. Beside the action, I learned how to enjoy simple things such as exploring new places, cruising around, enjoying the landscape and just being on the water. This aspect of SUP opened a whole universe of big and small adventures to me that, as a windsurfer, I could have never dreamt about.
