Extreme Outdoor Supply: Brazil Skim Tour – Toque Toque Grande Contest

By: Piero Grieco

I'm kind of reluctant to talk about Toque Toque Grande Beach because it is my second home and the place I always skimboard. Toque Toque Grande is a very nice beach to skimboard and to rest - very nice views, clean water, large green area and very receptive neighborhood.

Toque Toque Grande in a nice sunny and not so nice flat day.

The contest began on Saturday, June 21 with bad conditions. The wind was blowing very hard, making the worst condition that Toque Toque could ever have for skimboarding (even with small swell, Toque Toque still has good skim conditions). The waves were choppy and the weather was terrible. The crowd was not very big because of the thin rain and the contest staff was thinking about canceling the contest.

The “AUSKIM” (Ubatuba Skimboard Association) that runs all contests in Brazil called the competitors and asked what we thought about the conditions. We figured that the contest would probably just get canceled rather than postponed, and many skimmers came in from other states so it would suck for them to have to travel back without competing. With that in mind we decided to go on with the contest even with the choppy wave conditions.

Toque Toque Grande in the contest day.

On Saturday after the meeting, the contest began a little late with the competitors fighting for waves. With bad skim conditions it is very hard to find 3 nice waves knowing we have 10 limit waves. Some competitors don't like the wave limit, especially in 15 minute heats. Some good skimmers couldn't get 3 good waves and stopped in the first heat (like Thiago Porva, the Arnette Ipanema Champion last year)
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Some people were kind of disappointed with the contest framework when they first saw it on Saturday morning. AUSKIM said they had some problems and apologized to everyone.

People looking at the waves before the contest meeting.
(This was not a very good framework like the last contests in Brazil).

On Sunday, even with the lower temperatures, everybody got excited because the waves were a little better. So they started the contest earlier than the previous. With the better conditions the contest quality raised and the crowd raised with it (and the rain was gone too).

After the remaining open heats they started the “mirim” heats (kids up to 15). We could see that Brazilian skimboarding is growing very fast and pointing in the right directions to have a good future in the international skimboard scene. Look for riders Leandro Azevedo (that caused some controversy because he always ran both categories OPEN/MIRIM), Renato Lima, and Carlos Daniel (Toque Tooque Grande local) to make some noise in the future.

On Sunday everybody was waiting for the female heat, but the girls that usually compete couldn’t come to this contest and Vivian Grieco preferred not to compete against the men in the open heats (mostly because of the bad conditions of the waves).

The semi-finals were a very competitive round. Emanuel Junior (Toque Toque Grande – SP) with his nice aerials and Munir Ruffo (Niterói- RJ) with his nice speed and long waves made the heat very close. Also, Jackson (Ubatuba –SP) with his nice aerials and strong wraps and Leandro Azevedo (Ubatuba – SP) with his incredible technique made the heat even better.

Carlos Daniel , the future of skimboarding in Brazil and the world

Allan Gobbo in a nice frontside aerial

Bernardo Piccoreli (judge) in a frontside slash

Guilherme Leporace

Jackson backside wrap

Piero Grieco in short big spin

The final was even closer with two young skimmers (both less than 17 years old) fighting like experienced warriors. The better conditions of the waves made the environment perfect for a good heat.

The crowd was screaming a lot as each trick was thrown down. Part of the crowd was cheering for Munir Ruffo and the other cheering for Leandro Azevedo. After some good waves and very similar grades, Leandro Azevedo got a very, very, very nice in and out tube on a wave that nobody could imagine. Congratulations to both the finalists, the AUSKIM, sponsors and especially to the champion Leandro Azevedo.

Special thanks to my sponsors: Dirty Skimboards (www.dirtyline.com.br), EOS (www.extremeoutdoorsupply.com), Weird (www.weird666.com) and OBSKIM (www.obskim.com).

Results (from auskim.com.br):

Open PRO: