It’s not easy to immediately answer the question of what inspires me. I could talk about the achievements, the titles, the giant waves I’ve faced. But the truth is that my greatest inspiration has always come from adversity. It was by facing the unexpected that I discovered who I really am – in and out of the water.
I was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, in the heart of the South Zone. Like many boys, I started playing football and became a member of Flamengo. But it was on the beach, with a board in hand, that I found my true place. Skimboarding (the sport of sliding a board along the sea) showed me a new universe, in which every slide on the sand and every wave were learning opportunities, at sea and beyond. At 16, I decided that this would be my path. It wasn’t an easy choice, but it was the one that changed my life forever.
At just 21 years old, I became the first non-American skimboarding world champion. At that moment, I realized that limits exist to be questioned. But life soon showed me that the biggest challenges are not just at sea. During the pandemic, I faced mouth cancer alone, as my family was in Portugal. It was a time of pain, uncertainty and fear. But it was also when I found a strength I didn’t even know I had. Recovery taught me that courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the decision to move forward despite it.
Continues after advertising
From this phase came one of the most daring projects of my career: the Skimboard Nazaré. Getting on a skim board to face 20 meter waves seemed impossible to many, but I knew I had to try. I surfed in Nazaré, then in Mavericks, in California, and finally in Jaws, in Hawaii – where, in December 2024, I faced one of the biggest waves in the history of that peak. Being honored for this feat in 2025, at the Big Wave Challenge, is proof that dreams that seem unattainable can, in fact, be achieved.
My inspiration comes not only from the waves I surfed, but also from the responsibility of giving back to the sport and society everything I learned. It was from this purpose that the Carioca Skimboard School was born. In October, we reopened the initiative, which serves both the general public and tourists, but will reserve 50% of places for children and young people nominated by NGOs from communities such as Vidigal and Terreirão, in Recreio dos Bandeirantes.
To make this model possible, my partners and I count on the support of sponsors and also on financial support from public bodies. Our goal is to expand classes to beaches such as Leblon, Ipanema, Barra and Macumba, giving these young people the opportunity to discover in sport what I found: the chance to believe in yourself, to dream and to strive to achieve it.
Continues after advertising
Today, in addition to my career in sports, I am bringing other dreams to life: LF Vest Co., my own clothing brand, which connects my lifestyle to the creative universe of fashion. Each piece we launch is more than a product: it is an extension of my story, my identity and the energy that skimboarding brought me. In addition to Skim Center, a digital marketplace focused on products and content from the skimboard universe.
If there’s anything I’ve learned along this path, it’s that life will always put us to the test. Whether faced with a giant wave or an unexpected diagnosis. What defines who we are is not what happens to us, but how we respond to it. That’s why I’m always looking for new challenges, both in and out of the water. Because it is in overcoming that I find my true inspiration.
