31-Year-Old Former Top 10 Surfer Walks From The Woz, Citing Financial Fuckedness   - Stab Mag

Live Now — New Episode Of How Surfers Get Paid — Agents & Managers

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31-Year-Old Former Top 10 Surfer Walks From The Woz, Citing Financial Fuckedness  

“I cannot put my future on the line to reinvest in something so uncertain.”

elsewhere // Apr 30, 2025
Words by Brendan Buckley
Reading Time: 2 minutes

A seaplane is an aircraft designed to take off from and land on water using floats or a boat-like fuselage.

Around 2005, Paul Naude spent three million dollars buying two of them on behalf of Billabong. Meanwhile, Quiksilver got wind of it and rented their own seaplane and planned a surf/content mission to compete with their rival.

This type of aircraft is no longer considered a reasonable investment for surf brands. 

But how much altitude has the surf industry lost in the last 20 years?

Caio Ibelli — who just turned 31 and finished 8th in the world in 2022 — recently announced that he’s going to walk from the WSL due to financial inviability. 

Where to begin? Hmmmm… Lets talk surfing. Surfing grows, it’s an Olympic sport, Brazilian athletes dominate the world circuit and we’ve become a reference on the international scene, but where is our financial incentive? Being a pro surfer is being able to live off surfing. 31 years old today, I cannot put my future on the line to reinvest in something so uncertain. I’m giving up the CS position for now… you can’t invest more than 100 thousand reais to “try” to live from it again, we have bills and commitments. Guess it’s wrong to pay to work. Finally cycles open, cycles close. Will it be that time? I don’t know if this will be goodbye or see ya later but something has to change! In this time I will reconnect with my essence and find my path 🙏

Last year, Caio got bounced by the mid-year cut. He was just behind Sammy Pupo and Ian Gentil, meaning he was one spot away from getting consistent wildcards this year. 

The last time we ran the numbers on the CS, it wasn’t pretty. Only one guy broke even via prize money. And there ain’t too many surfers left getting enough sponsorship dime to foot the bill. 

2016 was Caio’s first year on tour, and his best result was a Finals finish at Bells in 2017.

He will be missed by many, just not John or Gabe, whom he defeated in some crucial heats. 

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