Unsponsored Blow-Ins Can Get Set Waves Too

Just a quick jaunt down the beach from Pipeline, you’ll find Off The Wall. Notoriously imperfect, any given session out there is usually comprised of hefty closeouts, with the odd 10-point-ride available for surfers with superior wave-selection skills. Off The Wall offers a reprieve from the hungry Pipeline pack, an exchange which is often paid for with heavy beatings and broken boards.

This clip features Barrinha doing its best Off The Wall impression. Impossibly long walls, foamy clampers, and some meaty chandeliers, met with ferocity by a crew of tube-junkies. If you forgot where Barrinha is, you might remember it as that spot in Brazil where Filipe made the whole CT look like they were learning how to surf.

Everyone’s favorite dark horse João Chianca snagged a few notable visions, but the wave at 1:58, navigated by visiting surfer Guilherme Hilel, was undeniably a onda do dia. 

Guilherme is 21-years-old, doesn’t have any sponsors, and drove two hours south, from his hometown of Macaé, for this swell. “I surf because I love it. I always want to push myself on the big, barreling days,” says the Brazilian. “Believe it or not, it was my first time surfing at Barrinha. It’s such an epic wave and I was honored to be on it! Huge thanks to all the locals that were in the water.”

Impressive that a traveling surfer who we’ve never heard of managed to snag that wave. Even more impressive that he made it.

The clip was created by Matheus Couto, who shot from dawn to dusk and said “It was some of the most epic conditions I’ve ever filmed here in Brazil.”

Click above to see what the waves will probably not be like at next years Oi Rio Pro.