Italo Ferreira’s Passport Was Stolen In Santa Monica And He Needs Your Help!

In a recent Instagram post, Italo Ferreira revealed that he’s currently stuck in the Land of the Free™ due to a misplaced passport, which contains visas to all of the surfy nations around the world. 

His caption reads: 

ATENTION – HELP
If you live in Santa Monica/Know somebody from there, I’m still looking for my passaport that was stolen. (You can tag/share this post with someone, if you can help me). It’s very important to find it, contains all my visas that I need to travel and represent my country. 

I’m struggling to get those visas and it’s NOT easy. 
I’ll reward who finds it. 
If you find it, go to an Police Department near by you, they will call me. 

Thank you for you help !

As anybody who’s lost a passport before (like Stab‘s own Crashton Loggins) knows, it is a more stressful and tedious position to be in than the dentist’s chair, shopping for the perfect kitchen set, or in a topless Frenchman’s headlock. 

And for someone like Italo Ferreira, whose livelihood relies on his ability to travel freely across the globe, this is more than just a hassle. It’s career suicide. 

Unless… what if the lost passport was actually an inside job?

Let’s look at the facts. 

Could this lovable gent be putting in the fix?

At this current moment, Italo should be en route to Japan for the 2019 ISA World Games, where he, Gabriel Medina, and Filipe Toledo will be representing Brazil to fulfill the Olympic requirements set forth by the ISA/IOC (though only two of the aforementioned names will make the cut, as decided by their 2019 Championship Tour rankings). 

The ISA World Games have historically been a write-off for surfing’s top pros, proven by the sheer lack of CT talent that competes in them each year. However, this year the World Games will attract surfers like Kelly Slater, Kolohe Andino, Jordy Smith, and Julian Wilson because it is a requirement to compete in this event if you want to surf in the Olympics. 

However, it’s likely that in extreme cases (like losing one’s passport, if there was a cat stuck in a tree, etc.), an exception could be made and that surfer’s absence from the 2019 ISA World Games would be forgiven by the Olympic Committee, allowing them still to compete in Tokyo 2020 despite missing next week’s non-qualifier qualifier.

This just looks fun.

So, could it be possible that Italo faked the loss of his passport to avoid the annoyance of surfing in Japan this week?

Like, what if that passport is safe and sound in Italo’s fanny pack? What if he’s running around Six Flags at this very moment, Dippin Dots in hand, giggling like a schoolboy who flipped off the teacher when they weren’t looking?

Frankly, it seems more likely that Slater would have pulled this kind of move; not Italo. In fact, it’s also possible that Slater is seething right now over the fact that he either a. didn’t think of this masterful plan himself or b. waited too long and Italo beat him to the punch. 

Either way, if you’re in the Los Angeles area and happen to stumble upon the 2018 Stab Surfer of the Year’s global stamp collection, shoot him, or us a DM.