Report: Gabriel Medina’s Cousin Is Surfing More & More Like Gabriel Medina

Norman Borlaug is a little known name credited with one of the greatest accomplishments in human history. 

Norm, as we will call him, was an agricultural savant who, during the mid-20th century, began cross fertilizing a variety of different high-yield, disease-resistant wheat strains. ‘Rust’, a fungal parasite, was causing quite a drag come harvest time when entire wheat fields were destroyed with spotty, blister-like pustules. Borlaug introduced the best of these high-yield, rust-resistant strains as well as his fertilization methods to farmers in Mexico, Pakistan, and India. And as a result, wheat yields nearly doubled in Pakistan and India, greatly improving the food security in those nations. He is thought to have saved more than 1 billion people globally from death as a result of starvation, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970.

Weird segway for a surf clip, but okay?

Gabriel Medina’s grandparents clearly have high-yield crops themselves, producing not one, but (at least) two incredible surfing talents. 3x WC Gabby, who needs no introduction, and Sophia, who we saw on Stab High Central America presented by Monster Energy and who just won the South America QS. Rodrigo Saldanha is Gabriel Medina’s cousin, but only by way of Charlie, who is not Gabby’s actual father. Which is to say he was raised in the same nursery but by a different gardener. While Rod may not have the same voluptuous quadriceps of Gabs, he has his full-rotations in spades. 

No doubt a high-yield maneuver for the judging panel when he starts his devastating QS run.