Surfing’s Next Great Cross-Sport Talent Has Arrived

Just as print media tipped into the 2000s, a common trope was to anticipate what the future of surfing had in store.

Listicles were composed of predictions: professional surfers equally proficient as goofy and regular, the rise of what some magazines called third-world surfers (i.e. anyone outside the US and Australia), aerial surfing borrowing more from skating and snowboarding, and other absurd claims, including wavepools producing waves indistinguishable from the ocean’s.

Tuco Arruda is a 22-year-old regular footer from Florianópolis, Brazil. “I was born and raised in RTMF — the Rio Tavares neighbourhood — which is where Pedro Barros also lives.”

People like Pedro, Sky Brown, Shane Borland, Judd Henkes and a growing cohort of cross-discipline experts are what those listicles were hinting at. After watching the aptly titled Both, you’ll add Tuco to that list.

“I started as a skateboarder,” he said, despite being the son of former Brazilian surf pro Guga Arruda. “Our skate culture is really strong. I learned to skate at Pedro’s parks.”

He began competing and winning. A lot. “I took skateboarding seriously,” he said, “but my father was a professional surfer, so I also spent a lot of time in the water.”

The more Tuco traveled to prime surf destinations, the bigger his love for it grew. “But I never wanted to give up skateboarding.”

When you become good at something, plenty of people with unsolicited advice enter your orbit. Imagine what being good at two attracts.

“People always told me that one day I’d have to pick one or the other. But the goal of this film was to show I chose both. I believe the two go well together.”

“To bring skateboarding maneuvers, different grabs, and different approaches into surfing while still respecting its essence” is Tuco’s goal.

“Surfing and skating are historically connected. In my life they’ve always gone hand in hand.”

Growing up skating with one crew and surfing with another turned out to be an elite education. When your neighbours are Pedro Barros, Yago Dora, Mateus Herdy, and Samuel Pupo, being good at one thing was probably never going to be enough.