this activity which in other countries
represents piracy-doesn't violate any
law in Brasil. The skate market has
curiosities like a copied design with a
signature of the wrong pro! These trends
resulted in a bad fame for Brasil in the
eyes of most skaters who had never been
there to see it live. Fortunately, this kind
of attitude is fading-a result of the great
efforts by the mags, zines, older skaters
and most of the conscious people
involved in the sport. Nowadays, there
are several authentic Brasilian brands
making very good parts-a few as
good as the best of America from
strong and light decks to safety
gear. These companies are
sponsoring over fifty pros,
making contests, pushing
the amateurs and keep-
ing up with the sport's
evolution.
But, in despite of all
these matters, if you
want to know about
the Brasilian skate-
boarding you have
to skate!
And don't worry about parks, we have
lots of them. There are at least twenty
skateparks working at full power today.
The largest one is Sao Bernado, a public
area with 4,350 square feet, fully
equipped with a halfpipe, two banks, two
stre esclareas. Thini-half and a
freestyle direa tali concrete). Most of the
parks and skaters are located in the state
of Sao Paulo-something like the Ameri-
cans did with California-but the other
cities (Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul,
Santa Catarina, Paraná, Minas
I Copa RioEsportes de SKATE
Gerais, Bahia, etc.) have their own
scenes, where new talents are always
emerging. An upcoming generation of rad
skaters plus talent of the top pros acceler-
ated the development, and names like
Sérgio Negão, Lemuel Dinho, Álvaro Por
Què?, lunae, Léo Kakinho, Lincoln Ueda,
Luciano Kid, Jämys Bigo and others are
well known by some of the American
pros who got to visit this tropical country.
Tony Alva was one of the first and after
him there were many others. Hosoi has
been here three times-he is already con-
sidered a local and has also licensed his
brand. Hawk and Mountain did some
demos, ripped in São Bernardo and
found many copies of their graphics.
Malba was there twice-the first with
Hosoi and the last one with Gator,
Ken Park and Joe Johnson for demos
in a big contest in Rio. They got
stoked! Tony Magnusson went with
Eddie Elguera the first ripped, the
second got hurt. The Brasilians have
also seen Sergie Ventura, John
Gibson, Dave Duncan, and Daryl
Delgado, who stayed there for a good
time, really surprised by all the scene.
The year 1989 started with the first
schedule of contests organized by the
main skateboard association, União
Brasileira de Skate (URS) "Brasilian
Skate Union-with seven events (for
pros and an) valid for the national
ranking. Beyond that, there are
several regional associations around
the country building parks, doing
demos and holding championships
for the grommets,
In Brasil, the sport is growing on.
There is a new mag, Skatin, that's the
higgest right now, publishing issues
bi-monthly in all the country and in
Portugal, too. A local TV channel is
showing the main events live, there
are specialized programs on televi-
sion and radio, contests on the beach-
es, thousands of demos, skaterock
bands, cheap beer, beautiful girls and
lots of fun.
Someday, if you have an opportuni-
ty to make a long skate journey, go to
Brasil. It's a huge country, so you will
need to spend as many days as you
can get until you believe your eyes.
Skaters are welcome, and remem-
ber: the more time you spend, the
more fun you get!
38 THRASHER MAGAZINE
LEV BARTE
A MUSICA NAO PARA
RA ESPORTES
BESPORTES
Above bountiful blue tile and
abundant white gunite, a local
named Danny (spread) highballs
over the channel with a behind-
the-foot backside grab af
Apraador. Photoman Block
(upper right) pofis out his chest in
front of a statue of his saviour.
What you see is what you get
(middle right). The swimsuits in
Brasil don't leave much to the
imagination. Feels don't fail me
now, Satoshi Kawamuri (bottom
right) hucks a fat frontside olie at
Copa Grande in Rio De Janeiro.
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL