What's up Surfhivers!
This time I'm coming with a slightly different post, which will be about a Bodyboarding contest I've worked on that ended yesterday.
It was the ArcelorMittal Wahine Bodyboarding Pro 2023, the first stop of the bodyboarding world tour that was held in Espírito Santo - Brazil, very close to my home. Last year I was invited to work as a commentator, a job I've never done before but got amped to do just for being involved in the world tour of the sport I love most, Bodyboarding.
Last year's event with my partner Begoña Martinez who's an official commentator at IBC, the organization that regulates and promotes the tour.
It is a women-only event and it actually is the single event of the tour that crowns the master world champ (35+).
So, this year I was invited to work again at the event and it was simply amazing. I could learn so much from being with all the teams (judges, webcast suppliers, logistics and commentators) and could also feel the improvement from last year.
This is the webcast team I've been working with: Begoña Martinez, Fabio Aquino and Ursula Rollas.
This year the organization changed the webcast suppliers due to many technical problems we had with the previous team on the 2022 event.
These are the guys from Wavedata, definitely one the best suppliers for surfing/bodyboarding webcast around the world. So good to work with great professionals, specially when you're live in front of an audience.
This was the view from the hotel where we had breakfast everyday before the event started and you know what?! I even managed to catch a few ones standing up on the days the competition was on hold 😁 So much fun with all of the teams in the water 😂🌊
Mariana Nogueira got the title for the second year and became the first 2x Master World champion of the sport, for whoever doesn't know, Mariana had an amazing carreer from the 80's all the way to the 2000's winning basically all of the titles available for an athlete at that time. Despite retiring, she never left the water and still surfing like a beast at the age of 52.
Thats basically it fam, just wanted to share this amazing experience I had working as a commentator, something new to me, but a work that brought me closer to the sport in another manner, made me meet many great athletes and now I actually was invited to comment the 2nd stop of the tour which will be happening in Antofagasta, Chile.
This picture was taken at the end of the award ceremony with all the athletes and staff, such amazing people.
The event in Antofagasta will be happening from May 18th until the 28th, so stay tuned because there's definitely more to come!
Take care Surf fam! ❤️