Surfing Gallery

Brazil-Surf-School

Young surfer Rickson Falcao, 10, waits for a wave at Saquarema's beach in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, on November 29, 2017.
Despite its vast Atlantic coastline, Brazil has few areas with world class surf. Until recently, it also had too small a middle class to grow a sport that had few roots. One main hotspot has always been near Sao Paulo, the other is Saquarema, a sleepy seaside city famous for a beautiful church on a rocky promontory, dividing two long beaches -- each lashed by consistently good waves. At the core of that local culture is Luiz Augusto de Matos, a burly retired firefighter who opened the Saquarema Surf School in 1990 and dedicated himself to turning generations of skinny toddlers into wave wizards. Today he has 30 students. / AFP PHOTO / LEO CORREA / TO GO WITH AFP STORY by Sebastian Smith

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Portugal-Brazil-Surf-Luna

Brazilian big wave surfer Marcelo Luna rides a wave off Prada do Norte in Nazare on December 17, 2016.
Saved by surfing when he was a drug addicted teenager from the suburbs of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Marcelo Luna crossed the Atlantic in his thirties to meet another major challenge: to tame the giant waves of Nazare. / AFP PHOTO / FRANCISCO LEONG

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Kitesurfing-Colombia-Indigenous-Wayuu

Colombian Marcos Sandon competes in the Free Style Kitesurfing competition of the Third Kite Addict Colombia tournament in Cabo de la Vela, Guajira Department, Colombia, on July 4, 2016.
In Cabo de la Vela, a remote destination in the extreme northeast of Colombia, members of the Wayuu indigenous tribe seek to tame the art of kitesurfing, a sport that has become a source of income in this impoverished region of the Caribbean as well as the challenge of competition. / AFP PHOTO / Joaquin Sarmiento

© Agence France-Presse (AFP) - All Rights Reserved