Vitor Oliveira

River surfing is called he'e pu'e wai in Hawaiian. He'e meaning to slide; pu'e referring to turbulence; and wai indicating fresh water. But what's in a name? Dodging obvious Shakespearean inferences, we can conclude that, be it river surfing, rapid surfing, or he'e pu'e wai, all convey a measure of what, where, and how the sport is performed. Duke Kahanamoku gifted ocean surfing (he'e nalu) to the world scarcely over a century ago. Since Westerners arrived in Hawai'i in 1778 , he'e nalu has evolved from Hawai'i's national sport and birthright to a censured water activity, a Western counterculture symbol, and now an internationally governed Olympic and professional sport. There are important reasons for preserving the he'e pu'e wai origin stories globally, before the opportunity is drowned out. References in ancestral chants, oral histories and moral teachings (mo'olelo), with citations in Hawaiian- and English-language ...

It's an underrated gem running in Hawaii since the 1970s. The Buffalo Big Board Surfing Classic is an event like no other. Starting with the judging criteria. Some people leave their marks in our world, more for who they are and less for what they did. However, a fine young Hawaiian gentleman by the name of Richard Kalolo'okalani Keaulana somehow has it all. Richard "Buffalo" Kaloloʻokalani Keaulana was born on September 2, 1934, on Auld Lane in Honolulu to Abraham Keaulana and Mary Phoebe Mahi. He attended Likelike Elementary, Waialua Elementary, and Nanakuli Intermediate in 1946. Years later, in 1978, he enrolled at the Hawaii Maritime Academy, where he studied under Capt. Bob Alverson. Buffalo often said Alverson was the best teacher he ever had because he could turn long words into common sense. Buffalo married Evangeline Leimomi Whaley on November 6, 1960, at St. Augustine Church in Waikiki. Together they raised Brian, Jodie, Lehua, Russ, and James, and ha...

Conor Donegan and David Pérez have taken out the 2026 Lanzarote Quemao Class at El Quemao in La Santa, Lanzarote, Canary Islands. The ninth edition of the prestigious tube riding event crowned two new champions in a world-class wave that could very well be part of surfing and bodyboarding world tours. Over two days in which ocean conditions exceeded - as always - all expectations, athletes pushed every heat to the limit to make the most of a demanding wave that once again proved why it is a stunning reef break. The surf final featured Basque surfers Adur Amatriain and Yago Domínguez, France's Joan Duru, and Lanzarote's Conor Donegan. In a very tight heat, the local surfer came out on top after posting two of the most impressive waves of the event. Donegan was also one of the big surprises of this year's Quemao Class. One of the youngest surfers in the field and solid from his very first heat, the local improved round after round until establishing himself as one of t...

The International Surfing Association (ISA) announced the qualification system (QS) for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. The road to surfing's third Olympic cycle introduces several changes and has been approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). According to Fernando Aguerre, the president of the ISA, the core criteria behind the new QS are "universality and recency." The world governing body for the sport of surfing wants to ensure that "the highest-performing surfers have the greatest possible opportunity to qualify" for LA 2028. Simultaneously, the ISA wants a system that "promotes fair global representation and the continued development of surfing worldwide." The World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT), the ISA World Surfing Games (WSG), and continental competitions will continue to qualify surfers for the LA 2028 Olympics. The updates, however, reduce the number of athletes who may qualify via the professional surfing ...

The murder of 66-year-old surfer Kurt Van Dyke in Costa Rica has shocked the locals and the international surfing community. Van Dyke was an American surfer and businessman originally from Santa Cruz, California. He grew up in a family closely tied to surf culture. His father and late mother were both known in California surfing circles, and Kurt himself became a respected figure in the sport. The Northern Californian was a surfer like many, who chose the warmth of the pura vida lifestyle to chase his dreams. In the early 1980s, Van Dyke moved to the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica because he loved surfing big, challenging waves like the famed Salsa Brava break. Over the decades, he became known both for his skills and for running a modest, budget-friendly hotel in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca that was popular with visiting surfers and travelers. Locals and friends remember him as a generous and friendly figure who helped young surfers and welcomed people from around the world. The...

The ocean and its waves have always been depicted on a blank canvas. Artists, and painters in particular, have been pouring the rawness and violence of swells into two-dimensional artworks. Learn more about the most famous painting of waves ever created. For centuries, swells were nightmares that defied any sailor's soul. Whether witnessed from the shore or experienced in a caravel amidst high seas, waves have always fascinated painters from all over the world. We at SurferToday.com selected 14 works of art that are historically and culturally relevant and tell a story of how the mountains of the oceans were drawn, colored and/or illustrated by painters through time. Stormy Sea | Abraham Willaerts | 1629 Abraham Willaerts worked in the Dutch Republic at a time when the sea was the country's highway, battlefield, and source of wealth. His "Stormy Sea" shows a restless ocean under a heavy sky, with ships tossed by waves that seem to rise without warning. The pain...

A 26-year-old surfer spent up to half an hour in open water off Santa Barbara County before rescue crews found him clinging to a lobster trap buoy and brought him back to shore. The incident happened at Haskell's Beach in Goleta around 6:28 p.m. on Friday evening, when the surfer and a friend went out for a night session in building surf. According to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, the man lost his board in high surf and was pulled farther from shore. His friend made it back to the beach and quickly called 911 to report him missing. "A 26-year-old male surfer was swept away from shore by powerful high surf after losing his board," Fire officials later confirmed in a public statement. "He was surfing with a friend, who reported him missing immediately - quick action that made a huge difference." Rescuers soon found the surfer's board washed up on the beach, a sign that he had been separated from it in the water. Surfline reported that wave...

Grant Baker and Katie McConnell have taken out the 2026 Thriller at Killers at Todos Santos in Mexico. There is always something magical surrounding Todos Santos. Its pure, raw aura always draws a lot of interest when XXL swells arrive, dressed to impress. Over February 7-8, a small group of the world's top big-wave surfers gathered in Ensenada, the port city on the coast of Baja California, Mexico, for an invitational contest. Unlike many modern competitions that run on strict schedules and large formats, the 2026 Thriller at Killers was more intimate and focused, built around the right ocean conditions and a select group of elite athletes. The contest took place on Saturday, February 7, when powerful swells rolled into Todos Santos Island, creating waves over 25 feet tall. The competition itself was simple and direct. The men competed in two semifinal heats, and the top surfers from those moved on to a final. The women's division featured a single final heat. Once the...

Grant Bake and Katie McConnell have taken out the 2026 Thriller at Killers at Todos Santos in Mexico. There is always something magical surrounding Todos Santos. Its pure, raw aura always draws a lot of interest when XXL swells arrive, dressed to impress. Over February 7-8, a small group of the world's top big-wave surfers gathered in Ensenada, the port city on the coast of Baja California, Mexico, for an invitational contest. Unlike many modern competitions that run on strict schedules and large formats, the 2026 Thriller at Killers was more intimate and focused, built around the right ocean conditions and a select group of elite athletes. The contest took place on Saturday, February 7, when powerful swells rolled into Todos Santos Island, creating waves over 25 feet tall. The competition itself was simple and direct. The men competed in two semifinal heats, and the top surfers from those moved on to a final. The women's division featured a single final heat. Once the ...

Before sunrise, with the thermometer reading 18 °F (-8 °C) and the wind chill dipping to -4°F (-20 °C), surfer and YouTube creator Ben Gravy set out on what he calls a decade-long dream: to surf a wave that wasn't quite water and wasn't quite ice. It was 4:22 a.m. when Gravy and his crew hit the road from New Jersey, chasing reports of a rare phenomenon along the eastern edge of Long Island: " slurpee waves ," also known as frozen or slushy waves. The term describes ocean waves so cold and ice-choked that their surface resembles crushed ice, like a granita or a half-frozen convenience-store drink. "Slush Nation reporting for duty," Gravy said as the group began the drive north, bundled in winter gear and fueled by adrenaline. Outside, it was one of the coldest mornings of the winter so far. Offshore winds were howling. Swell was pushing toward 10 feet. And inside the breaks, ice had begun to form. By the time they reached Montauk, locals and photograp...

Imagine a hidden whip of wind inside a big storm. High above the ground, cold air suddenly dives downward and slams into the surface, creating a narrow strip of violent winds that can hit much harder than the rest of the storm, like the sharp sting at the end of a scorpion's tail. That's a simple written visual image of what a sting jet is. So, in other words, a sting jet is a narrow, fast-moving stream of wind that forms within certain large storm systems known as extratropical cyclones. These storms are the typical low-pressure weather systems that bring rain, wind, and clouds across the mid-latitudes - places like western Europe and the North Atlantic. A sting jet is not the main wind of the storm, though. It is a smaller burst of very strong winds that reaches the ground from higher in the atmosphere. Meteorologists describe it as a mesoscale airstream, meaning it is smaller than the storm itself, often no more than about 30-50 miles (50-80 kilometers) wide, and it ...