Part 4: Mazatlan, Mexico

Because of the cancellation of the contest in Chile, Leandro and I decided to head up for the 4 star in Mazatlan.  To make a long story short, a 35 hour journey from Buenos Aires to Mazatlan was no fun. Being greeted by a terrible mushy left point was even worse. By far the worst surf trip of my life as far as waves went but it was still good to see friends and definitely enjoyed the music festival that was part of the event! The contest didn't go so well... I won my first heat but got knocked out in the second round. Oh well, on to the next contest! Here are a couple of pictures from Mazatlan...


                                                       The view from our hotel room.

Good friend and next door neighbor in our hotel Caue Wood!

Terrible waves in Mazatlan...

But beautiful scenery to say the least...

The crappy contest site.

I LOVE AL PASTOR!

Lele showing us how its done...

The journey was over like it had never even happened, and I was on my way home!

I'll post up again soon,

-Johnny

Part 3: Argentina

Part 3: Argentina

With the contest in Chile coming up, Lele and I decided to go hang out in Argentina for 10 days before heading over there. Upon arrival in Buenos Aires, we were notified that the contest in Chile was cancelled, so we were left wondering what to do. We decided to hang out for my birthday which happened to be on Argentina's Independence day and to say the least, Argentina rages! Nights generally don't start out until 2AM in Argentina and usually end at around 7 in the morning.  The Usuna's are celebrities in Mar Del Plata and we were VIP at some of the biggest and best clubs in all of Argentina. 

     Everything about Argentina was absolutely amazing. The meat is the juiciest sweetest meat that you've ever tasted. The people are nice. The women- oh my God the women. The most beautiful women that I've ever laid my eyes on. Most foreign countries I joke around about falling in love, particularly because of the broken English that they seduce me with, but here there's an exception. Not are the women breathtakingly beautiful but they are kind, sincere and very intelligent people! After this trip, I'm 99% sure that I will marry an Argentinian woman...

    Although we didn't get great waves, we got some fun little beach breaks. To be honest, I could care less about surfing in Argentina next time I go. I just want to find my future wife!  

Here are some miscellaneous photos of my trip...

-Johnny Noris

Part 2: Florianopolis

Back in Florianopolis, we we're instantly greeted by perfect waves. Caue and I surfed an insane sand bottom right point called Campeche where we were getting double barrels regularly. We got two other great wedgy barreling beach breaks called Matadeiro and Lagoinha and had a great time just cruising and relaxing. We hung out with beautiful women, got good waves and got to chill with our friends Elohe and Felipe as well!

For a week I stayed at Elohe's house in the Jungle. To get to his house, you have to take a bridge across a river, walk a pathway, walk a half a mile on sand down to the other side of Matadeiro Beach, and then walk 10 minutes uphill into the Jungle! No roads in sight, no wi-fi, no cell phone reception. Such a cool experience! 

Good times in Floripa... I'm headed back in October and can't wait!

Next stop on my trip-Argentina!

Brasil is sucha  special place... the people love the beach and appreciate it so much! Everywhere, there are little "praias" like this with beautiful beaches and delicious food!

Caue taking a look at Campeche on a bad day.

Paulo and Diguinho... Brasilian BBQ!

Me with my new friends Deborah and Felipe. Miss you guys!

House party Brasilian style!

ELOHE!!!

Here is the bridge that you cross to go to his house...

...and the beginning of the walk on the beach...

...Elohe and Lele midway through our walk to Elohe's house....

Me and Lele!

Elohes Jungle house!

The beautiful view from Elohes house...

And his house, tucked away in the Jungle!

Matadeiro Beach... wedgy-rampy-Heaven.

The view from our friend Felipe's house!

One of Brasil's many Favela's.

Downtown Floripa!

Next post will be Argentina... ill post it up soon!

-Johnny

Brasil: Part 1

     The days are already beginning to blend together. Talks of going to Brasil and meeting up with friends have become a reality. Its all coming at me so fast and I know that even though I've only been here for a week and a half the whole trip is going to go by like the blink of an eye. I started out my journey in Rio De Janeiro where I met up with my friend Bruno Dana. Bruno lives in Ipanema and treated me like a king! We ate fresh acai, surfed some of the fine beach breaks and wedges of Rio and had a great time, even though it was short lived. After only a day and a half, I flew into Florianopolis, not knowing if anyone was going to pick me up from the airport or what my plan exactly was. I was greeted at the entrance of the airport by Caue Wood and Pedro Husadel...Thank God! The next couple of days we surfed some insane waves at  breaks called Matadeiro and Lagoinha, both wedgy a-framing beach breaks. The 5 star WQS contest at Atlantida Beach in Xangri-la was the next day so we headed down to be greeted with shitty weather and even worse waves. About this time is when Lele Usua popped his head inside our hotel room! The Grinch! Caue and I lost first heat so we took off back up to Florianopolis after a couple days of hanging out. Lele continued making heats so he stayed. Back in Florianopolis, we scored some insane waves at a place called Campeche. Triple barrels were going down and we truly had some insane sessions! The wind switched, the swell died and the surfing stopped as of this afternoon. Lele ended up making finals and getting 3rd overall, so now it's time to party! 

All the pictures below are from Rio. I'll post up some more from Florianopolis soon.

Everywhere that you look in Brasil seems to be beautiful. The mountains rise straight up from the beaches and are the greenest green you've ever seen.

Islands, white sand beaches, and fun waves.

When it's a nice day out, you can expect all of the Brasileiros to come out and enjoy the beaches.

Prainha.

 My good Friend Bruno Dana on the right and new friends Isabelle  and Norma!

I'll post up again in a week. Maybe two weeks. Who knows.

-Johnny

Same session as below...

Here are some photos taken by my friend Peter Dive from the session below at Lower Trestles. Stoked to see you up there Peter it had been a while!

-Johnny

Lowers!

Surfed Lowers the other day with good friends Ian Bakhsh and Kevin Whatley. Got some fun waves and Orion Owens threw together a little clip of our session that Surfer Mag was kind enough to put on their website!

Check it out on the link below!

http://www.surfermag.com/videos/spring-sessions-at-lowers/

Weekend Road Trippin'

     With bad weather forecasted in Southern California for a couple of days, Michael Barrus and I decided to make our way up to Santa Cruz for a couple of days to try and score some waves and visit some friends.

Day One- We decided that with a little bit of south in the water we'd try and score The Wedge in Newport Beach but with unfavorable winds, Ended up surfing 54th street. I struggled to even catch a wave, but Daniel Shea here found some big ramps and took advantage.  I had to stop at the Brazilian Consulate in Los Angeles to try and get my visa for an upcoming trip and from there we drove up to Michael's parents house in San Mateo County for the night.

Daniel Shea Boosting

Day Two- We met up with our good friends Matt Myers and Noah Wegrich at a wedgy wave in the Santa Cruz area for some punt ramps and sharky vibes! Although none of us said anything in the water, when we got out we all mentioned that we had seen shadows in the waves but didn't want to scare each other by saying so. I guess it's just part of surfing up here.  We ended the day with a quick session at pleasure point followed by Matt Myers' hot tub just blocks away.

Suiting up at one of my favorite waves north of Point Conception.

And finally getting to surf it for the first time since October!

I was able to boost a couple but my homie Matt Myers showed me how to really surf the wave... here are some pictures of him BOOSTING some sick airs!

This grom is classic! Noah always finds a way to make you laugh....

...and always finds a way to boost higher than you!

Day Three- Noah and Matt had obligations for the day so it was just Michael and I on a mission to score a couple of waves. The swell had dropped a lot but we were still able to get a couple of fun waves in Mid-town, Santa Cruz. 

The Rivermouth.

Day Four- With Michael having to get to LAX tomorrow evening, we decided to start making our way back down to SoCal, but not before hitting up one of San Mateo County's fine skate parks. We had a fun skate session with some of the locals and made our way down to San Luis Obispo to visit some friends for the evening. 

One of the local homies at the skatepark shredding!

Day Five- Hung out at the house in SLO on Kentucky street with the homies, dropped off Michael at LAX for his flight over to Bali, got home and don't even remember getting into bed and falling asleep last night I was so tired. It was definitely a fun weekend with some fun waves and good times with friends!

-All photos by Michael Barrus