MACkite Travels: RyGo's Brazilian Trip With Best Kiteboarding

Brazil Through RyGo's Eyes

About 5 years ago I discovered the sport of kiteboarding through a lesson at MACkite no less. I took a lesson with a young kid named Chris Bobryk. We formed a solid friendship chasing the wind over the next year. Eventually, Chris moved to Hatteras, North Carolina to pursue kiteboarding. 

While I spent my days working my 9 to 5 (that more often than not was a 7 to 7 kind of job), I started dreaming of a better life - by a better life I mean one where I could spend more time kiteboarding and traveling! I took up freelance video editing and started planning my escape. During this time Chris had picked up a sponsorship with Best Kiteboarding along with some serious kiteboarding skills! One afternoon I received a phone call, it was Chris. he was in need of a videographer for the fall and he asked if I would come on the Best RV tour with him as well as Brazil for 40 days of training and filming. Needless to say, I resigned from my job and hit the road with Chris that fall! 

The RV tour was fantastic. I made lots of friends and saw a great deal of the U.S. east coast and the respective kiteboarding scenes in many states. That, however, is an article for another day. 

We made our way down the coast. During this time, Hurricane Sandy was welling up. Fortunately, we made it to Florida and caught our flight before the hurricane hit. Unfortunately, we had left most of our possessions in an old van in a ditch underneath the Best headquarters in Hatteras. 

Counting our losses, we boarded our flight and looked forward to the adventure to come. The blue oceans of the Caribbean sea gave way to the night and the night gave way to the red roofs and rolling mountains of Brazil! We flew into Fortaleza International Airport that morning armed with only a name and a city. We negotiated on a napkin with one of the local taxis 50 Reals (roughly 25 USD at the time). We headed out and made our way to a small fishing village called Taiba. There are numerous pousadas just about anywhere coastal you go in Brazil that have decent rates. Our first stop was to meet up with Sam Mendysky at a popular posada called "Amarela". The owner, Steffi, was just awesome! They were kind enough to open the kitchen a let us get a quick meal before we made our way to the city. We got set up in a pousada called "Revolution".

We meet up with Colleen Carroll, her brother Devon as well as Brandon Scheid and two Canadians, Guillaume Lafond and Daniel Konig. Our first few days we caught a ride with who ever had room in their car that day. We quickly realized a rental car would be optimal. 

For those of you looking to stay in the city, it would be best to rent a car and have it dropped off - unless you are feeling up to navigating through Fortaleza. Personally, I would not recommend that but each to their own. Another great option is to rent a beach buggy. This will give you the ability to drive up and down the beaches! 

After a few days of training and filming in the lagoon, we made our way to Cumboco. I will have to say If you are going to Brasil, Cumboco is the place to go. It has a lot more amenities and is more tourist oriented than Taiba. There are plenty of restaurants and bars to check out. Not to mention you are not far from two different lagoons, Taboba and Cauipe. Best of all if you don't want to rent a car you can catch an unibus to Taboba and take one back and the end of the day.Both of these lagoons are much bigger than Taiba and are much less crowded. You can order some fried fish and a beer right off the beach in cauipe if you're hungry post sesh. 

After several weeks of kiting all three lagoons, we met up with our friend Ryan Evans in Taiba. Everyone was heading up to Paracuru. We caught a ride on the back of a buggy and made our way up the coast. Paracuru is very cool. The city has some great options as far as food and drink. 

While there is no actual lagoon, Paracuru does have a tidal lagoon. During low tide, the water gets quite flat and is bordered by some nice kicker waves. It was really fun watching Chris and Eric Reinstra throw-down off the kickers. Reinstra just might be one of the most stylish riders out there right now. 

We went to some parties and wandered the city for the next day or two before hitching a ride back on a buggy with Reinstra and the boys.  

We spent our last few days hanging around Amarela and kiting the Taiba lagoon.

Sam, Eric, Craig, and Chris had a solid slider session on a rail the guys had set up in the lagoon. We also went to a few parties. Now Taiba does have one thing Cumbo can not match and that is the acai. If you’re in town make sure you stop at Twisted and get a bowl post sesh. You will not regret it.

We caught a ride home with a wonderful person we got to know down there named Kate Chandler, and we made the trip home to cold Michigan where we recuperated and spent the next few weeks editing the video we shot.

For those of you interested There is a video series document our entire trip and that can be seen here.

East Coast Overdose

East Coast Overdose Part 2 Brazil

East Coast Overdose Part 3 The Slider Cut