We first met Yago at the Ballito Pro in South Africa last year.
Whilst we bought fancy dress hats, and strolled the boardwalk with crisp Castle Lights in hand, it struck me what an intelligent, humble and driven young man Mr Dora is.
Hailing from….. an island with an abundance of surf and from a strong surfing pedigree (Yago’s dad is an ex professional and coached Adriano) so despite common preconceptions it’s hardly surprising he’s into the CT Rio as a wildcard and making the final taking down Kelly and double John along the way.
Fast forward to J-Bay and we’re moderately hungover catching Octopus (Octopi?) on the rocks with Yago and Jesse Mendes. Yago is out of the comp yet not on the party train—when he asked what we’d been upto and we thought the bags under our eyes had betrayed our sins, he replied innocently. “Oh, is it good for partying here?” We thought better than answer “Yes, yes it is. Everywhere is good for partying it’s simply a question of mindset!” Yago was on a different program, with his whole family in tow, they’d been hitting Safaris, bungy jumps and the like. As we said, family focused, driven and humble. A rare combination in the current landscape of professional surfing.
And the surfing? Sublime! Aside from a well documented air-game, Yago’s rails cut like a hot knife through butter as documented in his recent exploits in Fiji. We sat on the bricks and watched him surf J-Bay and as illustrated above, his backhand hooks made us feel warm and fuzzy inside. So with out further ado, in conversation with Yago Dora.
Supported by Monster Energy.
