What do you know about the most skateboarding island in the world? Let’s take a whirlwind tour of magical Florianópolis with the people who know it best. Connected to the mainland of Santa Catarina state on Brazil’s Atlantic seaboard by just an expansion bridge, Floripa- as she is affectionately known- is not only home to more bowls per square metre than anywhere else in the world but a gnarly downhill scene, world class surfing and is also a place where nature in all its diverse glory expresses itself more fully than almost anywhere else on the planet. Pedro Barros and Yndi Asp decided to give us the lowdown on the place they know as home.
Yndiara Asp’s Journey To The Top Of Skating | UNTIL18 – Red Bull
There comes a crossroads moment in the young lives of talented skateboarders where they have to ask themselves where all this is headed. While skateboarding is always its own reward, pursuing it full-time is by no means a guarantee of success. It’s a lifestyle full of uncertainties: injuries, sponsorship, rained-out contests where a third place could have paid your rent. So it’s not for everyone, even among those good enough to make it. In that context, you can forgive a parent for asking ‘Are you serious?’
Fabulous Brazilian transition queen Yndiara Asp faced that life-defining decision. Part of the fabled Florianópolis bowl-skating tradition that gave the world Pedro Barros, Yndi was originally headed for an adult working life in education when she was spotted by Santa Cruz Skateboards while riding the bowl at a skate guesthouse right by the beach.