The next stop is the almost completely empty town of Flexeiras. It’s just before peak season and there’s nothing going on anywhere. We check into a cheap pousada right on the beach and set off straight away for Guajiru, a few kilometres to the east. The wind is much stronger here than in the slightly shaded Flexeiras. On the water in front of one of the kite accommodations, which are hopelessly overpriced as always, a dozen riders with 7 to 9 square metres are raging.
As the beach is wide and the sea quite empty, we downgrade the risk and stick to 12 and 13m² – again. With gusts well over 22 knots, this is borderline, but the hangtime is tremendous. We hurl ourselves into the lee over numerous 1.5 metre high waves and mess up even more big airs towards the shore. The view from a height of 7 metres seems endless.
We dedicate the second day to the nearby Mundau. Small ferries with buggies cross the mouth of the river on their way to Jericoacoara, just 120 kilometres away. The wind is gusting viciously at 12 to 27 knots over the village and dunes to our spot. Ian goes out and immediately starts jumping. On the fourth jump, one of his steering line bridles breaks. With great difficulty, he drags himself to the shore while the strong current takes his board with it. He wins the swimming race against the village youth.
I don’t like the wind. Many fellow kiters complained about stubborn winds without me agreeing with them once in six weeks in Brazil. Today and here in Mundau, I fully agree. The wind is very dangerous. My otherwise so stable Crossbow almost smears a few times when I overshoot. I flee half a kilometre up the river and cross again for a few half-hearted jumps before the village. Then I sneak off into a fruitless afternoon of work through Mr Core Embuca’s completely empty favourite spot.
It looks like there are just five spots in Brazil’s 2000 kilometres of coastline where more than 10 kiters occasionally cavort on the water. At all the other spots, you are simply at the arse end of the world. The arse seems to be a Brazilian invention.
Frank Woelky, born in 1973. Kitesurfer since 1998. Since 2006, I have been combining kitesurfing and web design on trips lasting several months off the beaten track.