Chemically Unbalanced

"So... well... ok... what was the question?" That's how he started his interview back in 1988. This is a friend of mine who was a really good surfer at the second half of the 80's. He was winning or making the finals in every single amateur comp back at that time. He was super stylish too, long sun burnt hair, flowered Hawaiian style shirt, appearing in magazines even out side of surfing and local TV shows. Desired by women and watched carefully by men. His surfboards designs were very interesting with six bottom channels, double stinger pin-diamond or something like that. Really cool air-brush and colorful wetsuit. I remember when he came back from an international surf trip with a bunch of cool stuff. Biker's Ray-Bans, camo Converses shoes and good cassette tapes including Jane's Addiction. He also had a VHS tape of an unrated Pantera documentary about their tour which was insane. His girlfriend was the hottest girl in town. He was always by himself, wouldn't say much. He would park the car, lean on the front hood, check the waves for a second then look down and space out for like a couple minutes, suit up and paddle out. Everyone watching. Even when he didn't surf good, it looked good. But all that didn't last too long. After taking mushrooms he was never the same. He stopped surfing right away and went to rehab and I haven't heard of him since then. I actually saw him one more time after that when he called me out of nowhere to ask if I had a t-shirt that he forgot in my car years previous and I thought that was so funny because I can't believe how he could remember that. So he came over to my house to pick up that tee and he had a wax bar in his hand and his hair was all spiked and he asked me how to wax up his hair. That was hilarious. His eyes were wide open. I offered him something to drink he said: "yes, do you have chocolate milk?" I answered: "I have milk and chocolate powder". So I hand him a glass with milk and the chocolate powder. He grabs the pot and dumps the whole pot in the milk glass, half of it out and started to mix it with his finger. I looked at that and thought that was funny but obviously he wasn't well. I also noticed that he had a tattoo of a snake in his belly when he pulled a cigarette pack from his pants waist. That was the last time a saw him.

OutraCultura - Neco Padaratz speaks... (trailer)

OutraCultura - GONE TODAY (with Filipe Toledo, Alejo Muniz and Neco Pada...

OutraCultura @ AGENDA trade show

OutraCultura was at AGENDA 2015, our first trade show ever. Dreams come true. It has been a long journey since everything started in the Magic Island of Florianopolis - Southern Brazil, long time ago. The show was a great experience for us and at the end of the day we know we made a impact in the industry. We are refreshing, we are different, we are innovative. I honestly believe we are the coolest small company in the market right now. Our booth was busy the entire event with buyers from all over the world interested in our products and intrigued with our vibe. We made great connections and amazing contacts with visionary stores and open-minded shops and people. The feedback was surprising and we are looking for in the near future to see OutraCultura in Japan, Brazil, Hawaii and Europe. "Morelli has so much passion and love for what he does and his art that you can see and feel in OutraCultura's line", says former 2x WQS champion and WCT's surfer Neco Padaratz. Neco's always been one of the biggest inspiration for OutraCultura and now is one of our team riders and most important ambassador. OutraCultura's CEO David Sanford was super stoked with the company's performance at the show and he is expecting big moves in the next months. After the show we went to EMERGE and that was out of this world. Some of our idols were there on stage sharing their experiences and that was remarkable including Bob Hurley from Hurley, Mike Ness from Social Distortion, C.R. Stecyk III from Thrasher Magazine and Shepard Fairy from Obey. We would like to thank so much everyone that was part of it, everyone that stopped by our booth to check us out, the whole OutraCultura family for the support and hard work. We love you all!! Please, go online @ www.outracultura.com order our products and help us to keep our dream alive.

Achievements

Guto Morelli - OutraCultura brand ambassador. Athlete of the Year 2014 ASJ (Association of Surfing Joaquina beach). He is vicious. He was always super quiet but really gnarly at whatever he picked to do. Very intelligent, always observing. Then he decided to do his own thing at his own pace. Inspired, he started to travel around the world and surfing every wave that would break in front of him. He lived in Portugal and traveled around Europe. He moved to Santa Barbara in California and surfed epic Rincon + everywhere else. After that he went to live in Kauai and quickly made the transition to surf bigger waves. He paddles out by himself in massive conditions and doesn’t even care if people are watching or not. Guto went to Indonesia and dominated the waves like only a pro can do. He flew to Peru and scored epic rides. Guto went to Fernando de Noronha and brought back no words but a bunch of photos getting barreled. He never made a dime from sponsors or support from companies or wealthy parents. A true soul surfer who started to get into competitions later in his life and he is absolutely killing all the local contests in Southern Brazil, where he is now settled down. Morellinho (that's how his core tight group used to call him, it means Little Morelli) impresses everyone by how hard he pushes himself. He has so much love for surfing that he naturally makes the whole Joaquina Beach crew so proud. While most veteran surfers slow down after mid 30’s, Guto is fired up. Fearless. Possessed! And for what? He has nothing to prove. But when the next swell comes in, there he is. "For me its Guto warrior spirit that inspires me the most."

Life After Idol

When we started surfing, Curren, Occy, Carrol and Pottz were kings. We knew that before these guys, Shaun Tompson, Cheyne Horan, Mark Richards, Wayne Lynch and Michael Peterson were the best in the business. I personally always like more underground stuff, in surfing and music as well. I mean, not so commercial shit. I didn't like the way Damian Hardman, Barton Lynch, Dave Macaulay and Rob Bain surfed, I hated Gary Elkerton's style. I was more into Nicky Wood's style, Matt Archbold, Brad Gerlach. Then the "Momentum" generation came along and all that era was gone, dead. But at the end of the day we all know how important all these guys in any different eras were so relevant for the sport. Every single one of them took the sport to another level in their own way, in style and performance. And only a professional surfer himself knows how hard is to get there, to make a statement, to be recognized and be victorious in one of the hardest sport in the world. Watching two of the most iconic surfers ever, talking about their lives on the tour in different times and discussing their lives after the celebrity status surfing carrier was for me very special. I'm not gonna say what they said to each other, because it's bigger than life itself. I felt like I discovered a mystery. Something that doesn't belong to me, doesn't belong to anyone. One thing I can say, the mutual respect between them was beautiful to watch, and even besides their idol-hero aspect dream life, I felt them more human being than most normal people that I've known.

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