Registration for the Brazilian Ocyan Large Waves Award is now open

Applications for the Brazilian Ocyan Large Wave Award 2022-2023 are now open. This is the second year that the company is a partner of the project. The competition, which is known as the Oscars of surfing, recognizes professional athletes and beginners in eight categories: bodysurfing, kitesurfing, women’s bodyboarding, men’s bodyboarding, wipeout of the year, biggest wave of the year, women’s wave of the year, and men’s wave of the year. This year, the trophy ceremony will take place in April.

In the previous edition, Secretary Tieta Kalid closely followed the awarding and participated in some of the actions of the event. “I think it is very important that the company recognizes these athletes, teams, and photographers who are dedicated to these sports, because investment in sports is difficult in Brazil. Ocyan’s initiative in sponsoring this award goes beyond environmental care, a commitment with which we are already aligned, precisely because of the nature of our business,” says Tieta.

Encouraged by her mother, the participant started practicing her first water sport at the age of 12, when she started bodyboarding. Traditional surfing only entered Tieta’s life a few years later, when she started taking her younger siblings to a school dedicated to the sport.

From then on, the passion for surfing united not only the family and lead to the development of several friendships and trips of the participant. “In that batch, lifelong friends came along that I carry to this day. We have made a great group of women surfers, and in the last twenty years I have been able to surf in incredible places, such as Hawaii, Australia, Angola, South Africa, and almost the entire coast of Brazil”, comments the secretary.

The female presence in surfing, however, has not always been this numerous. “Women surfing was like, compared to the offshore industry, finding women boarding oil rigs: rarity,” says Tieta. She recalls that when she started, there were barely any clothes for women surfers. “We used to improvise some lycra clothes and wear dull shirts. Today you have several businesses, brands and products geared towards women’s surfing,” says the member.

Board friendship

One of the relationships Tieta built from the sport was her friendship with another Ocyan member, data specialist Paloma Ferreira, who started surfing when she moved to Macaé. “I always loved the sea, but I never had the opportunity to practice water sports because I lived far from the beach and studied a lot, so I didn’t have time. When I came to live here, I saw people surfing and realized that I had the chance to start doing something I liked, but had never had the opportunity,” says Paloma.

Enthusiastic about the idea, she started surfing even before she learned to swim. To keep herself safe, he would stay in the shallows and not leave the teacher’s side. Since then, it has been seven years of surfing almost every day and four participations in championships. “Having a wave, I surf,” the analyst notes. The sea has repaid Paloma’s passion with friendships, quality of life, and with Valdir Júnior, her husband. The couple met in 2016, when they were watching a surfing competition at Prainha. From then on, two strangers who loved the same sport started to love each other.

Regarding the award, the analyst sees the initiative in a positive way. “Surfers already have a mindset towards sustainability because we need the sea, so we already have this deeper connection. The Big Wave Award makes this interaction between sustainability, sport, and the business environment. We show that Ocyan has sustainability as a value”, Paloma analyzes.

Lifestyle

In a two-way street, both the company’s principles are transmitted through the encouragement of surfing and the sport’s values are reflected in the organization. Vinicius Tinoco, facilities coordinator, says that he applies some of the teachings he has learned on the board to his work. “Overall, people in surfing are always very willing to give of themselves to others. Sometimes you are on a wave that is your preference, but you let the other go. It’s a sport that teaches you to understand the right moment, to understand your limits, to respect people more, to understand their pains, and to exchange places with the other person,” says Tinoco, who started surfing at the age of 14, influenced by a cousin.

At the time, the coordinator had no money to buy the board of his dreams, a BZ Diamond Pro, the same model used by his cousin. He then started surfing with less advanced equipment, but he did not give up on his goal. During school vacations, Tinoco spent a month handing out flyers on the street to buy the board he wanted, which he treasures to this day.

Besides the equipment in good condition, the coordinator preserves the friendships he has made on the beaches where he has surfed. Some of his partners, Tinoco sees through Ocyan’s social networks, as they compete for the Big Wave Award. Pleased to see his friends competing for awards, the participant evaluates the importance of the event. “When we see a big company, which operates in the sea, supporting those people who make their living from the sea, whether they are professional or amateur athletes, we see the strength we need to seek, because for a while surfing was marginalized,” says Tinoco. He explains that, in the second half of the last century, sports were seen as a practice of people who had nothing to do.

“Today, having Ocyan participating in the award, giving it the weight it needs to have, is extremely important for the athletes who are there dedicating themselves and even for those who are not, as in my case,” says the coordinator, who intends to apply for this year’s Award.