What do you get when you ask the best latin surfers to tell us who they think are the top 10 surfers in Latin America? A top 10 of surfers in Latin America. No contest results, no hype, no family members voting for their brothers and cousins. Just the best surfers from Mexico to Argentina. Period.
* Surfers, photographers and Latin American surf connoisseurs were asked to give us a list of their favorite 10 surfers in Latin America. They decided according to their own criteria: style, big waves, tricks, carves, contest machine,etc. Whatever it is that they think is relevant.
* Rules? Surfers are to be from a country where Spanish is spoken. This disqualifies Brazilians. Other than that, no rules.
So, without further ado, I give you the 10 best Latin American surfers.
# 1-Gabriel Villaran (Peru) – The most complete and best surfer in Latin America. Good in comps and freesurfs. Really good in big waves and small waves. He can surf Todos Santos, Teahupoo, Pipe and any other gnarly wave well. Kid’s got good solid carves and airs in smaller stuff as well. Excellent tube rider. With the exception of only a few, he was voted by everyone as the best.
2#Diego Cadena (Mexico)- Super stylish, has amazing flow and is a great small to medium wave surfer.Very complete. Likes to go out in solid surf as well. Peter Mendia once said, “After Gabriel Villaran, Diego has got to be the best surfer in Latin America.” Seems like the best Latin surfers agree.
#3 Cristobal de Col (Peru)- Great trickster, part of the new generation of Latin surfers. Likes big barrels like Teahupoo and Pipe. The youngest of the Top 3 with an amazing future.
#4 Brian Toth (Puerto Rico)- Great backside surfer and crazy charger of barreling waves. Solid competitor and world traveller.
#5 Dylan Graves (Puerto Rico)- Well traveled, has some cool tricks under his belt and solid in almost any condition. Has probably gotten the most international exposure out of anyone in the top 5 (remember his town in wave in the Mentawais back when he was like 13?).
#6 Marco Giorgi ( Uruguay)- Have you seen his Innersection part? Speaks for itself. Guy rips!
#7 Carlos Munoz (Costa Rica)- Has been turning heads with his crazy airs and now recently scored a perfect 10 in the Volcom Pipe Pro, meaning he’s getting a taste for the bigger stuff and is liking it.
#8 Ramon Navarro (Chile)- A crazy, humble charger. Put him on a long perfect Chilean left hand pointbreak, and he’ll mix it up with the best of them. Made the final at the Eddie Aikau comp a few years back. Chases the biggest waves the planet has to offer. Considered by many international big wave riders to be one of the best.
#9 Magnum Martinez (Venezuela)- Solid. Turns and carves are his forte, but also loves to get himself a throaty barrel at Pipe, Teahupoo or Puerto.
#10 Alvaro Malpartida (Peru)- Solid surfer in anything the ocean throws at him. Amazing barrel rider.
***Note: This survey was made by counting all these persons, photographers, and magazine staff votes: Nico Fischer , David Rutherford , Diego Cadena, Mateo Rojas ,Martin Passeri ,Agustin Munoz ,Juan Munoz ,Diego Medina ,Cristian Merello ,Carlos Cabrero, Alejandro Moreda,Brian Toth,Dylan Graves,Hector Santamaria,Mundo Rad (mag), Vibras Mag (mag), Ripeando (mag), Colin Sauders,Jean Carlos Schaffer, David Diaz, Rafael “Nono” Pereira,Francisco “Lolo” Bellorin, Rugby Colmenares, Jason Torres, Lisbeth Vindas, Luis Vindas, Carlos Muñoz, Gilbert Brown, Federico Pilurzu, Diego Naranjo, Leandro “Lele” Usuna, Marcelo Rodriguez, Lucas Santamaria, Ornella Pellizari, Maxi Siri, Magnum Martinez, Gary Saavedra, Ramon Navarro, Cristian Corzo, Miguel Tudela, Matias Mulanovich, Ronald Brown, Carlos Goncalvez, Oscar Moncada, Alfredo Escobar, Tony Roberts, Jim Compton, Jefferson Tascon, Surfos Mag (mag), Cristobal de Col, Otto Flores, Manuel Selman, Martin Jeri,Emiliano Gatica.
*I’d like to add that if you are on this list you should be proud of yourself. There’s no beating around the bush with this Top 10. The most well traveled, best surfers and Latin American surf connoisseurs voted you as the best.
Thank you all!!
I lived in Costa Rica for 5 1/2 yrs and watched as Cali( Carlos Munoz) grew in confidence and ability. He is a sick rider with great tricks and an overall love of the water… He will be seen in the very near future at events worldwide!!! Pura Vida y Cali; vamos por el numero 1……
From what I’ve been hearing, Cali Munoz is super motivated. It’s sick to know because one of the major problems with Latin surfers is that at some point in time, motivation levels stagger and they become happy at where they are at. As opposed to Brazilians, who aim high and don’t stop until they’re winning WT’s. I think we are all ready to see a Latin dude on the tour. I hope Cali, de Col and all the motivated dudes do it!
It’s great to see this list.
Solid list, awesome and bla bla bla, but this is The Best Hispanic Americans List, read a dictionary bru, Latin America includes Brazil.
Well, only if you think that Medina, Adriano, Alejo, Jadson are worse than these guys. I actually have my doubts…
Saludos!
Yup, Brazil is in Latin America, no arguing with that. Brazilians have their own tour, strong support from their organization and are thus the best surfers to come of continent. Medina, Adriano, Alejo and Jadson are amazing surfers, but we wanted to know which 10 surfers ( from countries in Latin America, where Spanish is spoken) are the best. The term “de habla hispana” would be an accurate depiction of the list, you are right. I used “Latin” for marketing purposes.
Unfortunately, “hispanic” is not a term that resonates in the ears of Latin surfers. If you ask them what they are, they will say “soy latino” and not “soy hispano”. Likewise, usually Brazilian surfers say “Eu so brasileiro”, not “Eu so latino”. But to avoid confusion, in the rules we stated, “no brazilians”. Nothing against them at all. I’m happy to see a kid like Medina come out of Brazil and win 2 WT’s in his first 6 months. I hope to see someone from Peru, Mexico, Costa Rica there too soon!
Thanks for the comment Jesus. Buenas olas!
Well Mr Karranza, I’m stoked I just made the cut! haha! But more than that, I like what you wrote about every guy on the list. Good job hermano!
Abrazos,
MM.
Yeah ,Magnum! Look at you, keeping up with the younger dudes, I like it. Slater would be proud.
In case people are wondering how it was done, I have an excel sheet of all the votes and hot it worked. Every surfer who was voted #1 got 15pts, #2 got 13pt, 3# got 11pts, and so on. The end result was this:
#1 Gabriel Villaran- 398 pts
#2 Diego Cadena- 260 pts
#3 Cristobal de Col- 164 pts
#4 Brian Toth- 131 pts
#5 Dylan Graves- 115 pts
#6 Marco Giorgi- 96 pts
#7 Carlos Munoz- 80 pts
#8 Ramon Navarro- 59 pts
#9 Magnum Martinez- 55 pts
#10 Alvaro Malpartida – 46 pts
AHUEVO PERRILLO DEL MAL >>>>> LEVANTANDO LA BANDERA EN ALTO >>>>VIVA SAYULITA !!!
Arriba PERÚ
Perú is the BEST/Potence in Latin American and worldwide Top 5! Cristobal de Col deserve the 2dn place!! cus of World championships that he won and the other not.
Solo puedo desir ” ARRIBA EL PERU CARAJO “
Proud of the Peruvians especially Gabriel Villaran,he is opposite to Susana, he works hard to be the best.
Cristobal de Col and Alvaro Malpartida are also great surfers. Peru is one of the best places to practice this sport.
Que bueno ver a 3 peruanos en el top 10. Felicidades a los 10. Que orgullo eres Gabriel para todos los peruanos.
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PERU Siempre haciendo de las suyas
Felicidades PERU!