MARCILIO ‘BRAWZINHO’ BROWNE
Pozo this year was incredible. It was the best Pozo conditions I have seen in a long time. We had so much wind we could even pick the days and times when we wanted to compete. Personally my previous best result was a 3rd and this was one better. I am super happy with that. The level was through the roof. It could not be a better start to the year. I am looking forward to learn from my mistakes. There are a few things I want to work on before Tenerife. I have been coming a month early to Pozo every year. This year I felt I did not put as much pressure on myself; I enjoyed every heat. I just wanted to sail for myself. Sometimes events just go your way. I could have lost to Ricardo or earlier too, but it worked out for me! I used 84 and 82 litre boards and most of the time I was on a 3.7m and a few times 3.4m. There is no special setup. I just make sure I have enough power. I would rather be over than underpowered in this sort of onshore wind. I don’t want to be on too small gear. The key for onshore is just having extra board volume. The size of the board I was using here is the same as I would use for Ho’okipa on my 5.0m. There you have all the power from the wave. Speed is not so much of an issue. Here you need that volume and flotation to keep the speed. I am just happy I could improve my wave scores, before I felt I struggled to nail two high scoring waves. I felt this year consistently I was scoring two higher level waves with scores over 7 points. I landed a double off the lip against Ricardo which saved me. He was one of the scariest guys throughout the event. That move was in the last seconds on the last wave and it felt really nice to not choke and nail it.
It was the best Pozo conditions I have seen in a long time.