The Portuguese charger talks his new flick, scoring Jaws and why every surfer should start riding eco-boards
In 2018, Portuguese surfer Miguel Blanco scored a massive Nias freight-train that landed him on the cover of SURFER magazine. Layered atop the image of Blanco getting positively shacked was the blurb “This is Life-Changing”. And for Blanco, that wave was indeed life-changing. Since that moment, Blanco has traveled all over the world hunting down the ocean’s hollowest fare and upping his tube count.
Just recently, Blanco dropped part 1 of his new film “Tropical Paradise”, wherein the European barrel fiend is seen scoring drainers of all shapes and sizes (but mostly of the slabby, scary variety). We caught up with Blanco just before the part 1 release to talk about the making of his new film, why he’s drawn to surfing big waves, and why it’s important for surfers to take part in ocean conservatism.
Watch part 1 below, continue scrolling to hear from Blanco, and keep an eye out for the film’s full release in September
Where in Indo are you?
Right now I’m in Bali and I’ll be here for about 2 months. I came here for the Padang cup, which is on hold. Maybe they’ll run it this weekend but we’re not sure yet. But I just wanted to spend some time in the southern hemisphere during our European summer, finding some waves, getting barreled in boardshorts, and having good times. I love Indo; it’s always a place that has provided me with so much good surfing.
I heard it’s been pretty good down there this summer.
Yeah, I’ve only been here a couple of weeks but there’s already been like two swells back to back. I surfed Deserts and got super fun waves. And there are another two swells on the way. It’s been nonstop, so I’m stoked to be here.
So tell me a little about the making of your new film.
The idea started with me wanting to go check out several different places. I come from a more contest background and when I started to shift to freesurfing I had my eyes set on chasing a bunch of different waves. Somehow I connected with good filmers and a cool movie came out in the end. Most of the time I wasn’t with a filmer and I only had my Super8 camera, so I was also trying to get some moments seen from my own perspective. In the end it came out cool.
Ryan “Chachi” Craig
What was your favorite trip from the movie?
Ooooh that’s hard to say. But probably the Indo trip—the first part when I was scoring those righthanders with no one out—just me and Pedro Calado (a really good friend of mine) and a filmer in the channel. That trip reminded me of all the reasons why I love surfing. Sharing some of the best waves I’ve ever surfed, then going to the beach to BBQ some fresh fish, it was the full surfing experience and a moment I’ll never forget.
There’s a part in the film, where you’re talking to the camera saying that you guys were stuck on the boat in the middle of the storm and needed to get rescued. What happened?
Basically something happened with the boat—a rope or something broke that was meant to guide the boat or whatever and we spent just 9 hours at sea waiting for help. When we got sorted, we got taken to land and figured we could go back to Bali and forget about the trip or we could stay in the middle of the Ments, roll the dice and hopefully be all good.
Did you get to the spot you were trying to go to or were you just dropped off on a random piece of land?
Just random. We were dropped off at a little fishing village where we could set things up and go search for waves, basically based on gut feeling. We woke up super early one day, hopped on a fisherman’s boat and after driving the boat around for 3 hours we got to that perfect righthander with nobody out. If we went back to Bali, we would have never had had that experience or have that story to tell.
It looked like you scored Greenbush, too.
Yeah, that was when we were still on the boat. There was a massive storm right before we got there and when we arrived the offshores started hitting and the waves started getting better. We were super lucky to score those waves. It was kinda scary because most of the session it was just me and my buddy Pedro again and we were just charging back to back.
Honestly, though, every trip that is on the movie was special. Fiji was amazing, too, hanging with the local kids. Australia was amazing–my buddy and I from Portugal drove for 16 hours to find that lefthand slab in the middle of the nowhere. The Morocco part was my birthday trip—I went with one of my best friends. Then of course, going to Hawaii was amazing.
Fred Pompermayer
That was your first time surfing Jaws right?
Yeah. You know it’s the wave I’ve been watching in a lot of films since a young age. Growing up, I was always frothing watching DVDs from Billabong and Volcom. Jaws is such a unique wave and it was really cool to check it out with my own eyes and give it a go. I would love to go back and get a really nice one, hopefully a barrel. Jaws is, in my eyes, the best big wave in the world and it was cool to see it in person and it made me really want to go back.
You stayed with Torrey Meister the whole time. Did it help to stay with guys like that giving you some local knowledge?
Oh, of course. Torrey’s the man. He’s just the master out there and is a great guy. He took me under his wing as his brother and it was amazing to share that experience. He’s got a really tight crew who are all amazing surfers—Albee Layer, Matt Meola, and Kai Barger and all those guys. And then guys like Kai Lenny and Billy Kemper were out that day so it was really cool to be at the right place at the right time and see some of the best big-wave guys perform when Jaws is at its best.
Did you grow up charging Nazare or is surfing big waves something you’ve just gotten into?
I definitely did not grow up surfing Nazare; I grew up surfing 3-foot waves, but I eventually moved to Ericeira and the next thing I knew, I had a gun and was getting bigger waves here and there. I started going to Nazare about 6 years ago and I started paddling some big days. Last year I got a ski and I felt like I should start towing a bit too to see how it feels and enjoy the experience. It’s a different way of enjoying the ocean and your surfing experience. Most of my friends surf it—Nic von Rupp, Joao Macedo and all those guys. It’s been a natural shift for me.
I know you’re involved in a few environmental conservation projects like SeaTrees, Sustainable Surf, and Hopezones and are involved with the guys from Polyola. Tell me how you got involved in some of these efforts.
The first time I got in contact with Sustainable Surf was in 2018 when they had the EcoBoard project in Hawaii and I got to ride a few EcoBoards. I started to feel like these alternatively made boards were just like normal PU boards and if they can have a little less impact on our planet then why not ride them? After that, I started feeling like I should start doing more things to help the planet because if everyone does their little part in the end we will create a really big impact. So, I started by joining a local organization doing beach cleanups here and there and then eventually Polyola came and we started working on eco-boards with alternative materials.
I would love to step it up and maybe create bigger projects myself related to ocean conservation.
Kaique Silva
Tell me a little more about what are the Polyola boards.
Basically, they’re recycled blanks made out of recycled foam and off-cuts–so in the end you produce way less waste in making a surfboard. And the truth is that man, the performance is exactly the same as a normal shortboard. I glass my boards with bioresin and in the end, the board has 30 to 50 less percent impact on the earth than a normal board. When you’re talking about one board, that might not be that much impact, but when you’re talking about 10 or 100 or 1,000 or 100,00 boards, it creates a massive change. If the boards weren’t good and didn’t work I probably wouldn’t be riding them, but they are.
Are you riding those boards in the movie?
Yeah, my whole Indo quiver was made with Polyola blanks and glassed with bioresin. It’s evidence that those boards work. They last long as well—and honestly, I would say that maybe 99% percent of surfers wouldn’t feel the difference between riding an eco board and a normal PU board.
You’re working with SeaTrees while you’re in Bali right?
Yeah, just last week I went to plant some coral reef with SeaTrees and Coral Gardeners here in Indonesia. It felt like we were planting little trees but in the ocean. You can see the positive impact that these things can have. The way we are doing things these days is definitely not the most sustainable way but if we all do our part we can make this place a better one.