Sununga: where myth meets the bizarre wedge wave

It's often hailed as skimboarding's best wave. Welcome to Sununga, a famous Brazilian beach in Ubatuba, São Paulo.

If you read the reviews of Praia da Sununga, you'll notice that most of the comments visitors leave include remarks about its powerful waves and dangerous currents.

Most beachgoers stress that it is not a beach suited for children and those who don't know how to swim.

But as with many things in life, what might not be suitable for one will be great for another.

Sununga is a 150-yard stretch of sand facing the Atlantic Ocean at a southwest angle.

On the left side, a smooth granite formation with a gentle 60-degree angle slope plays a critical role in the birth of a "sider" in one of the world's heaviest shorebreaks.

But how can such a hidden and relatively normal Brazilian beach become such a wave-riding attraction?

First, let's learn how the myth of the dragon agitated these waters.

The Weeping Grotto

The picturesque beach provides stunning sightseeing views, including the sought-after "Gruta que Chora" ("Weeping Grotto"), a rock formation that "weeps" water during high tide, creating an eye-catching spectacle.

Sununga is a probable derivation of the word "Cyninga," which means "strong and strident noise in the Tupi-Guarani language."

Sununga is the dragon that lives inside the cave. It is so big that its breath makes the rocks weep.

The legend says that every night, the sea-living creature would transform into a man so that on full moon nights, he could meet his beloved one, an Indian woman who was the daughter of a shaman in the region, and sleep with her in the cave.

Upon discovering this romance, the shaman cast a spell on the sea so the dragon could no longer transform into a human being.

Time passed by, and his beloved one was gone.

The dragon, trapped in the sea with its heart broken and the memory of the one he could no longer have, left him possessed.

Its fury shows in the turbulent and frightening waves of these waters.

As for the girl, she cried so much that the cave melted.

Today, when she hears the roar of the sea and the voices of people walking around, she thinks it could be her love and cries more, shedding tears all over the cave.

Triangular Waves

Sununga Beach has a very unique and uncharacteristic wave that is actually hard to describe in words.

Normal ocean waves travel toward the shore and break parallel to the beach, eventually peeling from one side to the other.

Now, imagine a wave that starts peeling at a 45-degree angle and then gets intersected by back-to-back regular waves that create several triangular peaks along the way.

But Sununga's unpredictability is what makes it spectacular.

A skimboarder can take off on a two-foot wave and, seconds later, connect and get barreled inside a monstrous 10-foot barrel.

The wave's most challenging sections to master are the beginning and the end.

In both cases, the rider must negotiate massive amounts of tumbling and unstable whitewater.

Sununga is mostly a skimboarding wave with a few opportunities for bodyboarders.

It reminds us of Newport Beach's The Wedge but in reverse, as the Brazilian spot breaks from right to left.

Renato Lima, Lucas Gomes, Leandro Azevedo, and Júlia Dias are local skimming stars and names to consider when the United Skim Tour (UST) lands in Sununga.

They have been part of the crew pushing the sport's limits and taking it into the mainstream audience, thanks to the aerial and barrel-riding showdown they put out on this surf break.

Meanwhile, the Brazilian skimboarding capital will continue to pump magical walls of moving water.

It's one of the few places on the planet, if not the only one, that allows you to surf four different waves in a single ride.

Words by Luís MP | Founder of SurferToday.com