Immigration: Why California needs Brazilians

It's a surf DNA thing… 

Without splitting hairs about recent results, the Brazilian storm is here to stay. People can be as upset as they like about that – all that fun-loving talent dominating competitive surfing… it’s terrible.

But for mainland USA, given its woeful prospects on the WSL (yes, yes, they’re better than NZ’s – we are though, a small nation of chokers, but what’s your excuse after coasting along so smugly on the back of one Robert Kelly Slater as though he’d never grow old?), the Brazilian Storm is a golden opportunity.

Why? It seems like most of them now live in California. It’s an opportunity of a lifetime for America. Americans should be encouraging the Brazilians to move there.

I don’t mean cashed up Brazzos injecting cash into a stagnant US economy. Or, lifting the average IQ of both countries. No, no, it’s an investment in the future of American surfing. And, if it’s like what Pacific Island immigration has done for New Zealand in rugby (a terrible sport), or Kiwis moving to Australia to play rugby league (a slightly different, slightly less terrible sport), it’ll do wonders for US surfing.

Nor is it completely an alien concept to America. American dominance in the nuclear and space age was partly on the back of German scientists being enticed to move to America. You’ve also accepted Jordy Smith.

These guys have chosen the US and in particular, California, for multiple reasons, reasons that I don’t have the pleasure of knowing.

One could however assume that the US is a good central place to base a world title campaign (it’s the centre of the world – the WSL is based there), prospects are better than Brazil, it has reasonable surf and it’s always sunny in California (or so the television tells me).

Many of them have moved their families there. They’re in it for the long haul. They’re likely to stick around, become residents, maybe even citizens. They’ll attract more Brazilian talent to US shores and, unless their most juvenile of critics are right (that they’re all gay), and/or they hate children, then they’re likely to breed.

These kids will be naturalised Americans, or at least semi-American and, if they inherit their fathers’ talent, they’ll possibly surf for America. If not their children surfing for the US, then the grandchildren will.

Critics would say, Brazilians would be too proud to surf for the US. They forget though how quick the early Brazilians forgot about Portugal, a very great nation at the time. No, the US will grow on them; consume them, until they wave that flag every Fourth of July.

Yes, it may be a stretch to say that Toledo’s future children will be better than Toledo (but he’s better than his father – a good start), but these kids, if they’re as good, or better will reinvigorate US surfing.

It won’t be a scene of apathetic and tastefully derelict looking white kids gazing at their shoes, riding mid-length retro inspired craft or asymmetric boards. Nor will it be harassed little white jocks pressured by their parents to compete when they really just want to be like the above.

No, it’ll be zippy little kids with tans, competing fiercely, inspiring each other to be better and winning everything in sight – America will again be top of the surfing world.

And it’s an opportunity that I’d be capitalising on.