Teenage surfer Jake Maki hailed a hero after rescuing world number four João Chianca…
When you’ve got JOB and Nathan Florence’s vlogs on loop, you might be lulled into thinking the danger of Pipe’s monstrous tubes is a little, how do you wanna say it, easy? Overrated?
Yeah, well.
News this morning that world number four João Chianca has been dragged from the water at Pipe unconscious after a catastrophic wipeout.
João Chianca, who is twenty-three and the younger brother of big-wave surfer Lucas Chianca, was reportedly held underwater by multiple waves before being rescued by local teenage surfer Jake Maki.
(Name ring a bell? Jake Maki is an invitee to The Eddie and won Wave of the Bay in 2021/22.)
View this post on Instagram
Lifeguards stablished João Chianca, who was a semi-finalist at this year’s Billabong Pro Pipeline, on the beach before being transported by ambulance to hospital where he remains under observation.
João Chianca is anything but a novice at Pipe and his arrival onto the world tour has been spectacular.
View this post on Instagram
As BeachGrit’s tour correspondent JP Currie noted,
There are elements of his personality that might grate on some, like Kelly Slater, irked by his energy and exuberance. He’s hyper -aggressive in man-on-man heats, often sitting so close to his opponents that he might as well have his face nuzzled into the nape of their neck. And he takes public and performative praying to whole new levels, even for a Brazilian.
But his skills are without question, as demonstrated by two semi-finals and a victory in the first three comps. Remember, he’s more or less a rookie.
If you believe the mid-season cut has the capacity to set competitors ablaze, in fury or desire, then Chianca could be its poster-boy. He may well have evolved by nature rather than nurture, but he might not. Sometimes you need to lose to win.
Joao Chianca fears no-one.
Commented on Disqus? Log out, tap the Disqus button, and your old name and comments come back. The box is ours.
Your comments are still here. Every one of them.
Twelve years of BeachGrit comments came across from Disqus. Connect and we will show you how many are yours. We get your username, nothing else.
Connect Disqus to reveal.
Fairly certain if something like this happened at my local break, there would be 99% shooting video and maybe 1% life saving, versus the opposite at Pipeline.
Looks like there’s guys in his way when he was paddling.
Fark in half? Your melon 🍉 is thankful for sure
The Unhappy: Joao’s new signature Channel Islands Pipe gun
Ah, the pro surfer dividend. If you die at Pipe rest assured someone will be good enough to tag your corpse on Instagram as its dragged ashore.
Cheers Shannon mate. Dead good of you 👍
Sending him only positive thoughts for his healing and love to his family.
“Lifeguards stablished João Chianca”
I thought Stablishing was reserved for Chas.
PS- great effort by all involved to save Joao (with a squiggly line on over the a).
I’ve had weekends like that.
A podcast? Who narrates it?
Not enough eq in the world.
Wonder how many of those concussions would be prevented with the humble Gath??
Can we take a moment to give that leash a plug. Saved his life and if thats not incentive enough to spike their sales what is?
Gave me the shivers watching that. Great to see crew all over it and getting him to the beach ✊🏼
with a lifeguard tower at the other side of Ehukai and the other at Rockpile and since there’s no guard tower in front of the most dangerous wave on the North Shore, it’s always the crew that arrives first on the scene.
Often, the Volcom houses and Micks old house empty when someone’s in trouble.
Not to worry, the WSL ‘world champ’ was safely surfing Trestles.
That one heat between JohnJohn and ChowChow that one time was sick. Hope he recovers well
Yeah fuck that, hope he recovers
Still a cunt though
Hope Joao recovers quickly he’s a weapon at pipe and the other good waves and is my favorite Brazilian on tour at the moment
Him,Yago,and Medina for me..
16:59 Gnarly gnarly.. Hope João is ok..
https://www.youtube.com/liv…
Pin drop to sucked over, looked like.
Yeah how’s the back of that behind the primary white water…savage
Yah.. Didn’t see him get suck back over until JOB’s drone angle in his vid today. So heavy. Super lucky tbh.
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
10 years into the future 2033 !!!
So the poor bastard has to do it all over again in 10 years?! That’s some cruel fate.
fuckin oath – but hope he is alright!!
and still no titles…
Thanks boss! I’ll drop into story.
Praise our lord, the algorithm!
Mother killed on her birthday in shark attack in Jalisco Mexico. She was playing with her kid in the water on a floating bounce house
Joao’s mother was killed in Mexico? Between that and a 3 wave hold down near death experience, that’s a rough day
Haha no, guess I should have been more clear
Hope he’s OK. What’s Shannon doing at Pipe? Better not mean she got hired by the WSL again.
maybe they’re using her voice as a shark repellent?
or maybe they’re using her voice to smooth the reef?
If she was there 92 years ago they could have used it instead of Anti-Aircraft guns
Looked like he jumped off a 3 story building straight into pipe reef, then copped another few wave sets on the head while being pinned to the reef. Hope he is okay !