Adriano De Souza

As of October 25, 2006, Adriano de Souza was 18 with a bullet. In his rookie season on the WCT, the Brazilian surfer from Guaruja in coastal Sao Paulo is living up to expectations established in 2005, when he won the WQS by the widest margin in history. De Souza's performance got praise from the likes of Kelly Slater, who predicted De Souza would win a WCT event his first year and really shake up the tree.

Well, you may ask yourself, how did he get there? De Souza is from Guaruja, the land of a thousand beachbreaks. He rode his first wave (to the beach) at 8 years old, accelerated from there and within 10 years he was the hottest Junior surfer in the world. In January of 2004, De Souza defeated Shaun Cansdell and the likes of Sean Moody, Kekoa Bacalso and Daniel Jones to win the ASP World Junior Championship. A year later, De Souza proved he was no fluke at the ...Lost Pro Junior held during the U.S. Open in Huntington Beach, California: "Many spectators (myself included) thought De Souza was one of the most exciting surfers to watch during the entire event-WCT surfers included," said Justin Cote of Trans World Surf. "His rapid-fire, energetic surfing was every bit as good as Taj Burrow's (U.S. Open winner), and his air in the final of the ...Lost Pro Junior was the best launch of the entire two-week-long event."

The 2005 season was De Souza's first full year on the WQS and he arrebentou (kicked ass) by the widest margin in history. But the WQS contests are generally held in the less-premium breaks where a small wave, aerial stylist like De Souza can thrive. How would he go against the Big Boys in places like Teahupoo and Cloudbreak and J-Bay? De Souza started the 2006 season with an eye-opening third at the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, but then reality set in with a string of 33rds and 17ths, brightened by a fifth at the Rip Curl Search Mexico, held in a new, reeling right point that blew the collective minds of the ASP Tour.

With two events left on the 2006 WCT Tour, De Souza is an impressive 18th in the world, leading numerologists to leap for the record books to see what was the highest placing of a Tour Rookie ever. De Souza appears to be a shoe in for Rookie of the Year, but the two events left on the tour define De Souza's strengths and weaknesses. The penultimate event is the Nova Schin Festival Brazil, and it's easy to see Da Souza propelled by Brazilian pride to that WCT win Slater predicted.

The final event of the year is at Pipeline, a wave that takes a knowledge and experience that Da Souza has yet to gain. It is hard for a tour rookie or anyone to get any practice and warmup time at Pipeline. But De Souza is a bit of a surprise packet who has been ascending ever since he rode his brother's board to the beach at eight years old. He is barely 20 years old, talented and relentlessly progressive. Could he be the Great Brazilian Hope?