many years ago, shark attacks were common in the northeast of brazil causing officials to close the beaches to swimmers and surfers - this caused local surfers to look towards the sand instead of the ocean to satisfy their desire for extreme boarding sports.

rio de janeiro has hosted many world championship skim board events including the rio skimboard open, the arnette skimboard tour, the brazil skim festival, and perhaps the largest event of them all, the red bull hard skimming championship. brazil is currently home to some of the most successful skimboarders in the world.