Lucas ‘Chumbo’ Chianca and Lucas Fink had only been in Australia for a little over 24hrs when a mean-looking east swell squared up on the Sydney coast. They were here, for their first time, to hang and surf with Dylan Longbottom, who Chumbo rides for. The two Lucas’s are perhaps best known for their feats at Nazare, where Chumbo has won multiple awards for charging the biggest waves and throws snaps on 30-footers for fun. Meanwhile, Fink carves impossibly precise lines on his skim board. A day off the plane, Dylan Longbottom had them at Cape Solander where warping six-ten-foot slabs heaved a stretched legrope away from the rocks. It was a very different proposition to deep-water Nazare teepees, but the two, Brazilian Lucas’s weren’t going to die wondering.
When we spoke to Chumbo and Fink they were sitting on the point at Shark Island, enjoying a few Friday arvo beers to celebrate Dylan Longbottom’s 52nd birthday. (Dylan was also charging on the day)
Chumbo, who was riding one of Dylan’s 5’10”, Slab-Tow models, vividly recalls his first ever wave at The Cape. “The first one got really big, and I was kind of afraid a little bit because of the rocks. I didn’t know how it was, but the board worked perfect, and I could handle all the bumps… After that I was ready to rock and hoping I make Dylan super proud of me, because he was towing me so good… I rode about fifteen waves, and I just arrived in Australia and had one of the best sessions of my life.”
Asked about the key to riding a skim board at a wave like Solander, Fink suggested it was all about navigating the steps and backwash. “The slabs are very good on the skim board… Once I can lock into the base of the wave, since my board has not as much drag as a surfboards, I can keep my momentum for longer, I don’t need to pump as much. Just stay solid on my line. And then once you’re in there, I’m more concerned about the backwashes… At first, I got worked but I figured it out. And then after that I just glided on my feet every time I saw them coming.”
Chumbo conceded that the near-shore violence of Solander was an adjustment after a season at Nazare. “That’s the scary part. I’m used to deep water; I’ve ridden some slabs but never as dangerous and critical like that. So, it was kind of shock for us on the beginning…”
Surfing backside at Solander is challenging enough but, on most rides, Chumbo elected to ride without clutching a rail, which generally adds a degree of difficulty. However, Chumbo claims he prefers to keep it ‘hands free’ when he’s towing, “The no grab for me is easier than the grab with the straps.” Chumbo indicated he’d learned the no-grab technique from both his coach, and his brother Joao Chianca, who has made his presence felt on the CT in recent years.
Chumbo, who is 6’3” and around 87kg, insists he does a lot of training to make his legs the ultimate shock absorbers when he’s dealing with bumps and steps. “Yeah, I do a lot of soccer training for my legs. After Nazare, I just realised my legs are everything.” Although the training helps in all scenarios, he suggests the technique is slightly different for slabs like Solander. “Those steps are really fun but it’s just different between Nazare, because I need to press the bump down, and here I just need to kind of surf the bump.”
Still fizzing with the stoke of yesterday’s session Chumbo was quick to pay tribute to the contingent of regulars he shared the lineup with.
“Actually, I take my hat off to the boys, because they were charging the gnarliest ones… They’re pushing the limits, and they made a super welcome reception for us, sharing the lineup, sharing the waves, showing us how to paddle and how to tow – especially with Dylan, everybody just welcomed us like a brother.”
The Lucas and Lucas slab show Down Under was due to continue as a massive south swell loomed and the crew made plans for their next raid. For now, they were happy to enjoy the view from to point in front of Shark Island, share a few beers with Dylan for his birthday and reflect on the waves they’d ridden. “It looks like we timed it perfectly,” suggested Fink. “People are saying yesterday at Cape Fear was one of the best days in the past years, and also some people are already claiming this next swell might be the biggest south swell ever.”
What happened next ?
The next morning Dylan, Chumbo and Fink hightailed it a couple of hours south of Sydney. The promised south swell had transformed a particular left ledge into a Down Under version of Pipeline and, once the ski was launched, the team wasted little time adding a bunch of roaring left barrels to their quota. A couple of Chumbo’s tubes required total, full throttle commitment as they rifled across the near-shore reef. It was tow-assisted tube riding at its best. Meanwhile, Fink again proved he could handle the bumps and the big barrels on his wafer disc. There was plenty going on elsewhere but the session help ensure it would be remembered as one of the most incredible windows of surfing ever seen on the east coast of Australia.
