3 questions to Marcilio Browne

17/11/2023

Despite a poor start to the season after finishing 17th in the Fiji Surf Pro, Marcilio Browne has become PWA World Wave Champion for the 2nd year running and the 3rd of his career. For Windsurfjournal.com, BRA-105 takes a look back at the season and the PWA IWT Unified Wave Tour, which was his baptism of fire this year.

Windsurfjournal.com: What flavour does this world title have compared to those of 2022 and 2013?
Marcilio Browne: This one was very different. I didn't feel as much pressure as the ones in the past, as I had gotten one last year. I was still sailing all the time and trainning really hard, as I wanted to have a good year, so I still had some high expectations for sure. After a bad result inr Fiji, i kind of had a feeling that my year was done in terms of world title, so it kind of forced me to let go of all expectations and just have fun sailing. I feel like this mindset helped me to do really well in Pozo, that was one of the most memorable wins of my life, truly special for me. At that point i was just happy to win the event and I didn't even know my ranking for 3 or 4 weeks after the event, until one day Francisco mentioned it to me in an email, that's when I found out I was 3rd and had a real shot at the title. From that moment on it was kind of stressful again as I was now in the fight and wanted to make sure I gave my self the best shot coming into the Maui event. So I kept on trainning hard, did a last minute change of plans to go to Peru and to try to improve my points, than Sylt and by the time we got to Maui the gap was a lot smaller, and I felt like I had a real chance. Competing against Ricardo was tough, he is my good friend and if I wasn't on the run for the title I would hope he would get it for sure. There was also a lot of people pulling for him to win, which I fully understand as he is such an amazing sailor. So at that point i just kind tried and block everything as much as possible and just focused on myself, my gear, diet, sleep and happiness, that's all I did prior to the contest for about 3 weeks. I also avoided social media as much as possible, so I didn't have to read about the world title scenarios and etc…

WJ: What does this 1st season of the PWA IWT Unified Wave Tour inspire you and what do you think needs to be improved on this circuit?
MB: This was a great year with the United tours, I am thankful that both sides did this effort to make it happen. Like anything, there are things to improve, but I hope with the success of this season we can hopefully have more sponsors for the tour, so the standards can be raised. It was the most well-rounded and balanced mixture of events since I started, or at least since I can remember. 2007 was a great year also, with many events in good waves.

WJ: 3 world titles in the waveriding discipline, 1 in freestyle, a very complete career, what can we wish you for the years to come?
MB: I just want to keep trying to improve myself as a sailor. I love the process of trainning, developing gear and preparing myself for competition, love having those goals every morning, so I will just keep doing the same. But for sure I feel extremely fulfilled and happy with the way my career has turned out so far, It's been like a surreal dream if I look back 20 years from when I did my first contest.