VON RIPPER

Name: Nicolau von Rupp

Age: 15

From: Lisbon Coast, Portugal

This may all sound a bit familiar, a young German goofyfoot from Portugal, sponsored by Quiksilver, causing a stir in the Juniors… Nicolau von Rupp’s story so far sounds remarkably similar to a certain M. Lipke’s. He’s another one of those Euro golden boys, whose parents of mixed nationalities moved to a warm, wavey part of the Continent to breed rippers.

With a German dad and a Swiss, Portuguese-born mum who relocated to Portugal’s Lisbon Coast to bring up their two sons just five minutes from the beach, it was only a matter of time before a young Nico started standing up on a boogie board. Soon after he was taught to surf by his still-today coach, Joao de Braga de Macedo and was already heading to the beach every morning for dawnies aged just nine.

Today fifteen-years-old, Nicolau is trying to fit school in between doing the World Juniors, all the Pro Juniors and a couple of WQS events, as well as travel plans for Indonesia, Hawaii and Oz later in 2006, something which isn’t always easy. ‘Every time I come back from trips I have to catch up at school,’ he explains, ‘it’s a constant battle,’ although on that count, he’ll probably get little sympathy from most school kids his age.

Unsurprisingly, Marlon and Melvin Lipke are a big inspiration to Nicolau, who surfs and trains with them whenever he can. After placing an impressive 11th in the ISA World Junior U16’s recently, he also ripped up the German Championships, taking the Open and U18 titles and placing 3rd in the Longboards. Expect to see more and more of Nicolau, particularly since he’s landed a sponsorship with Lufthansa, who can fly him in style to 103 different countries around the world.

Nicolau rides for Quiksilver, Vans, Polen Surfboards and Lufthansa