Hi Pedro, present yourself quickly to our reader.

Hey guys, I am Pedro Bettencourt, 31 years old, bodyboarder and ocean lover! I am from the north of Portugal, Porto, but I've lived much of my life in Leça da palmeira and around 8 years ago I moved to the south of Portugal !

Quand as-tu commencé le bodyboard ?

I started bodyboarding when I was 10 years olds.

I was living in Leça da palmeira pretty close to the beach and there I met some good friends that were already doing bodyboard.

It was a new sport for me so i talk with my dad, that always liked that i was doing sport, and we manage to get what i neded !

In the beginning, I did a lot of bodyboard with my friends, Antonio Cruz, Antonio Queiros, Coutinho brothers, and many more. Manuel Centeno, Rui Ferreira, Nuno Azevedo, legends of the sport, also were important references that helped me out to be a better bodyboarder.

Your friends are known to be competitors, what about you ?

I started competition in 2005 in the under 16 Esperanças Nacional. I always enjoy going with the boys to meet other friends from all Portugal, enjoying amazing bodyboard sessions, full of commitment and fun !

With time passing, and getting older, other responsibilities came and I started to have less time to do the National Competitions …It's always a great moment when you see friends that are not with you everyday.

We always enjoyed spending some good time, and competing against each other. Some take it more seriously than others, but to me the best thing it's to be with everybody and enjoy the time. 

When it’s my turn to enter the heat I try to do my best having fun. In Portugal we are a big community of bodyboarders, we should stay together and do the best for the sport !

You did a solid 3rd place during the last BB national open? How did it feel to you?

It felt amazing…

J’ai vu que les conditions allaient être massives à Supertubos et j’ai vraiment pensé que ce serait fun d’y aller et de retrouver tout le monde lors d’une compétition.

I went to the contest without saying to many people. Only my friends from Porto knew! I guess it was a surprise for many other friends to see me there with the lycra on. I enjoyed seeing them all!

I didn't do any competition for a long time. I guess the last contest i’ve did was maybe a special edition in 2014. But everything went smoothly and well for me in this competition and that felt nice! Some luck was also a factor, but as my father says, “you create your luck” so i guess that was in my mind a bit ! I’ve never passed to a second day of competition, I've never done any quarterfinals National Open in my life and to finish 3rd was something really special for me! 

Congratulations again for your result, so now what is next? 

Well, after competition I spent some time surfing in Ericeira, I got the chance to get some epic waves and to chill a bit with the Wildsuits team.

Then I went back south to work and obviously I got some nice waves there as well. Let's see next year if i can do some other contests, it's something i would like to do again, and enjoy some time with friends doing what i like most ! 

You are part of Wildsuits team for a couple of months, how is it going with us?

Ça se passe vraiment super bien ! Je suis super heureux de faire parti de cette famille. Je connaissais déjà quelques gars de la team donc je me suis facilement intégré. Ils m’ont très bien traité et m’ont fait sentir que j’étais le bienvenu dans l’équipe ! 

I enjoy a lot the wetsuits. I never tried a ECO wetsuit and didn't know that they could be so comfortable flexible and warm. Everyone is doing an excellent job, keep doing it, keep it wild! Thanks everyone for the great work ! ✌🏼