Hailing from Rio de Janeiro, Lucas was raised to live an active life. Encouraged by his farther and two older brothers to spend more time in the surf and less time on the soccer pitch. By the age of 8 he was hooked.

Starting out on small waves close to home, as he grew and travelled the waves got bigger and better.

“Once I got my first big wave and had my first close out set on the head in Waimea, they were all saying I was a big wave surfer, there was no coming back. I love the adrenaline of steep drops and big barrels. Getting pounded can be fun some times as well!” – Lucas on Charging

Under the tutelage of the legendary Ricardo dos Santos he won the 2015 world title. Lucas now spends more time travelling a year then he does at home in Brazil. Not that he minds, surrounding himself with friends and like minded people – “every time I do a freesurf trip I bring a filmer, and try to invite some friends to make a nice crew. The perfect number would be like 3 surfers and 2 cameras. It's really important that everyone get along well and the vibe is good at the the trip.”

It’s a cold, rainy day, can you describe the urge that makes you get off the couch, out of your ugg boots to put on a cold wet suit and get out into the water?

There's nothing worse than not doing anything in a day. Sometimes it hurts to get up and leave the house, but the feeling and satisfaction after a day that you know you used well is the best. It just reminded me that I have been sitting too long now!

What’s the furthest you’ve pushed yourself to chase that feeling?

Hmm, hard to know. I did a trip to Canada recently to snowboard and ended up going surfing a few days, it was so so so cold, and putting on a frozen wetsuit just to go for a surf made me think at least twice before doing it. But the experience is always worth it.

Surf is a very individualistic pursuit but with a lot of camaraderie. How would you describe the difference between being out there on your own vs. being out there with your mates? Do you have a preference?

I actually love both ways, when you have a couple of mates it's so fun. When it's pumping and you get a sick one then you look back, your friend is coming in on an even better one, every one is just yelling and cheering for each other, it helps push yourself too.

If you're all alone you can get more connected to the ocean and nature. I actually love some of those stormy days that there's barely anyone at the beach, I like the challenge and you feel as one with the ocean. 

Can you remember a time (not necessarily surf) when you’ve really pushed yourself, totally failed but you’ll never regret or forget?

Well I can remember a few haha, I don't regret anything because I'm ok now, but there were some moments that I look back and I probably should've held back. Getting older now I'm feeling like I'm more responsible than before, it's weird, when I was just a teenager I actually liked to pack huge close outs and get pounded haha, now that I'm old and expert now, I'm still learning stuff at 22, but now I'm ok on skipping that part and just get the good waves you can make. The failure part will just always happen though, ii's the part that actually makes you better!

Follow him on instagram: @lsilveira96

Watch his latest clip 12 Months below