Luzimara Souza, a Brazilian surf phenom, was struck and killed while training for the country’s surfing championships.
In a freak and tragic accident last week, Luzimara Souza, 23, died after being struck by lightning while surfing off the coast of Fortaleza. According to Diario de Nordeste, Souza was in the water when the lightning hit. She had been training for this month’s Brazilian Surfing Championship at Leste-Oeste Beach.
Brazilian news site G1 also reported the lightning strike injured a second person: a 17-year-old surfer named Felipe Cardoso Nogueira. After rescuers pulled him from the water, he was transported to the Rescue Unit of the Fire Department, where he received first aid. He was then taken to IJF and is reportedly in “delicate” condition.
Souza’s mother, Maura Souza, told local reporters her daughter frequented Leste-Oeste Beach as a favorite surfing spot. And Souza’s coach, Jehova Rodrigues, confirmed she was training for the 2019 championships after she won the Ceará and Brazilian championships in 2018.
Outdoor brands clearly have a sense of humor. Every year, dozens release goofy products on April Fool’s Day. These are some of the best April Fool’s pranks of 2019.
What makes a good April Fool’s Day prank? Online, the best share a few attributes. First, it needs to be at least vaguely desirable. It needs to be mockable. And, above all, it needs to be slightly believable.
GearJunkie used to write a yearly April Fool’s story. But given the era of “fake news,” we abandoned writing stories meant to trick readers.
But we still appreciate a good joke. These are some of the best from across the web.
Alex Honnold-Designed Spatula
One kind of bizarre detail stands out from the Oscar-winning climbing documentary Free Solo: Alex Honnold constantly eating out of a pot with a spatula. So it goes to reason that Honnold would lead us into a new era of spatula design. And thankfully, he has the full backing of the Black Diamond engineering team to make his dream a reality.
Yes, RBG is notorious. But would she really take a “leave of absence” from the Supreme Court to hike the Appalachian Trail? Is a leave of absence from the Supreme Court a thing? Probably not.
But it’s a grabby headline and funny article in Section Hiker. “I think I’m a pretty good judge of my limits,” Section Hiker quotes the 85-year-old justice as saying. “If Grandma Gatewood could do it, I can too.”
YETI Announces ‘Falcon’ Scooter
2018 may have been the year of the electric scooter. The ubiquitous two-wheel vehicles seem to have taken over every city street to the chagrin of myriad motorists. Well, YETI aims to take them to the country. The YETI Falcon is a burly, “4×4” scooter. It has gnarly ATV tires, markets to everyone from hunters to surfers, and is totally not real. But the video is, and it’s pretty damn hilarious. Enjoy!
You won’t see this product coming from YETI any time soon. But given the success of off-road vehicles like the Onewheel, we wouldn’t be surprised to see an electric all-terrain scooter like this on the horizon from other brands.
REI Introduces Adventures for Pets
Because your fur-baby enjoys a good romp in the wild too!
REI today announce “Pet Ventures — global adventure travel just for pets.” Cue the B-movie in which a group of unsupervised domestic animals takes over a campground. REI says it’ll offer “Great Smoky Mountains Glamping for Cats,” where valleys are dotted with homesteads where cats can mew for milk and trees tower tall. Other excursions include “Yellowstone Kayaking Escape for Betta Fish,” “New Zealand Country Cycling: Mini-Donkey Route,” and “Thailand Beach Climbing Adventure: Hedgehog Route.”
Kathmandu Adapt All-Weather Wedding Dress
Many consider rain on your wedding day to be an omen of good luck. Well, now the bride will stay dry thanks to Kathmandu’s Gore-Tex wedding dress, dubbed the Adapt. As the brand puts it, “Get ready to take on the storm, travel to exotic locations, or go from the summit to the dancefloor.”
Rad Power ‘RadFit’ Stationary E-Bike
With e-bikes infiltrating every segment of cycling, it was only a matter of time before someone thought to slap a battery pack and motor on a stationary. Rad Power just happened to get to it first with RadFit, a stationary bike juiced up with a 750W motor, five levels of pedal assist, and an “On Demand” mode for fully mechanized “exercise.”
Maven ‘He Series’ Floating Binoculars
Great binoculars provide an otherwise unachievable insight into the outdoors. But at what cost? Bulky, heavy binocs dangling around your neck can literally be a pain. Enter Maven’s “He Series,” which has optics flushed with helium rather than the typical nitrogen or argon. The result: super ultralight binocs that float before your very eyes! Plus, Maven says every pair of He Series comes with a lanyard to prevent it from drifting into the sky.
Toyota Yaris Adventure: Subcompact Truck
For anyone who craves the attention of owning a truck but doesn’t want the hassle of ever actually driving off road, Toyota introduces the Yaris Adventure — the world’s first subcompact truck.
With 7.6 inches of ground clearance, a 297-pound payload, and 103 hp, the Adventure “combines the comfort and fuel economy of a sedan with ideal cargo space, but not so much that friends will ask you to help them move,” according to Toyota.
The brand also said it offers no warranty or navigation system because nothing could possibly go wrong, and Adventure drivers never get lost. Roadside assistance will be available, however, as “it’s likely the truck will get stuck if it veers too far off road.”
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