Renan Pitanguy, master of surfing and BJJ, has died in Rio de Janeiro

Arpoador Beach is mourning today. “Pipeline, Renan! Pipeline!” his surfer friends yelled as Renan Pitanguy, in the ring at Maracanãzinho stadium, faced Eugênio Tadeu in 1984 in his most famous match — in that same event where Fernando Pinduka, Marco Ruas and Marcelo Behring shone. After decades of many giant waves and the purest BJJ, Renan passed away this Tuesday, October 22, 2019.

The coral-belt, one of the rare men who made history in vale-tudo and surfing, first started surfing in Copacabana, then went to nearby Arpoador, and, in Hawaii, became known as Crabman due to his solid base, always firmly connected to his board. At Banzai Pipeline, he was respected like few others.

Renan had been hospitalized before and ended up contracting a post-prosthetic infection in his knee. He had digestive hemorrhage and died, as reported by @arpoadorsurfclub. Our condolences go out to his family and his friends from the mats and from the waves.

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Uma publicação compartilhada por Renan Pitanguy (@renanpitanguy) em 4 de Mai, 2018 às 12:52 PDT