Josh Angulo - a citizen of the world

35 year old PWA Wave Champion Josh Angulo talks about his current home country, Cabo Verde, his fellow athletes and the windsurfing future he dreams about.

No, the end’s not near!

Dear Josh, many of us haven’t given up hope yet to see you again at a competition. Have you really given them up altogether?

I actually plan to compete on the PWA slalom tour. It's not 100% right now that I will, but on top of that I might compete in some national events around the world. As far as the PWA Wave tour, I will compete in events such as Cabo Verde and Hawaii, those places that still get me motivated to run, train and be the number one!

What made you stop and where will we see you from now on?

I'm not sure you have enough space on your website to give you all the reasons , but I guess a simplified version would be that I've been in windsurfing a long time and have been fortunate to achieve many of my goals as a professional athlete and although I remain strongly as a professional athlete in many ways, I also am expanding into new territories and the energy and time that it takes made me have to choose one or the other. It's just a question of time managment and prioritizing really.

What did it mean to you to win last year’s title?

Last year's title was another fulfillment of a vision. I always dreamed of winning a title for Cabo Verde and I was able to. It's been an insane run and I feel so blessed to be living this story in the countries and people that I have the opportunity to be with around the world.

Home and family

You have two kids, a daughter and a son. How are their windsurfing skills?

My son, at the age of four, got blown out to sea on his .5 meter, luckily I caught on the SUP and I was pretty irresponsible in that he couldn’t swim well and didnt have a life jacket. It freaked him out and freaked me out even more and then I was scared to tell my wife but she took it rather well. Fortunatley now at five he swims like a fish and is bodyboarding and surfing every day. He's still a bit traumatized by the windsurf experience but is often doing tricks on the beach with his sail and on the simulator, so I'm sure he'll naturally pick it up. My daughter's on a swim team and does a bit of surfing , but hasn't been windsurfing yet .

You have been said to be a big supporter of your “new” home country, Cabo Verde. Please tell our readers a little bit about it: what’s it like living there?

Living in Cabo Verde makes me feel quite free. Of course it's a stable democratic country which is constantly awarded good governance awards etc. for Africa, but it's still pretty kick back and loose which makes me feel free. In saying that I really appreciate the organization and infrsatructure in countries like Germany. As I'm often in different places, I've learned to appreciate as much as possible the good that a place has rather than it's drawbacks and in Cabo Verde's case the people are good. 

“Kreole e cool, Kreole e sab”!

With you traveling quite a bit during your youth, which place or country would you consider home?

Nowadays , Cabo Verde is home .  I have a huge connection to Maui and Oahu as well as Kauai and still feel 100% hawaiian, but I also feel 100% Kreol as well as very european. So I just try and make the best of where I'm at, but pretty much at this stage in life, home is being with my wife and kids, wherever that may be.

Other surfers

Your surfing style is quite radical and your jumps are spectacular. What is the highest/biggest jump you ever made?

Not sure about the biggest jump, but I saw recently they were measuring Boujmaa and Levi in Hawaii and they were going 50 and 60 feet. That's pretty high. I guess all the top guys have had some pretty big jumps in their day, so I would say my biggest jump was probably around the measurements that those boys were setting

You and Kauli Sead have been close competitors for some years. How do you two get on in real life?

Kauli's great. Full on comitted to riding waves and exploring the whole thing. I fully respect his dedication and individuality. His lack of fear in walking his own path in the spot has been a huge key to his success and him and all the brazilian boys are a crack up on tour and the brazilians are some impressive with their approach to life that you can't help but be mesmerized by it all.