That Time Silvana Lima Scored a Perfect 10 in Her First Championship Tour Heat

If someone were to imagine a perfect "first" in women’s groundbreaking performances, they would do well to consider the longest-running Brazilian competitor on the WSL Championship Tour: Silvana Lima. On December 8, 2009, at her very first WSL contest, in her very first professional heat, on her very first wave, the stalwart rookie dropped into a perfect hollow Honolua Bay wave—and received the highest score possible, a perfect ten. It was no chance fluke—her career performances earned her eight Brazilian national titles, two World Title runner-ups and the unofficial title of Brazil’s greatest-ever female surfer.

Her life had not always been so fantasy-like. As a child growing up in a beachside shack, Lima could only dream of one day living in a real house. It was much the same in the water, where she first started surfing on a wooden plank, dreaming of one day riding a real board. Even after injuries hobbled her for several seasons she remained a top contender who was never out of the running for a title. In the years she was fully healthy, Lima’s position in the top rankings was a source of national pride and an inspiration to many upcoming female Brazilians.

Although initially well-supported by a large surf brand, Lima struggled with holding on to top sponsors. As time went on, Lima contended the problem was in large part due to her physical appearance. “I don’t look like a model,” Lima told the BBC in a 2016 television series. “I’m not a babe. I’m a surfer, a professional one.” “The surfwear brands, when it comes to women, they want both models and surfers,” Silvana continued. “So if you don’t look like a model, you end up without a sponsor, which is what happened to me.”

It’s an issue she sees as exclusive to women: “You’re excluded, you’re disposable. Men don’t have this problem.” Although roundly disputed by the surf industry, this issue is unquestionably resistant to an agreeable resolution and remains a thorn for women athletes in surfing and beyond. Financial assistance did come her way in 2018 from a most unusual source. Kore, a cryptocurrency company that had aligned with surf culture, negotiated a contract - making Lima the first woman ever sponsored by a brand in the crypto space. Outside industry sponsors can be as brief and fickle as the seasons swells, but in scoring that sponsorship deal, Lima became one of the first athletes in the world to bridge the emerging cryptocurrency industry with sports.