• Adventurer. Adaptive World surfing champion. Motivational speaker.

    do It differentLy

  • Bruno's story

    Bruno was born in the war torn country of Rhodesia.

    Through the 1970's he spent a wild childhood experiencing terrorist bomb attacks as well as lions,leapards,elephant and baboons on his walks to school.His parents survived a passenger airplane crash ,the 1978 HUNYANI disaster and the family then fled the war into the confusing apartheid era of South Africa where he finished school and studied mechanical engineering through the Navy.

    In his 20’s Bruno was a surfer, sailor, free diver, life guard, engineer, and did service in two different militaries. He loved any kind of adrenaline adventure sport, and went on to become captain of a charter yacht taking surfers around some of the world's best waves. Life could not have been better.

     

    At the age of 27 Bruno was victim of a carjacking gone wrong in Cape Town, South Africa which left him paralysed from the waist down. Bruno sustained a complete T-12 fracture leaving him “legless”and in a wheelchair. Feeling hopeless and extremely depressed, he thought his life of being a waterman was over. A year after his accident, once he had left the rehabilitation centre, he attempted suicide. He was determined to drown.

     

     

     

    Something happened. Instead of drowning, he connected with the ocean once again on a different level. Something rebooted inside his system and he found the courage to start his life over. After countless doctors told him that he couldn’t do the things he used to do, he defied all odds and went on a journey most could only dream of going on.

     

    Have you ever met someone in a wheelchair who has refurbished an old sailboat and crossed the Indian Ocean ? Who barely survived the 2004 asian tsunami alone at sea, searched tirelessly for ocean treasures, escaped piracy off the African coast ,built  and lived in a treehouse and can today call himself an ISA World Adaptive Surfing Champion?

     

     Meet Bruno Hansen.

     

  • passion

    "Life doesn't stop just because you're paralysed."

  • determination

    "You can still do the things you used to do, just do them differently.”

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    World Adaptive Surfing Champion

    ISA - Prone Division

    Bruno won Gold for Prone Division of the ISA World ParaAdaptive Surfing Championships in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018,2020,2021.

     

    Other 1st place Gold's

    UK open 2017,2019

    Dukes Hawaii 2016,2018

    US Open 2017

    SA adaptive pro 2018

    ASL Malibu USA 2018

    Snowdonia Wavegarden 2019

    Spanish Adaptive 2019

    and countless other wins in many different competitions worldwide .They now call him "The Broken Goat."

     

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    Devocean

    Documentary

    Devocean (youtube) ,or

    Ocean Therapy (Netflix)is an award winning documentary about Bruno's life.

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    People's movie choice

    Award

    Bruno was awarded the prestigious People's choice award in Belgium.

  • Adventure

    "I decided I wanted to go back to the life that I had before."

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    Surviving the Tsunami

    Alone on a yacht

    In Thailand in 2004, Bruno barely escaped with his life when the Asian Tsunami struck.

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    Self-built wheelchairs

    Life proof

    Bruno builds his own LIFEPROOF wheelchairs, motorbike side cars, and jungle elevators that fit the needs of a para-surfer.

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    Building a Seahabilitation sailing machine.

    Therapy through the sea - the SEAHAB dream

    The dream is to custom build a 55 ft wheelchair friendly performance ocean going sailing multihull with all the mod cons and comforts to endure weeks of living self suffiently on the ocean.This project aims to get disabled sailors experiencing "life at Sea"

  • MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKING

    “Everyone on the planet is disabled in some way whether it be physically, mentally or spiritually.”

    Ocean Film Festival

    Nell Teasdale

    "He spoke to audiences of 1200 people...He had a captivating presence on stage and really inspired the audience...he was inundated with people who wanted to speak with him in person and get his autograph."

    Accenture

    Austria

    Daniel Etzel

    "When I was with him on stage I understood the meaning of his words...The audience felt it. They where moved, inspired, energised. Afterwards no one wanted to leave. And Bruno stayed to listen, to answer, to connect."

    Tirda Usada Clinic

    Pak Tjok

    "He had the audience in tears, crying and laughing, with his stories of adventure and learning. He imparted a profound message of how we as humans can all overcome life challenges and adversities."

  • DEVOCEAN

    Watch the award winning documentary about Bruno's life.

  • Learn more

    Instagram: @brunocean13

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    Redbull

    Jan. 2019

    Bruno was interviewed by Redbull sharing some of the lessons he learnt over the years. Read the interview here.

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    British Airways High Life magazine

    Nov. 2018

    Bruno was chosen for the November issue cover shot of the British Airways onboard flight magazine with a featured article on his life story. Read the article here.

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    World Adaptive Surf Championships

    Nov. 2017

    Bruno won the  Stance ISA World Adaptive Surf Championships in California, December 2017 in the Prone Division. Watch a feature on him here.

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    Telia advert

    July 2017

    Bruno was selected to be part of the "Life without limits" campaign by the Scandinavian telecommunications company Telia. Watch the documentary here.

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    Men's Journal

    April 2016

    Men's Journal voted Bruno in the top 25 most adventurous men on the planet. Read the article here.

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    Human on Netflix

    Sep. 2015

    The Human series explores what it means to be human. Watch Bruno's interview here.

     

  • Contact

    Book Bruno as a speaker for your event.