Zicatela
Christmas is about the worsed time of the year. Everything is either closed, or crowded. Pick one.

So, having finished my new film, The Pororoca Experience, I decided to start filming my new film, that will be shot over the 2006 season, in Mexico's Puerto Escondido - home of the famous Mexican Pipeline - Zicatela.

Now, it is true that December is not really the best month to surf there - the swells tend to miss Puerto Escondido, and the North gets more (including hawaii), but hey, it was that, or spend Christmas on crowded ski slopes.


Then, to boot, I have a new kayak design to test - the Nighmare. So, we loaded up the Dragon Wagon, boards, kayaks and lots of energy, and headed south, driving to southern Mexico from Montreal in 71 hrs, arriving in Puerto Escondido on Christmas Day - just in time to take this picture of Christine posing with her new board.


Andreanne and Christine were a "hit" with the locals (and local tourists). The line up to seduce them went across the beach, through the village, up the road, and across spook hill. Heck, it was impossible to remember all the names of the would be suitors, so we just gave them numbers! Add to the fact that Christine won the bikini contest at a local surf contest, and you can imagine the mess we created.

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Pierre from the Buena Onda, where we stayed.
Franco, a super cool guy from Mexico City who caught a sword Fish and cooked it up for a delicious feast one evening, and Simona, an Italian (and spouce to Pierre the frenchman).

Odly enough, down there in Mexico, I got to practice my italian much more than I would have thought.


Simona lives just down the road from where I stay in italy.... who would have thunk?
Bueno Onda - the oasis in paradice.
Guido, and Italian from Venice, with his home made chocolate.
Getting my Nightmare ready. I messed with the fin set-up forever before getting it just right. I ended up liking 2" fins in the front, and 4" fins in the back, toed in to 6" in front of the bow.
Andreanne cheking the flowers.
Andreanne, Pepe ( a super cool local guy who is a scuba dive instructor and surf teacher oroginally from Cosomel), Christine and myself.
At dinner in a cool Italian place just under the Bar Fly, opposite Zicatela.
One of Zicatela's up and coming surfers (soon to be pro), Andreanne, Pepe and me. I was charged with "always grabbing everones boobs". I protest.
OK, maybe its true!
Look what followed me home. Can I keep her?
Boobs? What boobs????
Who, me?
Do I look "manly" with the pink board?


Actually, this board rocks... I loved it (shaped it for Christine but it was so fast and responsive I ended up using it a bunch).


This is Barra... a really cool break... WHEN there is surf ;-(
We still can't figure out WHY all those single male surfers were after the girls all the time!


You should see the video footage!


So, I found a great use for the girls... "line-up cleaner". They would sit on the inside to get the smaller waves. I went to the outside and joined the crowds. But... within minutes, a miracle would occur. All of a sudden I'd find I had the prime spot all to myself.. and all those he-man stud surfers were on the inside, missing good waves, trying to pick up the girls.

Surfing with girls is awesome!!!!
Dunno about her, but HE's sure cute!
Posing for O'Neil???
You swim across this to get to the break... I'm sure there are crockodiles in there!
Christine and Andreanne at Zicatela - no waves but a sweet sky.
New year party feast.
Andreanne and Franco dancing the Salsa.
9pm, Dec 31. You think she's going to make it to midnight?

Nope. 5 mins later - passed right out and had to carry her to her cabin!

Who ever heard of a barmaid who can't hold her drink?
Semi Pro surfer Dominic (who comes and surfs with us in Montreal on Habitat in the summer) worls as a barman at the Bar Fly when he's not getting his kicks at Zicatela.
Now you know why I'm always grabing them!


Question is... who is this?
Meet Carmello. Ex semi pro surfer turned surf board ding repair guy. He repairs anything from 10 to 40 boards A DAY. I accounted for some of that business, breaking 4 boards during the stay.

This is a board he made for a local 4yr old ripper.... its a section from a broken longboard he stripped down to make a little fish for the kid. Its tiny. Carmello does great work... if you'e down there and break your board... he's the guy to go see.
This board I broke with my leg.
Revenge of the nerds?
NOW who are you calling a nerd?????

I know.... you want to bite it too!
Believe it or not, I did actually go out and kayak. This was one of my first runs in the Nighmare, and boy, this thing rocks. It's basically a Squashtail on steroids. It hods its rail so well, and makes the tightest high speed snaps on command. What a rush!
Railing from end to end....
Off the lip, back down, off the lip, back down... again and again.... and making the sections that I thought I'd only make on a board!
OK, I mentioned a Bikini contest....

so before the contest started, just to prove to the boys that "we're no bimbo's", Andreanne and Christine kicked some ass playing Tug of War.


Yes, they won.
Ah, yes, the Bikini contest. Well, O'neill DID give them free bikini's... the least they can do is show them off, right?

Here they are signing up.
The contest.... moving on to finals...

So... want to see the video of the Finals?

go here
And the winner.... Christine was an instant celebrity with hoards of guys wanting to have thier picture taken with her.
Back to surfing my Nightmare - here at Barra on a super small day.Still, it was a lot of fun, even in small surf.
getting in and ou of some cool tubes. made some of them... didn't make some of them. Thats life.
Taking my HD camera out into the line-up to see how it works, and get some B roll footage.
Late take off.....
but still makes the section...
Body surfing of the wave at the same time to get the shot.
bet you can't guess why I like this shot!
And now for the injuries!
I managed to get into intimate discussions with just about every rock out there. Dela Point has an inside take off... and an outside take off. But if you go for the outside take off... you NEED to make the section.

Guess what.... I didn't make the section, destroyed my board, and me. Back, legs, arms, hands, ass.... I had coral splinters and bots of rock imbedded so deep. But all in all, given where I ended up and the size of the surf that day, I came out rather unscathed. It could have been much worse than just being covered in rock rash. Still.... I limped and hobbled the entire time I was there, and you can bet I MILKED the sympathy angle for all it was worth!

I'm not the only one to get banged up. Christine claims her brusies were hurting. I'm not so sure..... :-)
Errrrrrr...............
So.... the transmission blew in my van, and we spent 3 days in San Antonio getting it fixed (and nearly $3000 too). After we did the rounds of the river walk, the Alamo, the movies and we ran out of things to do... it was off to the hair dresser to make ourselves all look beautiful. It worked for me, but the girls have a long way to go.