Mexico 2006/2007
I just got back from a 6 week trip to south western Mexico. We went back to Puerto Escondido (where we went last year at the same time), location of the famous Mexican Pipeline, the heaviest shorebreak in the world. We know a bunch of people there now, and the cool spots to go, depending on swell direction, size, tides etc, so it was a natural choice. But last year we were just there for 2 weeks... now we had 6 weeks to explore and hang out.


We stayed at the Buona Onda Cabanas again, a fantastic joint run by two brothers, Pierre and Olivier, and thier mates Simona and Yara. Cheap, and super cool, located 2 mins walk from La Punta break, and 15 mins from Zicatella Pipeline.

I went down with my girlfreind Christine, but we had a whole host of freinds come down and join us during the stay there.


The trip was partly pleasure, partly business for me. I had several new ocean shapes I wanted to test before committing them to be scanned in CAD for CNC cutting (this will allow me to produce more boards a lot faster to meet the growing demand for my shapes and designs), and to get photo's for my surf shop which is moving to a new, bigger location this winter.

Christine is a proficient river surfer, but lacks experience in ocean waves, so some of the time we spent hanging out at smaller breaks so she could practice her wave selection, jocking for possition with other surfers, and also the different dynamics of ocean waves. Its a long slow process, and frustrating for someone who can already surf well (on rivers) to suddenly feel like you've taken a massive step backwards (ie: not even being able to catch a wave, let alone surf it). However, I explained to her that ocean surfers have the same problem when coming to the river, which is why the end up taking lessons most of the time to ease the process of adaption.
Expert Kayaker, and brand manager for Wave Sport kayaks, Jimi Blakney was the first of our freinds to join us, arriving jsut a day after we did at the Buona Onda. Jimi has recently been bitten by the surfing bug and surfs almost every day now. In fact, his wave selection and timing of the drop was a lot better than mine in the beginning of my trip, meaning he got a lot more waves than I did. Being compettitive in nature, this was irritating, but we had an awesome time with some great swells.

That being said, I made some significent breakthroughs in my surfing just the week after he left, and my abilities as a surfer jumped to an entirely new level as I entered a zone of comfort on the wave no matter how big, or steep, or fast it is.

On and off the water, Jimi is one of the coolest guys you can know, so it was awesome to hang out with him.


As for us being competitors in business... well... who cares?
Christine sitting amongst the hammocks at the front of the Buona Onda, overlooking the beach and sunset.
Now, the thing with Mexico is that any occation is a good reason for a party or celebration. The result is a never ending, ongoing callamity of music. Marriaci bands of all kinds playing as loud as they can, competing with each other at all hours of the day and night, fireworks and crackers exploding non stop, dogs barking, roosters squawking, and all this competing with the live tecno transe music blarring from a stadium sized PA system at the local cafe.

The short version is that Mexico never sleeps, and neither do you.

This particluar party was to celebrate the "coming of age" of one of the local village girls. The next night was to celebrate the virgin of something or other, then St Nicolas, then christmas, then new year, then the three kings.... anyway you get the idea...
The sun bakes you endlessly.... 35C in the shade, by 8am you'e dripping in sweat, and this state remains until 3am. I was lucky that O'Neill gave me a nifty little rash guard with a hood and beak, so i could sit in the lineup in realitive comfort, but poor Jimmi had his T Shirt pulled ove his head most of the time, or was squinting into the sun looking for sets.

On the other hand, one of the smart ass locals asked me if I was going skiing!
Like it or not, crowds are a part of surfing, and these are problematic when its a point break take off.

So, success goes to those with the biggest balls. Whoever can swim the hardest and fastest, or is willing to take off deeper and deeper, or in front of the exposed sharp rocks gets the wave. I had a 6'9" roundtile with me, so on smaller days I'd take it out, go sit on the outside and deep behind the rock and outswim everyone onto the wave. Of course I took some beatings too in the rocks when I missed a few drops, but thats part of the game.

The waves had a nice shape at La Punta, even when small, so it was great fun for all of us, from Jimmi to Christine. And I was very satisfied with the performance of my newest board shapes.... everything from rocker, to template and rails were just spot on!
Hitting this rock on take off would most certainly be no fun at all......and i saw a few folks hit it when they missed the section from the outside on bigger days and couldn't sneak past the rocks.
When the waves got really small, I took Christines 6'11" Mini Malibu out and had some really fun rides. Despite its size, it really did turn exceptionally well.
Just running down the line, on waves that felt like they go forever.....
On that mini Malibu, no matter how fast a section in front of you looked like it'd close out, you could always seems to make it through, and just keep surfing!
Jimmi had some great rides, baggy T shirst and all... and really used the waves to the maximum of thier potential.
Keep checking back.... more to come about the trip soon....