Drift Surfing » Peru

Longboarding in the sun with dolphins

Inka Waves — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:26:44 +0000

Two straight days of sunshine in Lima after five straight months of fog.

Only small waves poured into the bay on Saturday and Sunday, so I dusted off my longboard for the first time in a year and went paddling. I pulled off the outside fins and rode it with just the big singlefin, hoping to get a looser feel in the small surf that the charts put at 4.5 feet.

The rides at Punta Roquitas lasted for what seemed like an eternity and, if you caught the right instead of the sharper left, you could walk up the board, put a knee down, grab a rail and just squeeze yourself into the sweet spot while putting an arm up and thinking to yourself “Jesus, I feel like I’m in a Powell Peralta skateboard video from 1984″.

Fish were jumping out of the water. Birds were hunting and, on Sunday, three dolphins swam by the break to say hi. One of them was so enamored by the sunshine that he caught a wave. They are amazing swimmers: big, powerful and muscular. I know of no capital city other than Lima where you can surf with dolphins and pelicans…

Chilca’s “new wave”

Inka Waves — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:57:53 +0000

There was a big turnout last Saturday at a break in Chilca for a bodyboard competition billed as part of one global circuit or another.

The merchandising and blaring music and TV crews were a turn off, but the trip out was worth it because, supposedly, it’s a “newly discovered break”. Hard to get to and you basically need a four-wheel drive or a horse to get out to the break once you make it past miles of huge ovens where they cook bricks from dirt dug up from old seafloor. Apparently Peru’s military controls the hills behind the break, so for years people weren’t allowed in.
It’s a big, heavy wave, very fast, with a thick lip and Saturday, so far as I could tell, it couldn’t be surfed. The body boarders often were stuck in the foam as soon as they dropped in and couldn’t get over to a face that folded over quickly. Maybe on a smaller day. It looks and behaves like a beach break, but I think there is a reef near the shoreline that causes it to jack up quickly. There is a big slab of rock that sits in front of the break, and I couldn’t tell if it was part of a bigger mass extending into the water.

UFOs and surfing

Inka Waves — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:12:29 +0000

Peru’s coastline, from the border with Chile in the south to the frontier with Ecuador in the north, is sandy desert, dry as a bone. So dry that there’s no running water and most people store water in buckets or drink Inca Kola, the shiny yellow soda, to quench their thirst.

Valleys that drain run-off from Andean glaciers run due west and irrigate crops, but usually ones that don’t need much water. Lucuma is one of the few fruits that is uniquely Peruvian. It only grows here and it only grows on the coast. If you try to eat it raw, it’s a pulpy mess. But turn it into an extract, a reduction or a jelly and its flavour jumps out at you. If you are ever in Peru and need a post-surf treat, I recommend Helados OVNI, or UFO Ice Cream, in a town called Chilca, 63 kilometres south of Lima. Chilca, according to Peruvians, is a place where UFOs are frequently seen. OVNI, or Objeto Volante No Identificado, is the Spanish acronym for UFO. Helados Ovni just sells one flavor, lucuma, and it has murals painted above its store showing how the Martians land in Chilca just because they want to get their hands on tasty lucuma treats. The ice cream is out of this world and if martians like it, so will you!

Chilca residents also say they have discovered a new wave, which I checked out on Saturday. It’s big, bruisy and fast…

Scarface

Inka Waves — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:05:44 +0000

i admit it. i am bowing to pressure after being called scarface and having a faithful reader demand i post a photo of what happens when someone’s fin kisses your cheek as you are dropping in on a wave…

well, stitches are what happen.

it was the second time i’ve suffered a cut this year. the first time it wasn’t my fault, but the second time it may have been. puerto viejo, one of the funnest and longest breaks in southern peru, was very, very crowded last saturday. just about every surfer in lima was out trying to catch waves that were between 8 and 10 feet. the accident happened after i had already decided it was too crowded to surf safely, and well after i caught my only wave of the day. having decided to go in, i relaxed too much and stopped concentrating. that’s always when trouble rears its ugly head.

in the future, i vow to get a pair of rubber fins to avoid hurting anyone with my board, and to stay on the sand on crowded days. i hope everyone else does the same. otherwise, we’ll all have to spend hours trying to persuade people that scars add character…

He’s still got it

Finisterre — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:31:28 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, Carlos and Ligia tied the knot, amongst the flurry of wedding preparations, family etc, Carlos had a little time to nip off to west coast of South America – Peru to be exact and compete in South America’s most prestigous big wave event – the Pico Alto Invitational.

The event is also a bit closer to our heart then most, being that we’ve got Finisterre’s own Debbie, who just recently married Jackson, a Peruvian and Ernie’s mothers side also hail from Lima.

Six of the world`s elite Big Wave surfers arrived in Perú to compete in the Billabong Pico Alto Invitacional 2009- the Big Wave Tour’s second stop. The Billabong International Big-Wave World Championship wrapped up Monday, July 6th in glassy, contestable 15-foot surf. The event, held at Peru’s famed Pico Alto, started out partly cloudy in the morning and with little wind, and held decent shape and size throughout the day.

Although up-and-coming Peruvian surfer Javier Swayne placed second to Jose Gomez in the ‘06 event, Javier managed a fifth place this year. In the semis, Javier broke his board and ended up surfing the finals on a borrowed board from Peter Mel. “It was a very good gesture on behalf of Peter,” said Javier. “Nevertheless he’s a lot bigger than me, so the board was very wide for me.”

The other Peruvian that make it into Finals was Rafael Velarde, who scored the second best wave of the event after Peter Mel.

It wasn’t to anyone’s surprise that Greg Long dominated the final. Though, Carlos Burle of Brazil also deserves recognition for pulling out a strong second place finish, while another Californian, Peter Mel, finished third and Hawaiian Mark Healy received fourth.

“The best memories I have are of the friends I made in Peru and the moments shared in the water. There are not many big-wave championships in the world, but this is one of the best championships I have been in. I never thought that Pico Alto had so much power.” — Greg Long

“The wave surprised me. It has a lot of power and is top-level. Pico Alto has entered the world map of big-wave surfing.” — Peter Mel

“To participate in this championship was exciting. I’ve learned a lot from the big-wave competitors in this championship.” — Javier Swayne

FINAL RESULTS:
1. Greg Long
2. Carlos Burle – not bad at all Carlos, now get back home to Ligia!
3. Peter Mel
4. Mark Healy
5. Javier Swayne
6. Rafael Velarde