I recently met a sports journalist from Montana, Mike, while on my last Nicaraguan adventure. I felt extremely proud because he already knew of my blog! Being new to this story-telling, movie-making and photography-taking world, I jumped on the occasion to ask him for the magic ingredients to a good story.
I have been trying to write a story about this little piece of paradise for two hours… it’s not easy! Everything I start to write sounds clichéd and predictable. It’s hard to share the feelings of traveling to a dream place, a cliché in itself - or to concentrate when you have perfect left handers pealing in front of you.
Surprises can be good or bad. This one was above expectations. Since my trip was a bit of a last minute decision, I didn’t really do much research about surf spots in Central and South America, I just checked that I would get to each country during the right season - or close to it.
If you’ve ever thought about doing some volunteer work while on a surf trip, you might want to check out the Flying Kites program.
The trouble with these remote-access Central American point breaks is that you can’t take a camera. To get to Lance’s Left near El Astillero, Nicaragua we took a bone-rattling ride in Johnny’s pint-sized hire-car to the fishing village. We then walked north up the beach for half an hour, fording rivers and scrambling over high-tide storm debris until we reached the headland which forms the point-break. We then had to inch our way around the rocky headland, making a run for it between sets to avoid being dashed upon the rocks before finally reaching the paddle-out spot.
The life of Jai
Jai Lee's personal struggles and addiction to noseriding have twisted his creativity
El Mar, Mi Alma
A visual love song to the surf blessed land of Chile.
Be Breizh!
Mark Sankey and Alexa Poppe explore the underrated delights that Brittany has to offer.
Taiwan untouched
Neil Armstrong gives us a taste of what to expect.
Pismo Beach. For better or worse
Dan Hamlin and Jeff Pfost contribute a photo essay on Kelly Slater's worst wave.
Tyler Warren Experiments
Tyler Warren pilots a steady course through the hype.
Castles made of sand
Sam Widdows swaps London for Nicaragua, and finds an entirely different tube ride.
Dont Jump Off the Pier
A brief history of surfing in the north-east of England.
Forty Bonzer Years
Malcolm Campbell lists fourty notable things to represent the forty years of the Bonzer.
Mission: possible
Portugal explodes onto the global big wave circuit.
Thirty thousand
Richard James shoots a surf trip of 30,000 kilometres along the west cost of Africa.
All in Hand
When it comes to surfcraft there’s a newcomer making waves
