a dream realized...

So once again we entered Mexico; the first time we had been beaten - primarily by our own stupidity, over confidence and lust for adVANture.  This time we tried with all our might to plan, re-plan, check and re-check plus dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s.  Well we made it beyond our first attempt by a good 15KM(about 8 miles) and then we pulled over…

This time we pulled off the road and into a RV parking lot that happened to be in front of a right point break that is consistently rated as one of the “best most consistent point breaks in all of Baja.”  I was starting to freak out; the swell had picked up a bit, the wind was offshore and glassy head high plus waves kept peeling down the line with only about 6 guys in the water.  I had to tell myself to soy tranquillo; as I have learned that enthusiasm, while being one of my strongest character traits can also lead to irrational decision making and I was about to get into some of the biggest surf of the trip so far.

I made myself a cup of espresso and then I sat on the point and watched the waves until that coffee was gone.  Dudes were ripping; airs, cutbacks, and a few mini-barrels.  I was about to be the biggest kook in the water; essentially, the guy in the way, smiling like an idiot, getting caught inside and probably the most stoked.  Being from Colorado has its perks as we don’t have waves and as a result most waves that the others pass on are pretty much everything we need and want in a wave.

I went back to the van to find Rach passed out on the lower bunk with a bit of a cold and began to de-wax my 6-8 single fin hull that I picked up at Mollusk in San Francisco.  Coming from SF the board was covered in Cold Temp wax and was literally melting off in the warmer water of Southern California. I re-waxed it with cool-warm wax, threw on my wetsuit and headed off to the point to try and make my way into the lineup.

Just getting into the water was sketchy; the shore bottom was covered in large cobblestones coated with moss/seaweed/green extremely slick stuff, crashing waves and the occasional urchin for the first 20 feet into the water until it was deep enough to paddle.  I made my way out and again, sat and watched the waves break.  Then I positioned myself a bit inside to pick off a smaller wave; I caught one and immediately realized my mistake (in addition to catching the first set wave.) While surfing down the line, the wave and I were headed for a rock about the size of a Volkswagen bug – I kicked out the back in a panicked maneuver that landed me in the direct impact zone of the next 3-4 larger waves.  I paddled and duck-dived, but I ended up almost right back on the rocks where I started.

…I paddled back out, sat and waited and watched.  Gradually, I rotated into the lineup with the 5 other guys and then got a couple decent waves.  Super stoked, I headed right back into the lineup and watched the dudes get some really good waves from the top of the point.  By no action of my own I got sucked by the current into top of the point position and then paddled right into the biggest wave of my life.

Overhead and terrifying I raced my little single fin hull down the line as the wave walled up in front of me, I made it through a section of white wash, let the wave wall up again, trimmed down the face in a crouch, a dude “yewwwww’d!!” at me, carried plenty of speed through the flats to get past the Volkswagen bug rock where the wave re-formed at a second point, finally trimmed up and down a bit and then kicked out the back.  Legs shaking, shit eating grin and the little kid in me screaming, “do it again, do it again” I headed straight back to the point.