Peru

I’m just back from an epic trip to Peru where we headed to hit some waves and enter the Mormaii Lobitos International Wave event It was a tough call where to head as Morrocco was looking windy, Cape Verde were getting some good conditions with Punta preta looking fairly big.. with only 2 days to book something up, Peru got mentioned and although its a serious mission to get out there, with a month off to head somewhere and the promise of some serious wave conditions and their lefthanders making for a ‘Goofy’ Heaven the decision really wasn’t that hard! Mancora here we come! Flight to Amsterdam.. 2 hours… Flight to Lima.. 13 hrs… 1 hour taxis… 16hr Coach ride… 2 1/2 hour taxis! and we were there! We headed straight to Mancora, undoubtebly the epi-centre for all things kitesurfing in Peru.. and luckly were dropped off outside the Loki Hostel.. Loki is located right next to the beach and just 100 metres from the point break. It is clean, and cheap with good rooms, food, a pool and its own bar which is renown for its parties with something on nearly every night.. “Loki nights” have gained their reputation for a reason!

The swell was already pumping and the last 2 days had been 7m winds with  good 12ft + waves.

Mancora Point Break

The wave at Mancora is superb. It like most of the Peruvian waves is a left and breaking on a rocky reef, it is really long and on a big day you could easily get 6-8+ bottom turns. Watch out for the rocks though at low tide, many a fin is lost to the reef!  A really sick wave and pretty mellow to ride although  it doesn’t barrel even when its big, although a cheeky cover is possible as it sweeps into the beach. The downside to Mancora’s wave is that it can get busy, very busy, both with other kiters but also surfers. There are a couple of surf schools on the beach and the level of riding out here is unreal, so everyone is chasing the best waves and there is an absolute rule here that surfers get right of way everytime, even if you pick up the wave up at its critical point and are already on the wave. If a surfer picks up the wave down wave, you have to get off! Its fucking frustrating and some locals are chilled than others, but there are also a few aggressive ones. Stick to the rules and you’ll have no problems but don’t expect to ride every decent wave you pick up.

Regardless we had some amazing sessions here and once we got to know the locals a little better and made peace with ‘The General!’  (A local surfer/kitesurfer who you don’t wanrt to mess with, who I instantly fell out with on the first mornings surf) we had no problems.

Mancora itself is a crazy place.. sat on the coast which over the past few years has amazingly retreated back and the place has built up with incredible food joints, like the best  steak, the best Tuna, Thai, and unreal sashimi. It is all cheap as. If you want to really do Peru on a budget you can eat and the local 5 sol joints and have a 2 course meal for just over £1! But with incredibe food costing about £4-8 its worth paying the extra and heading out into the town.

The great thing thing about Mancora is that if there is no wind at Mancora, you can travel only 20 mins South over the pass, which is a long winding steep section of the highway, dangerous at the best of times and there are many graves along and off the sides of the road to prove this, but even more dangerous when you get a lift from a stone head, and return in the dark!

Los Organos is a long beach which blows stronger than Mancora and has a beak break which as I  discovered is Knarly! Its a big fat and seriously Heavy lip, that sucks up straight onto a steep shelving beach. I got it wrong once and it severely punished me. We met up with some other kiters, Gato a French/American who rips and is one crazy mutha fukka! and his two henchmen in tow, Stefan and Evan. Top Top! guys who were up for exploring new breaks and kited super hard and partied even harder.

An hour from Mancora and you have Capo Blanco and Capo Blancia, both World class breaks, Blancio is a better bet  for kiting as the wind is cleaner and gets very hollow. Our 1st  day there I headed out into some big fucking sets, turned and picked up a nice swell dropped down the face and turned up straight into a barrell. The lads went insane and it was clear it was going to be a good day. Different swells, like Lobitos can roll in here from both the North  and the South and so some close out yet can be followed by a set which peels and barrells. Definately one of the best spots we kited and non of the shit you get at Mancora.

Lobitos!

Lobitos is reknown as a World class break and we headed there for the International Mormaii Wave Masters. A massive turn out with International Champions and National Champions including the World wave champion Guilly Brandao.

The condtions were far from what Lobitos can offer but the event went ahead anyway and the competition was fierce. Scott entered too and unfortunately ended up in the same heats as myself every time! Scott rode well though and made it through and  I had a good first heat to come second which put me straight through. I had learnt so much riding with  some of the  local riders and totally changed my riding style to stay close to the shoulder and on the  wave. I had also got power slides nailed and I was confident to start putting them together in my heats which was paying off. Day 2 and as the day went on the wind was beginning to die a little and the judges decided to put some of the heats together into.I was in a 2 man heat which became a 4 man heat again going up against Scott and 2 local riders.

I picked out some really nice waves and made some really tight bottom to top turns getting super vertical hitting hard off the top and getting some nice ariels and floaters. On one wave managed 3 slides and ariel to floater and a really tweaked ariel as a well as some powered snap backs and round house turns. The red flag went up and I had no idea of the result as I hadn’t watched any of the other riders but I knew I had had a good heat.

Scott came in buzzing too so we just had to sit  it out till the results were announced. I was stoked when the head judge came over and told me I had had a blinder and won the heat with my lowest wave being a 7.1! and my highest wave a 7.85! which turned out to be the highest wave score of the event. I was stoked! Scott came 4th and was knocked out.

The wind continued to die but the judges pushed ahead and wanted to wrap the competition up. So I ended going up against the Brazilian Champion to fight for the 4th place in the Final. Weighing about 9st soaking wet I knew it was going to be a long shot. I had changed up to a 12m but it still wasn’t enough. I  missed picking up some good sets with  lack of power and I kept looking in expecting to see the black flag go up, but no. It ran.  I went out but was really happy with my riding and the result. The 4 man final went ahead the following day which Guilly had a  contraversal win.

Following the event I headed back with Gato, Stephan & Evan a couple more times. The first day we got it firing, a great swell with really hollow waves. I got loads of covers and had one of my best days riding, strapless and powered I took some meaty drops and hit some sik fat lips. Gato was riding well and rides unstrapped and unhooked every time. It  was great  to ride with Gato. We pushed each other hard and being fearless in the waves he took some serious hits and drops but got some sweet waves!

Peru has so much potential and so many breaks you would need a few months there to ride just a few of them. Jon decided 3 hours before we were due to head home that he liked it so much he was just going to stay, and he is still there now!

I will be heading back to Peru this year for sure!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 at 10:27 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.