Summer Surf

For most humans, the idea of challenging a wave the size of a three-story building as it roars onto Zicatela Beach would be tantamount to a death wish. But, then there are those for whom that very act is what they live for. Since Ken "Skindog" Collins won the Billabong XXL Award for Ride of the Year by mastering a deep, spitting barrel with a 50-foot face here in 2006, few doubt that Puerto's Mexican Pipeline in Summer is the heaviest beach break in the world.

Big prize money and bigger bragging rights have drawn more surf professionals into the game and also created a relatively new version of the sport: tow-in surfing.

Paddling your board out through 30-ft. plus swells ain't easy. Maybe, you'll be able to catch one every couple of hours. With tow-in surfing, the competitors work in teams of two, one of whom tows the other into the wave with a jet-ski. The most difficult thing about surfing large waves is actually catching them and getting down the face. With the help of the jet-ski it allows the rider to get up to speed to attempt to master a huge barrel.

The driver is then able to pull the rider out of the foam (if he hasn't suffered severe bodily harm in the wipeout) and ferry him out to challenge the next one.

Jet skier and surfer trade off after each set and the team's success is as dependant upon the skill of the jet-skier as on the surfer. In fact when Skindog caught that 50-footer, it was Puerto Escondido's Carlos "Coco" Nogales who maneuvered him into position. Coco is recognized as the premier big wave surfer in México.

THE INTERNET CULTURE HAS changed the nature of international surfing. There are several sites dedicated to monitoring global conditions and predicting the where and when of those great swells. With a little advance notice ("Give me 30 hours," one globe-trotting surfer told us), sponsored pros and the amateurs with the economic means can chase the biggest and best waves on the planet: Hey, it's show time!

(www.surfline.com is one site where you can monitor upcoming conditions. Or check out Lonnie Caruthers' www.rpmsurfer.com, which offers links to dozens of useful pages and documents the best surfers and surfing in Puerto Escondido and beyond.)

SO WHY IS IT THAT THIS few hundred yard stretch of beach produces such colossal and perfect waves? The reason is a fortuitous confluence of geography and geology. The explorers who named the Pacific were employing irony. This vast body of water is anything but.

Storms, disturbances, unusual currents thousands of miles away create residual effects which eventually make their way here. And when they do, they pass through a deep underwater canyon (probably formed by the convergence of tectonic plates). This funnel effect magnifies the swells to sometimes massive proportions resulting in enormous A-framed peaks, the likes of which are rarely seen outside Hawaii.

X-Games: Puerto Marks the Spot

ESPN, the worldwide satellite giant in sports TV, first developed its X Games franchise in 1995. ESPN added surfing to its lineup of X sports in 2003. It attracted the big-name pros and it was a great concept, but the trouble was the waves in Huntington Beach in early August (where the X Games Surfing format began) just aren't dependable. The first two years of X Games Surfing were held in miserable surf.

The first year in Puerto Escondido was considered a fabulous success; good for Puerto, good for Mexican surfing in general, and $great$ for ESPN. Although the surf was not big by Puerto summer surfing standards, the athletes had a blast, they put on a good show and ESPN ended up with hours of great surfing to broadcast. Puerto Escondido had risen to the challenge and has not looked back

In the end, the East Coast team took home the gold for the 3rd successive year. But, the real story was the amazing performance of the Mexican surfers, most of them from P.E., during their exhibition competition. Christian Corzo set the standard for the visiting all-stars with the first perfect 10 in the history of The Game. This one wave has been the topic of conversation ever since.

The East vs. West concept has since been abandoned; now the main event is a contest pitting a U.S. all-star team against a line-up of stars from the rest of the world. There is now also a women's tournament, which has really boosted the interest in and support for women athletes in the sport. This year X-Games 14 is slated for five days: July 7 through 11. We don't have the actual program, but we do know that coaches for the U.S. team will be Matt Kechele, surfer-shaper and ex-pro Todd Kline, both Floridians. The World team will be urged on by Aussies Barton Lynch, former world champion and Heathe Walker.

There is some talk of a contest featuring a Mexican women's team and the PacSun U.S. national amateur team has let it be known they would love to also participate. Another change this year: The action will not be filmed and repackaged during the August X Games broadcast on ESPN. Instead the competition will be carried by live webcast and on ESPN-2 Deportes, the Spanish-language sister network widely available here on cable, as well as on satellite.

SUMMER SURFING in Puerto wasn't always so exciting or appreciated. Many of the world's best pro surfers were contractually forbidden to surf here, so worried were the major surf sponsors by the fierce and unpredictable conditions.

This all changed with Angel Salinas' Central Surf Tube-Riding Longboard Invitational. What began as a birthday celebration for the "masked surfer" with his friends from the international pro tours developed into an established and prestigious event, one that changed perceptions in the surf world of what longboarders could accomplish in giant surf.
(Central Surf Tube-Riding Longboard Invitational returns in September. Details in upcoming issues.)

The team of Angel Salinas and Tom Chaney, indefatigable promoters of Puerto surfing, were responsible for bringing other summer tournaments here, such as the Oxbow Soul & Style, but their success in attracting the ESPN X Games was an enormous coup, ensuring a massive audience and the participation of the true superstars of professional surfing.

Angel, his brother Roberto, Raúl Noyola, Heriberto "Coco Loco" Ramirez and their contemporaries put Mexican surfing on the map. Now, partially through the X Games, a new generation of Puerto surfers is achieving unprecedented competitive success in international competition.

Making Puerto Proud

OSCAR MONCADA: Mejor conocido por ganar el lugar "comodín" del WCT Ripcurl en Barra de la Cruz, compitiendo contra su ídolo Kelley Slater, 8 veces campeón mundial. Es heredero de una dinastía porteña surfista.

ANGELO LOZANO: Our leading representative on the ALAS Tour (Assoc. of Latin American Surfing). Just 20 years of age, he seems destined for greatness.

CHRISTIAN CORZO: his perfect 10 made his reputation worldwide. Successful in Mexican Federation events, he has vast potential.

CITLALLI CALLEJA: One of our most accomplished women surfers, she won the women's nationals in Rosarito Beach. Secretary of ASEO, the Oaxaca Surf Assoc., a true ambassador of local surfing.

(all photos courtesy www.rpmsurfer.com)