One Final Look Back...

Our last day in Mex arrived with a bump in the swell. While the waves were definitely bigger than they had been all trip, they were also more prone to closing out or sectioning off, so you had to choose wisely. Fortunately we arrived at first light and had it to ourselves for the first hour and a half and could pick and choose.

I rode G's single fin and caught some really fun waves before eventually taking a monster on the head which snapped the leash and sent G's board shooting to shore without me. Thankfully a local guy swam out and grabbed it before any really damage could happen. I had a long swim in and decided to call it a day/trip. These are the picks I took while enjoying one last heaping portion of huevos ala Mexicana at the Ranch. Click on the photos to enlarge.


The breakfast joint (above) is the only structure here. It's run by a woman and her three young daughters who cook up delicious treats to be enjoyed while watching the surf.


The guy above caught a bomb and despite never getting tubed raised both his arms about four different times in claiming celebration. Perhaps he was just giving thanks to the good Lord, it was Easter after all and it was a damn good wave.


There weren't many barrels being had today but this guy came as close as anyone. He made this wave and had a good long ride as a result.


This guy dropped into a good one and did well to get around the eventual section for a nice long slide.


The guy above was camping here with his family and had the raddest board on the beach.


We met Nick (above) in Troncones. He's been on quite the surf safari killing time between Med School and his up coming residency at NYU. He surfed the right (see previous post) with us for a few days. He also said he saw a dorsal fin down there the day after we all surfed together and decided not to paddle out alone...smart guy, guess that's why he's gonna be a doctor.


The guy above got more waves than anybody and, despite his bull-dogish look, was also the most stoke-evoking guy in the water -- hooting and rooting everyone in the line up...I guess that's what happens when you catch more waves than anyone else.


Bill (above) is the shaper behind Billboards Surfboards. He spends about half the year down here camping and surfing. The rest of the year he spends up in North Carolina shaping a board a week to make ends-meet. Not a bad gig.


These two looks about sum up the trip. Total exhaustion (above) and total satisfaction (below).

A bun in the oven...

My first custom board is currently being cooked up by Erik Hakon Olson.

Last Chance Nica Dance

Our last day in Nicaragua brought one last chance to grab that elusive barrel. With my girlfriend on the beach shooting pics, the day also brought what Chum likes to call "Camera Courage", i.e. the go-for-broke tube 'tude that generally results in a good pounding and, if you're lucky, a few decent pics. I errored on the pounding side.

This first sequence I like to unimaginatively call "Faceplant":


It starts with bit of a late take off but with plenty of time to get down the line....


Followed by a short drop before a quick bottom turn...


A bottom turn into a...wait, where's that front foot going?....


Doh! There goes another one.

This next sequence is a tad bit more promising in that both feet got on the board but the close-out barrel soon made sure they didn't stay there for long...





In truth, this trip wasn't really about the pursuit of barrells for me - I'm still just happy to get down the line. Nicaragua was, like you guys have pointed out, about surfing every day and improving. One of the many areas of improvement for me was going backside. The fast, steep drops in Nicaragua gave me an opportunity to work on my backside attack and specifically grabbing rail.





Three weeks surfing in Nicaragua has definitely helped my surfing and I've seen parts of waves I've never thought possible but I can't help thinking that even if I had another three, six or even 52 weeks here, I'd still have a lot of improving to do. Then again, I suppose that's the beautiful thing about this pursuit.

Out of my element

Surfing in Nicaragua has been humbling if not down right humiliating at times. But there have been moments of bliss (often followed by a good pounding).







Needless to say, Chum faired much better than me in the style and wave count department...check out his pics at Sissyfish.