Peru

Had the chance to take a surf trip to Peru recently with 3 other friends. Although I've actually surfed on a number of vacations to foreign countries, this was the first true SURF trip I've ever taken. Crazy, huh? Our group was headed to perfect left-hand pointbreaks and the 'longest waves in the world'. Stoked! Only, someone forgot to remind the ocean to send ample swell to Peru while we were there. :-( We actually scored super fun, playful waves on the first day of our trip (it seemed like the swell gods were going to be smiling on us), but the swell died off each day from then on. Four more days of small and weak surf followed and things looked bleak surf-wise. Luckily we were eating epic food the entire time, had unreal weather, plenty of local brew, great accomodations right on the water, and unbelievably perfect setups to check out all over the coast, courtesy of our hilarious and classic guide, "Octopus". Made the call to take a long drive south to 'one of the longest lefts in the world', and ended up getting fun (albeit mushy) and long waves for the last two days of the trip, salvaging what would have been a pretty surf-starved trip. Yay! Pretty cool to be able to do 4 or 5 or 8 full roundhouse cutbacks on the same wave, then maybe pick off another wave on your way back out for another 5 or so carves and a looooong paddle back up the point. I can't even fathom what some of the waves we saw and surfed would be like with overhead waves everyday. Perfection, no doubt. Another trip, perhaps?

Best fish I've ridden...

Got my hands on a Hynson 'Black Knight Quad 2' recently (stoked) and I think I've decided that this is the best fish I've ever ridden. I've been on the fish kick for the past few years, rotating between twin-keels, twinzers, and quads. I've had quite a few that I've really been stoked on, but this bad boy just flat out works in just about every condition. Not just a groveler, yet not needing good waves either (yet outstanding in both settings). Super loose when you want it to be, more drive than you need to get you down the line in a hurry, and so incredibly RIPPABLE if you push it hard. The board is certainly capable of much more than I can give it, but I'm finding I can surf so much more aggressively on this fish than any other and am continually amazed at how well it translates what I dish out into way more than I expect. Good, good stuff...get one.