callao

callao, the port city next to lima, is a favorite place of mine, probably because it's slummy and neglected. it has at least three good breaks that i've never surfed but always oggled. one on the island of san lorenzo, and another a sandbar in the middle of the bay that formed when an earthquake sunk the tip of the point jutting out into the bay. here is a link for a video that mb sent me. thanks, it's amazing! i've heard stories of people taking boats out there, dropping the anchor, and ripping...

asu times two!

peruvian photographer ernesto benavides, who snapped the photo published here of chilca, has won an award from the inter american press association for a special on guano islands and the people who harvest bird dung for a living. it's a very popular organic fertilizer...

new board

 

this is my newest board, inspired by merrick's black beauty, for big days on big points in peru. it's a 7 foot by 20 1/4 by 2 7/8. foam is your friend ladies and gentlemen... the same board in white is laying down on the shaping horses. the board has lots of rocker in the nose and then flattens out through the tail. it is drying right now...

dario of derrem

 

this is dario, the shaper of derrem boards, which i think are incredibly well made and designed. the guy has talent, delivers his boards on time, and treats customers well. what more could you ask for? the quad pod he made me rides so well i asked him to make me another...

the one wind-proof spot in southern peru?

the swell has been consistently above 9 feet for more than a week now, and though the winds are howling because of a strange phenomenon out at sea thas has shut down most spots, triangulo has emerged as the go-to wave if you want to surf glassy breakers despite the gales. i'm not sure most people have clued into this, but i have. triangulo is known as a great wave to surf on big days because it approaches something close to perfect when most other spots in lima become too messy or closeout on big south swells. but it's special characteristic of being hidden from the wind and tucked into a cove where offshore winds gently bounce off the bluffs, is less well known. and monday at sunset we were the only two people in the water as the tide hit its lowest point in the past 24 hours at 6:15 p.m., sending one perfect set after another rolling in and cutting the usual wait at triangulo to less than 3 minutes from the usual 20. pure bliss.