now that we are closer to being up to date with this blog we can begin to tell you what has been happening in the more recent past…

After crossing back into Chile we had an extended stay in Pichilemu. It’s such an amazing place, a place that now feels like home. This part of Chile is very special. It has such a beautiful, rugged coastline and anywhere south of Pichilemu is still very traditional in contrast to the rest of the country. Unfortunately it is changing though. Let’s hope the local people can hold off the developers and industry who are already showing too much interest in the region.

Anyway, we arrived back at Hostal Casa Verde and met up with our friend Adam who showed us our cabaña right next to Ben’s house. Adam had hooked us up big time, two levels, sweeping ocean views and a deck to drink beers on whilst watching the sun slip into the ocean after long days of surfing and relaxing.

Beth was making amazing home cooked South American meals for dinner and many late nights were spent around the dining table in the cabaña till 1 or 2am discussing life with a couple of bottles of wine, mine and Adam’s fave was a bottle of Carmenere called ‘120’ (a 1.5L bottle for 2000 peso, approx 4AUD) that despite Beth’s objections was actually really good. Lunches at the “Pin Pon” became a daily ritual and I am convinced that it may be the best restaurant in Chile. Poor Beth had to put up with the Pin Pon a lot, but despite its dodgy name and appearance the coleccion (lunch special) for 2500 peso is seriously good. Whenever there were a cool group of people staying up in the hostel Adam would make a meal called “chicken in the corn” that we all enjoyed, which is basically a few whole chickens butterflied and cooked in a big mud oven on top of a heap of potatoes/pumpkin/onion/hearty veggies. Speaking of good food, let’s not forget Chaka’s sushi. Chaka is a local guy who used to work in a really nice sushi restaurant in town. He quit or got fired or something (I think he likes a few beers…) and now makes homemade sushi for locals in town. One night the whole hostel ordered sushi so Chaka and his wife came and made it on site, it was so fresh and delicious. Later that evening while we are all having a merry time, a little scared meowing noise echoed around the room and out came a sassy but scared little black kitten who had found her way in from the night all distressed. Beth fell in love instantly, Ben said he needed a pet cat to sort out the rats in his shed, so Beth agreed to look after it whilst we stayed. So it was sorted, we had a pet kitten and Beth named it Ziggy. Its funny how attached you can become to a pet in just a few weeks and it was sad when we had to say goodbye to Ziggy.

                

Mels the resident german shepherd took a liking to miss Ziggy, and in turn she found this hiding spot to both keep her eye on him and watch the chickens and their chicks below

Let’s get to the waves… how can I begin to explain. Punta De Lobos is not always perfect, and its not a top to bottom tube from start to finish. But it is one of the most remarkable setups I have ever seen. It breaks every day of the year from two to twenty five feet. Its a lurching, sectioning wave that is clean all day in the prevailing south winds. Even a bad day will see you linking five or six good turns down the line and it is not yet plagued by crowds. But when it’s good….WOW. I found out that there are different types of good here. Six to eight feet good is about 900 metres of workable wall mixed with the odd tube section. Twelve to fifteen feet good = hands down the best day of surfing in my life. All whilst watching Ramon Navarro, Greg Long and a couple of local chargers taking off from way behind Los Morros. I’ve never seen waves ridden like that before. Going down the line in the pocket on an 8’6″ is a feeling I can’t even begin to describe, it was an amazing day.

Feeling pretty blessed looking back at this photo. A day Ramon Navarro called the best Punta De Lobos in a decade.

Ramon Navarro, amazing to see just how deep he was taking off. From way behind Los Morros knifing his 9’0″ into drainers like this one all day long. It’s like a walk in the park for guys like him and Greg Long.

I think I ended up getting about six good ones in this morning session and a couple in the arvo. The board I had shaped for this trip felt amazing. The feeling that you get in that split second moment when you turn, put your head down and dig in after having a look at a wall of water bigger then anything you’ve ridden before, it’s amazing like nothing I’ve ever felt in surfing until this day. The type of experience I’d always dreamed of getting out of this trip.

            

I love this photo. It shows just how perfect the conditions were. I remember this wave and how fast I was going at this point.

Local guy. That’s a solid one for sure.

This is me on Los Morros. I still get scared thinking about that rock jump. At the size it was this day it’s proper gnarly. A lot of guys were going off the side and getting the ski to pick them up after getting washed halfway down the point. I remember a conversation Adam and I had with Ben after this day about how all the guys used to go off the back and if you got pounded, hurt, couldn’t get out or whatever, it just wasn’t your day. He thinks that there is too much of a circus now with guys getting the ski when in the past they wouldn’t have had the ability to get off the rocks. So I felt better about myself knowing that I had waited and got off the rocks cleanly.

Oh and by the way, the pointbreaks a few hours south of Pichilemu are a freak of nature in a very quiet corner of the world, we managed to squeeze in another week down there with Rupy and Carlena whilst we were at it. Here are a few photos from a pretty memorable week down there. I surfed myself into oblivion, I think I’m still recovering. With no people it was just nonstop laps of the point. It completely pumped! I think I put in 6-8 hours each day for about five days. I haven’t surfed that much since I was a kid. Beth was happy when Adam and Amelia showed up so that she had Amelia to talk to, haha.

      

I absolutely love this place and we can’t thank Adam and Ben enough for their hospitality. All of the friends we made… Adam, Amelia, Ben, Claudia, Mando, all made for a very memorable stay, one we hope to repeat again one day.

As always though, the days blurred into weeks, the weeks into months and before we knew it, it was time to leave.

b + m