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In October I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to go on a road trip down the pacific coast of Mainland Mexico with the Bear team. On the trip were 2000 world champ Beau Young, ex European Champions Romain Maurin and Timote Cregniou from France, Italian Stylemaster Eduardo Bachi and last but not least yours truly Guts Griffiths from Wales.
Now, Mexico is one place I had missed on all of my travelling over the years so I was particularly excited to find myself heading to Heathrow on a cold October morning with a plane ticket to Mexico City in my pocket.
Upon arriving in Mexico City, I took an internal flight to Puerto Vallarta, which was to be our base camp for the next few weeks. It took three connecting flights to get to my final destination so I was overjoyed to see my board bag come trundling round the luggage belt (all boards intact). I flew with Lufthansa who very kindly didnt charge me any excess for my boards however all the other guys who also flew with Lufthansa (a day earlier) were charged $150 per board bag each way No real moral to this story just to say that it is real difficult for surfers who want to travel, to budget correctly when airlines chop and change day by day their charging policy. Always remember, there is no point ranting at the desk clerk if you are getting charged a smile and a bit of diplomacy usually goes a lot further to getting a discount!
Our base was at a beautiful resort called viva Vallarta which, as well as having 4 restaurants, 2 swimming pools, tennis courts and a gym; also had 3 excellent reefs right out the front. So the first couple of days were spent making the most of all the amenities on offer and also managing 3-4 surfs a day in the small clean swell that was providing long fun rights just 100 meters away from our accommodation.
After a long spell checking the internet after dinner on the second night it becomes apparent that where we are will remain small for the next few days as it is pretty sheltered from the south swell that is being predicted so over a few tequilas at the bar we formulate a plan to head south to a spot called pasquales which will be sitting right in the middle of the predicted swell window.
Early breakfast next morning sets us up ready for the anticipated 4-5 hour drive south. After hurriedly packing the van (5 longboarders, 2 photogs and 1 videographer and all the gear-hurriedly means 2 hours) and squabbling about who gets the front seat nearest the air conditioning, were off.
Now Italians have a reputation for being pretty fast drivers so we are expecting to make good time. However with Eduardo in the driving seat it becomes apparent that although he is Italian he has obviously not adopted their need for speed and proceeds to take on the driving style of postman pat and barley manages to break the 40kmph barrier.
This bizarre driving style manages to elongate the trip south by aprox 5 hours and as you can imagine plans were immediately hatched to relieve him from any further duties behind the wheel.
We arrive at Pasqualies just as the sun begins to set and are immediately taken aback by the shadowy golden cylinders that are erupting up and down the beach. The swell looks a solid 6ft and although eight out of ten waves are closing out, the other two are absolute spitting barrels that remind Beau of his yearly trips to the Mexican pipeline that is Puerto Escondido.
Pasquales has a reputation as an unforgiving, super heavy, world class barrel, and judging by the amount of broken boards we see at the ding repair shop there (between 5-15 everyday) this place is definitely serious.
We book into a hostel overlooking the beach which although is basic to say the least-no hot water, no air con, just a bed in one corner and a toilet opposite, you would have paid a kings ransom for the view which was five star in any surfers book. I go to bed that night with the sound of bombs detonating on the sandbanks no more than 100 meters away and feel the rising anticipation of what the morning will bring!
During the night I discover that I am sharing my room with several non-paying guests in the shape of a scorpion and a couple of the biggest cockroaches I have ever seen in my life. I believe in live and let live so I let the new arrivals sleep under my bed. However I made a mental note to shake my clothes out in the morning before getting dressed in case any of the little blighters were lying in wait ready to abuse my hospitality!
I am much to excited to sleep for long and by 5.30 I am sitting on the veranda watching the swell in the pre-dawn grey. It looks incredible; the swell is still pumping and if anything looks a little better shaped than the night before. I wake Beau and we share a coffee and discuss board options for the coming session.
After rounding up the rest of the troops we head on out for our first session.
Well, from the off, it was obvious that this was no ordinary beach break. The power was phenomenal imagine hossegor on steroids and a bit and you start to get the picture. I successfully negotiate my way out to the line-up with my board still in one piece apparently a good percentage of boards are broken here on the paddle because the peaks have a nasty habit of shifting wildly and you can easily find yourself getting caught out and receiving a rather humbling slap between the shoulder blades just when you least expect it.
As I hit the lineup I see Beau taking off on his opening ride pulling straight into a warping sandy Barrel and just manages to hang on as the spit tries to blast him off as he comes shooting out thirty yards down the beach.
My first ride is the complete opposite of Beaus graceful effort. After a summer of flatness in Wales I am ill prepared for the elevator drop that I take. Somehow, after surviving to the bottom I commit hari kari when I totally mistimed my pull in and receive the lip straight in the neck and proceed to get the mother of all floggings.
After this rude awakening things get slowly better and I manage to redeem myself with a couple of great little barrels as the session goes on.
Romain and Timote both score some great waves as well, however no one gets away without paying the band. Timote snaps his mal on a particularly nasty looking closeout and Beau gets away with only minor cuts after putting his elbow clean through the rail of his board on another!
We spend the next three days surfing Pasquales and although the size stays, the quality never quite reaches that first session again and as the tropical storm begins to move up the coast towards us we decide it is time to head back up the coast!
We arrive back to Villa Vallarta after dark and are stoked to hear the rumble of crashing waves, which indicates that the swell has followed us up the coast.
In the morning we are up early and although the swell is indeed up, there is a howling onshore blowing combined with horizontal rain which strangely enough reminded me of home. After breakfast we load up the cars and this time we drive north towards the other side of the headland to a small town called Siulitas which only normally works on a north swell, but the south swell that is running is big enough to be wrapping into the bay at a solid three to four feet. The wind is howling cross-shore but because tall cliffs surround the bay on the south side, it is suprisingly sheltered and clean. The set-up at Saulita is very similar to Makaha with a long, easy right hander that lends itself to big performance turns. But just like its Hawaiian counterpart it has a tricky backwash that catches out the unwary surfer just when you are least expecting it.
Also like Makaha, surfing in Saulita is a very family thing with old boys carving up the same line-up as the young groms, mums on mals, and dads riding tandem with their children. This diversity in the line-up makes for a very mellow vibe in the water and to be honest it shows the true spirit of surfing- no egos, no sponsors stickers just people having fun!
We spend the next few days trying to dodge the weather and wind from the tropical storm that has taken up camp overhead but we still manage a couple of really fun sessions at sauilita .The more I surf here the more I begin to love this little town. The overall vibe here is just so cool and the waves are really fun. I make a mental note to myself to try to return here in the future!
Well, like all good trips, the end comes too soon and before you know it your in a bar having a last tequila (or four) with your mates before you all jet off home!
Mexico was a great fun trip and even though we werent blessed with the best of weather, we had surf most days with a couple of amazing sessions at pasquales and saiulitas to be stored in the memory banks for a long time to come.
Thanks to my sponsors BEAR ONeill, ANIMAL, REEF and OCEAN TO EARTH and to my friends Beau, Romain, Timote and Eduardo without who I would have drank and laughed a lot less. |
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We've decided to add a little sunshine to the winter gloom with some free offers ! |
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Big Guy ,Big talent Small board
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As well as currently holding down top spot in the Bsupa British rankings , Chris"guts" Griffiths has added the September Sessions title to his name
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Chris Guts Griffiths signs with top Brit clothing label Onfire
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Guts team rider Evan Rogers has extended his lead at the top of the British longboard Junior ratings with a convincing victory at the Midsummer Classic
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