Peru
O ne of our favorite adventures came a few years back, on September 2, 2001. On news that Peru was expecting their biggest swell of the year to hit the next day, a group of about 18 surfers representing the Santa Barbara Surfing Association boarded a flight to Lima to put on what was to be their first international surfing contest held in conjunction with the Federacion Peruana de Tabla (Peruvian Surfing Federation). This after another flat, routine summer in Santa Barbara, a place where most surfers in the summer opt to pick up a second sport due to its horrible island shadow from the south swells. As the boys took advantage of the free booze on the long flight to Lima and dreamed of Peruvian point breaks, fate was soon to rule in their favor.

The Santa Barbara Surfing Association’s final contest of the 2001 contest year, and first international contest ever, was to be no different than the ones that preceeded it. Like the Rincon Classic held earlier in February in perfect 4-6 foot green tubes (what Josh Bradbury, winner of the event, called some of the best contest surf he has ever seen at Rincon, and others concurred) their luck was to be no different down here in Peru. The event, sponsored and organized by Wavehunters.com, the Pico Alto Surf Camp and Tablista surf magazine, was to consist of the seasonal winners of the Santa Barbara Surfing Series, who had won their spots on the trip on the basis of their finish in the year-end SBSS rankings, surfing against some of the top surfers in Peru. The winners included Killian Garland (boys), Tyler Anderson (Juniors), Bart Templeman (Mens), Jim Garland (Masters), and Todd Barbosa (Longboard). The group also included Santa Barbara Surfing Association directors Chris Keet and Angelica Ochoa, event organizer Enrique Morales, photographers Scott Starr and Michael Kew, as well as wild card surfers Chad LaBass, Dennis Rizzo, Stephan Phillips, JJ Herman Jr. and a few other motley characters including 2 of the fathers, physician Bruce Barbosa and attorney, JJ Herman Sr.

Little did they all know, they were all about to get schooled. The first lesson came just off the jet, (J.O.J.), as the boys got in for their first session of the trip. They pulled up to a righthand reef break called Punta Rocas. After one of the boys remarked, "it looks pretty big out there", the crew zipped into their 3-2 steamers and paddled out into gray and foreboding 58 degree Peruvian line-up. Somebody else said, "wow, the sets look double-overhead", and another rookie asked, "should I ride my 6-2?" It was to be a classic case of bad misjudging from the top of the cliff. Even worse, the normally reliable righthand break was partially closing out due to the extreme south direction of the swell, another fact that was not apparent until the first legitimate 4-meter clean-up set came through. The Peruvians, unlike the Hawaiians who measure waves from the back in feet, don’t even use feet—they use meters. (We would later find out that their cojones were also measured in meters. These guys f---‘in charge!). Anyway, the boys were cleaned up by the 4-meter set and it was pretty heavy. Keet broke his board and had to swim in. After a few hours of big time waves, paddling and dodging clean-up sets, the boys retired to a hearty meal of Lomito Saltado and a few ice cold liter-sized Cristals. Their first day in Peru was in the books and it was a good one.

The next day the contest was ON. Despite some confusion about whether the swell would actually increase more overnight and be too big to hold the contest at any of the points, the morning’s surf was a well-groomed 3 meters. As we drove around early on the morning of the contest, we found that the swell was too big for Caballeros, that the direction was too south for Punta Rocas, and that La Isla, another excellent right hand break, despite both showing size, was not the call either. Apparently the sand wasn’t what it used to be. With Oscar Morante Sr., el dueno, driving his 1978 Buick, we proceeded a few more kilometers down the indented coastline - a coastline blessed with pointbreak after pointbreak. We then arrived at Penascal.

Located in the Peruvian seaside resort town of San Bartolo, Penascal is a classic righthand reef/point break on the edge of town that faces due south. It was picking up the direction perfectly. The wave is a juicy bowl that breaks for about 150 meters over an uneven bottom that produces a sectiony, somewhat hollow, but religiously down-the-line wave with very long rides. This is where we would hold the contest.

The contest was to be a goodwill event intended to promote and embrace the spirit of community based surfing. The Santa Barbara crew brought prizes with them in their board bags for the Peruvian surfers-- several thousand dollars worth of product donated by the Beach House, Clyde Beatty Jr., Freestyle watches, Powell skateboards, Rietveld Clothing, and A-Frame Surf Shop. The judging panel consisted of a mixed delegation of Peruvian and American judges, scoring on a criteria of 1-10 with the top 3 waves in the 20 minute heats counting. There would be an opening round of heats, followed by quarters, semis and a final.

Oscar Morante Sr. (owner of the Pico Alto international surf camp, who provided room, board and transportation for the Santa Barbara event participants) and Cecilia Osorio (Tablista magazine) had coordinated the event from the Peruvian end and rounded up a wrecking squad of the top surfers in Peru. In the mens division: Magoo de la Rosa, Ricky Peschiera, Makki Block, Javier Swayne, Gabriel Aramburu, Salvador Voyset, Roberto Meza, Walter Braedt, Ruben Canello, Renzo Zazali, and Juan Zapata-- and in the juniors division, rippers Gabriel Villaran, Matias Mulanovich, Percy Pardo, and Sebastian de Romana.

Surfing on their own turf in solid 3-meter surf, the likes of which the Santa Barbara crew hadn’t seen since El Nino, the Peruvians would prove way too much for the boys from SB. Only Chad LaBass held his own amongst the Peruvians and made it past the quarters, winning both his quarter-final and semi-final heat to get to the finals, where he would face off against 3 Peruvian heavyweights: Makki Block, who literally owns the point at Penascal (he owns the hotel on the point), Ricky Peschiera, and the legendary Magoo de la Rosa. Whereas the semi-finals were characterized by lots of big, clean waves coming through for all the competitors and high scores, conditions for the final were a lot scrappier and wave selection was critical. As the biggest set wave of the heat jacked in front of the surfers, both Chad LaBass and Makki Block had to pull back as another surfer, deeper, was already in position. It was Magoo de La Rosa.

Magoo, after butchering the wave and doing about sixteen turns, lauched a floater into the critical inside section which heaved on the reef and completely covered him up! The gallery went nuts and started screaming. The judges awarded him with 9s. The final would be all Magoo de la Rosa. As good as the others had surfed, Magoo was better. He was always in the right spot when everybody else seemed to be totally out of position. We got the sense this guy could be on the WCT if he wanted and rip.

For the guys on the trip, they learned in Peru that the surfing brotherhood in Peru is tight, that Peruvian surfers not only rip, but are among the friendliest and most real people you could encounter. Peru might be considered a third world country, but its people and surfers are first class. For the guys on the trip, they left with a sense of deep respect for the Peruvian surfers they had met, and with a sense of awe for this country.