Surfing in Peru

Hit the coast after the mountains and headed to the beach town of Huanchaco. Although there was not a lot of swell for the weekend it was about shoulder to head high with some fun waves. Huanchaco is a popular beach town outside the city of Trujillo. It is popular with Peruvians and tourists alike. Although this is winter there were still plenty of local day trippers on Sat and Sun, so the town was busy. They all seemed to leave around 5pm so it is quiet in the evenings. Plenty of good seafood restaurants serving ceviche and chargrilled fish. Costs about 3 to 4 euros for a good plate of fresh fish. The coast is quite arid and desertlike here, but Huanchaco is a bit of an oasis. The waves here are very consistent and not very heavy, so plenty of beginner and intermediate level surfers in the water, as well as some really good guys ripping it up. The local standard is high. It would seem that it rarely goes flat here at this time of year. Even today is small but still there are waves. The local fishermen here have been making fishing boats out of reeds bound together for the last 2,000 years. They paddle out in their craft to fish and then ride the waves back in. This is the only place where they are still used and each craft lasts only for a few months. These may be the worlds first surfers as they traditionally stand up in the boat when riding the waves in to shore. Hoping the swell will be enough for Chicama on Wed and Thu.

Santa Cruz trek

Set out from Huaraz early on Monday to start the 4 day Santa Cruz trek. There were 3 others in my group. Steve from Boston and also Gia and Helen from Perth. Our guide was David and the muleteer was Bernardo. To get to the trailhead we had a 3 drive through some spectacular scenery. We walked for about 4 hours to the first camp site. On the second day we took about 4 hours uphill for 1,000 metres to reach the pass at 4,750m and then down about 3 hours to our campsite at 4,200. Very cold at night - about minus 5 degrees and hard to sleep at this altitude. The next day we had good walking down the valley along with a side trip up to a look out point and glacial lake. The last day was an easy walk down through the valley, the scale of which is amazing. We got the best weather on the last day. We had a fair bit of rain but nothing like Irish rain. There is a big swell hitting here next week so now its down to the serious business of surfing. Next post hopefully from the coast.

Lima and the Andes

Arrived in Peru last Wed with my new all time favourite airline KLM. They give you a lot of food and there is a great selection of movies to choose from. Although they did not have a good reputation for carrying surfboards in the past I had no problems as long as the boards were booked in advance. Plenty of swell in Lima when I arrived and no doubt La Herradura was going off but I was too late. There were plenty of people surfing around Mirraflores but it looked pretty lame. Looked like the best of the swell had passed so decided to wait for the next one and headed up to Huaraz in the mountains. Straight away you notice the altitude. The town is at just over 3,000 metres. Had some good hikes the first few days to try and acclimatize. The mantra is climb high and sleep low. Went to Churrup lake today at about 4,500 metres. On Monday heading on a 3 night/4 day hike on the Santa Cruz trek. Opted to join a group since my track record at altitude is not too good, in Nepal and Ecuador. The last trip to altitude was to Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador at about 5,500m. It is now referred to as Coto-f-ing-paxi in my house. Needless to say we did not make the summit. The 4 day trek here with all the tents and food, and a mule to carry all the gear, as well as a guide, costs 90euros. Looking forward to not carrying a heavy backpack over a 4,800 metre pass. It is cheap here - you can get a 3 course meal for less than 2euros in the places that are popular with the locals. After the trek will be off to the coast for hopefully some very long left hand points.

Headed to Dublin with the seasession boys and sampled the capitals delights. Ronan from Kila came down and had a go on the surf simulator earning himself a few Bavarias. After a nervous start he got the hang of it and is now keen to hit the real thing when he comes down for the Seasession festival at the end of June. Looks like a cracking weekend.

Details at http://www.seasession.com/

May bank holiday on the way

May bank holiday is on the way and surf forecast is looking good. We are expecting a big swell so there will be plenty of waves at all spots. The winds will be SW so Streedagh could be a good option. Rossnowlagh will also have waves but Bundoran will be too big for the beach. Waves at the reefs but a bit messy with the wind probably. If you are coming to Bundoran expect it to be busy and book a bed in advance. Being May means that the water is definitely warming up and some people are wearing 4:3's and even summer suits.

We had some a stag party out surfing at the weekend, and as you can see from the photo they were looking very stylish. The can of beer and pack of smokes shows just how serious these guys were about surfing. Anyway, they all got a few waves and had a great weekend in 'Fundoran'.

We had some decent waves yesterday and good weather. Check this sunset shot at Tullaghan taken from Pete's appartment. Being this close to the surf means is the best man for a surf report.

Josh emailed from Potugal to keep us updated on his and Karls Portugal trip

hey guys just in portugal, pretty sick place spendin most of our time in peniche as its good with the wind and swell directions, supertubes is sick love it, havent surfed coxos yet as its always been north wind but supers has been on big bazzas and heaps of sand in ya undies when ya dont make them thats what carl says anyways cause i always make it ha ha, heaps of irish over here been having a bit of craic and owe alot of people pints when i get back but its grand.

The superfreak wetsuit is sick if i were to sell one i would encourage them to drop a size as it is so flexy, first couple of surfs it feels kinda small but then they kinda mould to your body shape, im usually LT but the large is sweet so yeah thats what i reckon and yeah its real warm too, stoked boys legends. gonna be home next week maybe friday or thursday see how the buses go and the rest. might get a chance to surf the big boards this weekend so my fingers are crossed, jealous of those lakey pics and carl reckons he and aidan scored killcummen sooo jealous of that one, cant wait to get back and go surfing with yous again its on this season.......... josh

After Oz we hit Indo for some early season action. Even after summer in Oz Indo was hot and humid. A swell hit as soon as we arrived so we bolted for Sumbawa which is 2 islands to the east of Bali. Lakeys in Sumbawa is a little like Bundoran with at least 6 reef in walking distance with the main wave being a peak with a left and right. March is normally early season in Indo when swells can be inconsistent but the winds and crowds can be lighter. The water is so warm that you often sweat in the water while paddling and sunburn is a major hazard. Good tip is to buy board shorts with a zip pocket were you can keep zinc for your nose The first swell was pumping but dropped quickly and left us gagging for more. The next swell wasn’t looking big on the charts but it was 6foot plus. Unfortunately it also coincided with full moon tides meaning that it was super shallow on the low tide. Also with a lot of water moving around some of the waves were nasty rather than ‘indo perfect’. It is possible to surf Nungas a long left a little like Tullaghan left on these swells which never really gets crowded.

About 6 of us headed out for the early low tide surf with Rick a fellow bundoran resident charging on his backhand. After a few early ones we got rattled as one of the Hawaiian guys had a suspected broken neck and the reef was pretty try. The take off wasn’t too bad but once the wave doubled up in the inside you didn’t want to fall off. Definitely some of the most perfect waves I have seen in my lifetime. When we got in the Hawaiian guy was on a spinal board trying to get a helicopter to Bali. A few nervous people were busy on the internet trying to get travel insurance, it is a necessity as copters often cost over $20 000. The copter didn’t come for two and a half days and the poor guy was just lying there contemplating his fate. The surf continued to pump. After many excuses the helicopter was too take him to the local airport were a medivac plane was going to whip him too Singapore. Unbelievably the plane at the local airport over shot the runway and crashed. Not sure what happened after that. Definitely made you think when the reef was shallow.