Alternate Titles for this report:
Scary Bars in Ensenada
Titanic
Nissan Sentra: Not intimidating
Jeff and Dennis show up at my place around 8 Saturday Morning. We load up into Jeff’s Izuzu, and head to Mexico. From my place it’s a 10 minute drive. We cruise down, and my excitement grows asI keep seeing nice surf spot after nice surf spot, and decent size waves. 50 miles down the road, and $4.30 in tolls later, we pull off into Salsipuerdes. Into a campsite, and within minutes we’re pulling the boats off the truck and heading down the hill and into the water.
The Carnage. Aggresive taping saved my second
day of surfing, but only just.
Salsipuerdes is a gorgeous place that feels 100 times more remote that it really is. From the break, you’d never think that you’re only 20 minutes from Ensenada, and 50 miles from Southern San Diego. It’s a rocky spot, which contributes to the gorgeous multiple reef break. Rights are long and fun, lefts are steeper and harder, but you can some amazing fast runs. Good stuff. The rocky beach makes for some tough landings and launches, but the break is worth the trouble.
We surfed for a bit, but one of my fins was loose, so I went in to check it. I’d lost a screw, retrieved a spare, and went back out. Uh Oh. It was at this point that my day began to be a bit more waterlogged than I like. Aggresive sponging kept me out there for a while, Super fun waves. The wind got worse, so we called it a day. I should have sponged out before attempting to paddle in, but figured why bother? As I paddled, my boat got lower and lower. Pointing towards the sky, I did my best to stay upright. In near the beach, I wet exited and swam in. My boat ended up in some rocks. The damage: Couple chips, Punched in fin box, and a smashed side hole about the size of a cookie. DOH!
Fish Tacos bought in the camp went quickly, and the afternoon was spent hanging out, chatting with boardies, and searching for duct tape. A borrowed roll allowed me to aggresivly tape the heck out of my boat.
Into town for Dinner, Beer, Tequila, etc. Jeff drank only coke, being the good designated driver type. Back to camp. Pass out.
I woke early, tried to rouse the others, and headed down to surf. The first hour or two was incredible. Before sunup, the lineup was small, and sweet head high+ waves rolling through. So much fun. I love that spot. Having a good time. Dennis joined me after a bit, and Jeff a few hours later (did I Mention he was the only one NOT drinking? =P )
Everbody got great rides. Dennis charged hard and Jeff did a great job carving his riverboat on some pretty steep takeoffs! It got crowded for a bit, but most of the lineup seemed to be sitting outside waiting for the big ones. We sat just inside that, taking lots of msaller (still overhead!) waves, and some big ones the boardies didn’t make. Eventually the crowd thinned, and then we got our picks.
We surfed for hours, but the duct tape kept loosining. and my sponging kept getting harder and harder to keep up with the flow. We called it around noon. Honestly, one of best sessions I’ve ever had. SWEET waves, good company, lots of good rides. Gorgeous spot. Nice Water. Other than sinking, perfect.
Again. SOON!
Oh, and I took my boat to work today,(written 1/13/03) and showed one of the guys that works there, this really cool vietamese older guy, all the damage. He tsk-tsk me, and I left my boat in the shop, intending to fix it on my lunch break. When I went out there, he’d reglassed my fin boxes, reinforcing them with mat glass, and two layers of Kevlar, fixed the hole on the side, and reglassed one little thin spot way down near the bow, and done 8 gel coat patches. Nice.
So now I’m ready to go again!
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