The latest episode of Tourists of the Sea featuring Kevin Pritchard and Graham Ezzy is here! This time they hit up Punta San Carlos for a perfect setup!
I had just booked my ticket to go to Park City to visit my girlfriend when I happened to check the forecast for Tahiti and saw an 18 second interval pop into the forecast window. With the south swells you can get a pretty good idea at least a week in advance, so I saw this massive swell coming. I talked with “Mr. Baja” Brian Caserio and said looks like there is another swell hitting, you want to go. We both grimaced at the thought of organizing, preparing and rearranging our schedules. The desire to get one of the big south swells, made us excited and craving to man up for the adventure. I called up Graham Ezzy and he started looking into it as well.
We kept tossing the idea around over the Santa Cruz AWT event, going back and forth, if we can do it, what is our time frame, how is the swell going to hit and so on. I had just won the single elimination and was pretty happy with that so I was like lets do it. It was a mission. My ticket to Park City was non refundable. So I might as well go see my girlfriend for one day. Hoped on the plane, said hi on Tuesday, then back on the plane on Wednesday, Brian picked me up at LAX, drove to San Diego, slept and hit the road at 5am. Some lack of sleep, some anxiety, and some hints of south swell along the drive, made the drive seem to fly by. Graham had to hook up with another way down as we were full in Brian’s Tundra. We didn’t see them on the road or when we arrived so, they had to be behind us. We arrived to Punta San Carlos to mast high waves and 4.2 wind. It was blasting. One problem, I didn’t bring my 4.2. Shoot. Well lucky for me, the guys at SoloSports carry the new Ezzy Elite sails, and bam I was out on the water. Fully overpowered, mast high, insane conditions. This is just what the doctor ordered. Wave after wave, it was insane.
Growing up in Southern California, Baja is where my brother and I learned to windsurf in the waves. It is the best spot in the world in my opinion to learn to wave sail. This was it, this is what we had dreamed of all our lives, wind, waves, and the biggest south swell of the summer hitting Baja. I had waited 20 years, I know that dates me, but I really had waited 20 years to get this place like with the waves like we had. It sounds cliche but it was a dream come true. I mean for the last 15 years of my professional career, to be able to take time to jet down for a swell when you are competing on the PWA world tour, is pretty tough to pull off. The worlds aligned, it came together and for the next three days, we had all we could handle. Wave after wave, set after set, it was just awesome. I am still glowing from the trip and can’t wait for the next surgical strike.
~ Kevin Pritchard
A Maui Nerd Production
mauinerds.com
Camera: Kevin Pritchard // Brian Caserio // Graham Ezzy
Graphics & Editing: Johannes Neumann
Supported by: Ezzy Sails // Dakine // solosports.net “You just don’t know, until you go!”