Last winter was one of the coldest (and flattest) winters I can remember. In February, I decided I had to get away. Puerto Rico is always a cheap and easy option, so I met up with a crew of East Coast surfers to greet a large northwest swell in PR. On this particular day, as the swell was peaking and winds were light offshore, we ended up at a fickle world-class wave on the northwest coast. Its a mission getting there, as you have to walk a half mile over a steep cliff then along reef/sharp rocks for a hundred yards. It’s like boot camp training, especially when carrying a 20 pound pelican case. It was my first time going to this wave and I didn’t know it was imperative to wear shoes… it was one of the most miserable experiences ever walking barefoot over extremely jagged sharp rock in 100 degree heat carrying my equipment. I will never forget how miserable I was. Once you’ve finally made it to the wave you have to paddle out through a small keyhole with precision timing or you’ll get swept into a sharp cliff and die. The surf was anywhere from double to 4 times overhead. It’s a long heavy left barrel that breaks behind a rock slab. Unfortunately someone stole my swim fins the day before so I was stuck shooting from land for a while. As you know, I prefer to be in the water shooting in middle of the action, not standing on the beach. Brian Toth got an absolute bomb this morning…one of the biggest Caribbean barrels ever. I couldn’t stand being on the beach any longer. Luckily a videographer had a pair of fins and didn’t want to swim so he let me borrow his for a couple hours. I lined up with a few guys during the session…one of which is Alek Parker here. This was his only wave of the session and one of the smaller waves of the day. After a couple hours the wind came onshore and the session was over. Swimming back in was a nightmare. The locals were like ‘yea just swim around the cliff on the other side its easy to get in’. Yea right!!! I swam around the cliff and it was pretty much like Wiamea Bay shorebreak breaking over shallow rock. Scariest swim yet. Finally got in after 45 minutes of beatings. I got quite a few printworthy images this day so it was all worth it.

Tags: Photos, Surf // Add Comment »