Paddle Surfing Baja: Scorpion Bay Report

Check out these photos of Scorpion Bay- are you kidding me??? The place was made for stand up boards. Many thanks to Tom English of www.alohawealth.com for the pictures.

Tom and his friends just returned from a trip down to San Juanico- from the looks of it they pretty much scored. I think this is another validation of my belief that a stand up board can save any surf trip.

The stand up board takes the wave anxiety away- even if it's flat, you know you've got something fun to do. And if there's even a ripple in the water- you're on it!

I contacted Tom to ask him about airline travel with stand up boards. I've been a fan of his homegrown travel and SUP videos- the guy's been all over the place and he's always got a big old SUB with him. I figured if anybody knew the true scoop on flying with big boards it'd be him.

I needed to know if I could fly Alaska airlines with a 10' board. The airline's guidelines state that boards are restricted to lengths no longer than 9'6". In August, I'm heading to a spot in mainland Mexico that looks perfect for a stand up board- it's a left point that runs for a few hundred yards- the kind of spot that's just begging to be stand up paddled. It's an absolute necessity that my stand up board gets loaded onto that flight.

I was stoked to hear that Tom flew Alaska airlines with two stand up boards and that both violated the length restriction. That's the kind of real information I can use- believe me, I'm sleeping better at night knowing my board's coming along.

Top Three Photos: Scorpion Bay and riders with the English party doing their respective things down in Baja.

Photo Four: A couple of my buddies were down there at the same time as Tom English- here's Stukey cruising a six-incher on a twelve footer. The stand up board can save any surf trip.

Photo Five: Just how long do you think this waves is. Right. Now double that and you're just about there.

More Zapper Data: I've received some inquiries regarding the Zapper's dimensions. I'll give you the numbers that I know: 10' x 29.5" x 4.25" sorry but I don't know the tail and nose numbers. What I do know is that it looks SICK!!

The latest BeachSurf photos right here!

Southern Baja Surf Report: Palapas Ventana

I guess I could make this stuff up but I'd rather let you get it from a primary document. Here's Tim Hatler's surf report from down in Southern Baja:

Baja Sur Swell Report from Palapas Ventana

December 6th log

NW swells served up some meaty Bistec Ranchero at all our spots on the pacific side...The bigger the curve in the coast the better as many regular spots started to close out with sets of 12 feet. Water temp remained at 71 and the wind even cooperated by laying down on the two best days....All wave hunger appetites were satisfied, everybody was feliz, and those willing to explore were rewarded.

As soon as I hear a report like this I start scheming.

It drives me nuts thinking about what I'm missing. How am I going to get back down there? I've surfed this wave, I know how good it is and worse then that, I know how PERFECT it'd be on a stand up board.

I paddlesurfed it this summer on a windy, messy red tide swell.

It was fun but nothing like what Tim scored- basically by himself. Imagine the turns you'd be burning; weaving and turning, repeat, over and over again. I just need to dissappear down there for two or three weeks. So I start scheming. Maybe you should too.

All Photos: Santiago

Top: The point offers up a left... and a right (check the last photo) it just depends on how much of an angle the swells got on it.

Middle: Let the race begin. Coming around the corner from the top of the point, across the flats to the bay- better get moving! Imagine the layed out, projected bottom turns you'd be throwing down right here- covering tens of yards with each turn.

Baja Bad: The Readers Speak!

The Baja Bad piece blew up. The paddlesurf.net counter spiked like the Geiger counter in San-O's cooling pond. While I don't like to be alarmist, I thought that the situation south of the boarder needed to be addressed; and the two tips I gave are important for anybody heading south.

For those interested in more detailed accounts, you can read about the Baja 1000 incident here. Details about the robbery at Cuatros Casas can be found here and here. More robberies in the Cuatros area here. And the most harrowing of all of them (because I hear the story firsthand from one of these guys) can be read here.

Still in the works: From Cradle to Grave: Making a Stand Up Paddleboard. The stars and planets are aligning, palms are getting greased and lips loosening. Who knows? We may get a story out of this after all!

Top Photo: Not my board- but just as sweet. A new 9'0 that looks good enough to steal. This board is meant to harm waves.
Photo: Cowboy

Bottom: Unofficial photograph number 2 (see if you can look back and find the first unofficial photo I posted). Stand up blanks... and the men who birth them. Machine meets man, testosterone meets technology- the only thing left to do now is ask, "Quien es mas macho...?"

Photo: Tucker 007

Baja Bad: Some reflections on some bad times.

Undoubtedly if you're a California surfer you've heard the scary stories coming out of Baja. To tell you the truth, what's happening in the border region of Northern Baja has been heavy enough to make me think twice about my casual day trips. For those who don't know, here's a quick summation of the latest happenings:

• Three San Diego surfer/kiters carjacked in the early morning hours driving through TJ to the toll road. Highlights: Fake (or not) police pulling them over, guns to heads, execution style kneeling postures, highspeed flight to the border, thousands of dollars in vehicles and gear lost.

• Fishermen carjacked on their way south, again in the early morning. Highlights: Blue lights in the rearview mirror, guns in faces, tweaked out looking "police" with masks, everything lost.

• Family of four pushes for home from San Quintin, pulled over by blue lights at night on toll road. Highlights: Same as before but this time forced to drive into the hills above Rosarito, thrown onto the ground, robbed and abandoned.

• Surfer and girlfriend pulled out of their RV in the middle of the night near Quatros Casas surf spot. Highlights: Bullet fired through the side of their RV, robbed and assaulted at gunpoint.

I am certain that some will believe that these stories are fabrications. I can assure you that they are not. In one case the victims are guys I know fairly well from surfing and kiting. The stories are true. Luckily nobody was killed in these incidents but the trauma they all faced will effect them for the rest of their lives. In all four cases the victims stated that they'd never go back- I don't blame them. In each case, however, there is a thread of commonality that ties the crimes together.

In the case of the carjackings: All were traveling at night. It seems now that driving on the toll road in the darkness in an offroad equipped vehicle may be asking for trouble. The toll road and the road along the border fence that leads up to the first toll booth do not afford you immunity. In addition in each carjacking the vehicles were newer 4x4s (two were F250 4x4s and one was a Honda Ridgeline 4x4) it seems the bad guys know what they want, singling out these particular vehicles. As far as night driving goes, I have to admit that I frequently broke this rule. I'd usually cross the border around 3am, leaving early allows you to steal hours in the day, effectively giving you an extra afternoon of surfing. I've also done the 20 hour marathon of driving from Cabo to San Diego. I'm done with driving at night down there. As my friend Marcos always says: "Bad things happen at night".

As far as the Baja campers are concerned: It's pretty well known that the Quatros Casas/Camalu/Outskirts of San Quintin areas are very sketchy places. There's always been dark happenings in the Shipwrecks/Quatros Casas area, now that meth has found its way down there it is bound to get worse. In my circle of Baja travelers, Baja Sorrow (the region around San Quintin) has always been off limits- the surf has never been worth the potential trouble. In the case of the RV bound campers, the guy supposedly had been going to Cuatros for many years. I was surprised to hear that he chose to camp away from the relative safety of the "surf camp". For you readers out there, Allan Weisbecker wrote about this area in his book, "In Search of Capt. Zero". You'll remember it as the spot where the hills had eyes. And where a Mexican rancher invited him to shelter in his walled compound for the evening. It was, he insisted, safe for nobody at night. I wholeheartedly agree.

Do I think it's safe to travel by car in Baja? I think abiding by the two guidelines I've described can put the odds in your favor, but I've always been one to follow my gut. And right now my gut says there's some real strangeness afoot down there. I may give it a pass until something has been done to restore my confidence (I wouldn't mind seeing their Army patrolling that stretch in their Humvees). Importantly, I don't think these dark tidings have enveloped the whole peninsula. As a matter of fact, I think once you're past San Quintin, the odds swing even more in your favor. Whatever you decide to do, be safe, don't drive at night and stick together.

Stand Up Paddle Surfing Baja: Punta Mysteriosa

Our timing was perfect. We'd barely miss one of the year's best late season south swells. Peaking two days before our arrival was the post-firestorm south that lit up every point and reef from San Diego to Santa Cruz. We'd be nowhere in site when that hard south would swing into our little spot and snap its reefs and points back to life. Best of all, nobody would be there. It would've been perfect.

But our trip has always been more about friends than waves. We make it a point to regroup and return year after year. It's a commitment that we've come to value- a ritual of friendship for all of us down here. You know that no matter how small the waves, violent the wind or miserable the hangover, you're coming back next year. It's what you do when you're one of us.

So next November we'll load up the trucks, stock the campers and roll out for that dusty little point. The place that never works in November. We'll hit the dirt road laughing and stretch last year's small stories into tall tales. And all of us will harbor, deep inside, the hope that this year, we've finally timed it right.

Top Photo: The road to Punta Mysteriosa. Marcos in his element; dirt road under foot, hand in an ice cold cooler... searching for something special.

Next: We're just visitors. The local fleet - no pleasure craft here, working boats all.

Penultimo: Campo Dirtbag. A sweet Baja surf camp for a bunch of scoundrels.

Last: Overview of the set-up. We did score some south swell remnants, enough waist high fun for our little pack of stand up surfers.

All Photos: Senor Goofball

Check Back: More Baja Stand Up Paddlesurfing Photos!

Feeding the Blog: Original Content and Homegrown Photography

I'm back! The dust washed clean, the camping gear stowed and the boards racked. Check back for a full report of our Baja surf trip.

The surfing continues: Kiwi scored fun left handers while I was off dodging the Chupacabra (the "Goat Sucker"- Mexico's blood sucking Big Foot-like mystery creature). This photo and reports of fun November surf in town did spark a mild case of Greener Pasture-itis, in me. Oh, the human condition- can we ever be satisfied?
Photo: Spidey

Punta Mysteriosa wasn't exactly flat either. For the rabid stand up wave slider, fun could be had almost all day long. Usually, the smell of sizzling rib-eyes and the promise of an ice cold ration of Mexico's finest lager would do the trick for clearing the line up.
Photo: Senor Goofball

The Giapetto Report: The Santa Cruz Boardsmith continues to chip away at his all wood, hollow stand up board. The board's starting to take shape- looks like Andy's getting rib placement figured out- can planking it be that far away? Can't get enough of Giapetto's project? Be sure to check out SRFNFF's blog for thoughtful, well written reports of Andy's build.

One Track Mind: Unwritten Rules of Baja Travel or How to Get Invited Back Down

This is going to piss some people off. On the other hand, some old hands will undoubtedly be shaking their heads in agreement and maybe even passing the cactus juice one extra time in my honor. Since I'm short timing for a Baja run I figured I'd share some of my observations regarding successful Baja travel. Here goes:

The Unwritten Rules of Baja Travel

1. Person who supplies the vehicle and drives never pays toll for the pay road.
2. Driver's responsible for filling vehicle with gas and buying insurance before everyone meets up for departure.
3. This isn't the city bus- all travellers meet at Driver's house for load up.
4. Passengers should offer gas and insurance money- driver should never have to ask.
5. Never claim "shotgun". Always concede the seat to anyone older then you, more experienced then you, meaner then you.
6. Organize all of your stuff into one container (size dependent on trip length) your gear shouldn't be strewn all over the vehicle.
7. Don't be a food troll- if it's offered then go for it, if not- make something of your own.
8. If you're making some food- make enough to share, if you can't- be discrete.
9. If you're a kitesurfer, Driver never self launches.
10. If you're a passenger, don't tell the driver how to drive or where to go- unless asked.
11. Drivers, no sketch passes- I've never had a passenger who was mad because I drove too slow (well, there was one).
12. Passengers cover all parking fees.
13. Lunch is on the passengers.
14. A surf trip is to and from a discussed spot, don't drop a sudden side trip to your Uncle Barney's house in the TJ suburbs on the crew.
15. Don't decide to buy a large clay pot, surfing monkey or Elvis statue that in any way takes up space in the vehicle.
16. Driver picks music (if you don't like Bluegrass hillbilly music, don't ride with me).
17. If you're new to the crew, don't talk too much. Listen more then you talk.
18. Don't eat the last sandwich (sorry Kiwi).
19. A chair that was brought into Baja is the sovereign nation of its owner. It doesn't matter if it's left unattended for hours, in a Baja camp, it is still the rightful property of its owner- and is reserved exclusively for his ass.
20. Bring contraband into Mexico...with me? Are you sure your in the right blog? Jah won't mind if you don't commune with him for one surf trip- get stoned at home.
21. When it's time to load up- start grabbing stuff and moving it- even if it's not yours, move fast and snappy- don't linger.
22. Coming back, at the border- don't start cracking jokes or flirting with the border patrol agent- after jockeying in the line for two hours the last thing I want to do is go to secondary because you were being cute.
23. Drivers- before you volunteer your vehicle it's up to you to make damn sure its reliable- not reliable, forget it!
24. Never invite yourself on a Baja trip- if guys are discussing a trip and you want to go, try this approach, "What time are you guys leaving? Is it okay if I follow you down?".
25. Bring your own beer or pitch in for the beer run- if you don't, DO NOT even asked for a beer and if offered one refuse-at least the first time.
26. Be the guy who always just grabs the pots and pans and goes down to wash them- without waiting or asking. This will get you back in the truck for sure.
27. Back in the States, at the drop off point, it's always a nice gesture to offer to help clean up the vehicle or move the drivers gear.
28. If you're the passenger in a truck with a camper on it, do not assume you'll be sleeping in the truck unless it's been discussed previously- be self sufficient.
29. If there's more then two guys in one vehicle, do not bring more then two boards.
30. Bring extra wax.
31. Practice Beer Managment: Take one out put one in- simple.
32. And for goodness sake, close the cooler!

These rules are, of course, flexible depending on how well you know the guys you're traveling with. In retrospect, they seem to be a variation of the all important Golden Rule: Be the guy you'd like to travel with- if you follow that rule, I don't see how you can go wrong.

Got any of your own travel rules? I'd love to hear them and they don't have to be for Baja travel, for example- what are the sacred rules of the boat trip?

Baja Dreaming: Seems like it's a million miles away

You ever been here before? Wondering how you'll ever get it all done? How am I going to mow through this pile of little aggravations laid out in front of me so I can just get out of here? Baja may as well be a million miles away.

Three more days. It'll get done; I'll take care of business and find time to pull together the Baja kit. The cooler will get hosed out (the big white one- marine grade, guaranteed to put a three day chill on a Mexican beer box), the grub bag stuffed (only the essentials: canned tamales -a la Kem Nunn, some chili con carnage for the hotdogs, a round of peanut butter and a brick of Bimbo- world's only mold resistant bread- stuffed into my old blackened boiler, the perfect pot for a cup of tar thick cowboy coffee, cap it with the Hornitos and you're done- a week's provisions), the AstroTurf will get a shake out and the snails evicted from my brown poly tarp (got to sleep under something). Shoot, suddenly I'm feeling optimistic. This is do-able!

Put a Baja surftrip on your "must do" list. You may not score the best waves of your life (then again, you may...) but sitting in that Baja desert, watching satellites zip around while laughing it up with your best buddies makes you realize that it's more about friends then waves. That Hornitos will get you Baja dreaming- you melt into your aluminum lawn chair... you're a million miles away.

Killing it in Baja: Literally

Thanks Kiwi: I followed a lead from my good buddy Kiwi and poached these from www.bloodydecks.com. If you're into fishing you should check that site out- full of information from super opinionated (and funny- depending on your sense or humor) fishermen from all over the world.
Here's the backstory on these guys: A couple of friends from San
Diego headed down to Punta San Carlos (Mike and I paddled it in June- water was much colder then) to kitesurf, windsurf and paddlesurf the many waves in that area. I'm going out on a limb and guessing that they had perfected their boards for stand up fishing as well.

Seems like they knew what they were doing. Pretty good yellow tail in the middle photo and I'll post an additional photo of the beefy white sea bass they also caught.

If anybody knows these guys, shoot me an email so I can give them proper credit. I vaguely recognize one of these guys as a North County kiteboarder- let me know.

One more thing: The Laird 12'0 looks perfectly suited for this purpose- check out the milkcrate lashed to the deck. Maybe it's not such a good idea to move to the smallest board that'll float you- especially if you're headed down south and want to use the board for more then one purpose.
Another argument for holding on to a big stand up board.

Northern Baja Paddle Surfing: It's just going to get better!

Note: Like the lyric from the song, "Letter from Hawaii" by the Surf Punks: "The names of the spots have been changed to protect the locals". I'm a big believer in adventure- so get out from behind that keyboard and go do it for yourself! And, I've dropped enough clues for you to figure out where I'm talking about anyway- if you think you know, email me at paddlesurfbaja@gmail.com.

There's a couple of spots I've always wanted to surf in Northern Baja- one in particular has been completely walled in. The place has become a gringo fortress and unless you've got the know how to get in, you'll never get the chance to see the perfect little right hand point that's locked inside. And that sucks.

So I decided to do something about it. On short notice I was able to round up two good friends, three stand up boards and a cooler full of beer for a southbound paddle surf invasion. It'd be a stealth mission and like Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore, we were "taking the point".

Thirty minutes past the border put us at our launching spot. I paid my five dollar parking fee and pulled onto a dirt cliff overlooking a mushy right point . The small waves at "Mush Point" looked fun but I knew that somewhere to the north there was a wave that was arguably one of the top three points in the Northern Baja border region; I'll call it the Jewel. So we set off paddling north- not knowing how far we had to go or what the kind of welcome we could expect once we arrived.

The paddle turned out to be an easy 20 minute run up the coast. At the time, there were rumors of a southern hemisphere south swell heading our way, unfortunately the swell was turning out to be a phantom. We made due with small one to two foot waves. But, boy was the potential obvious on that paddle up the coast. I think that with a solid ground swell there'd be at least four or five fun paddle surf spots between Mush Point and the Jewel.

There were three other surfers in the water at the Jewel- the set up was pretty darn sweet- even though the waves were small, they broke pretty flawlessly across a rock shelf. The spot's main event is definitely the clean right but on this particular day, there was a really fun left breaking just north of the main take off spot. As we paddled up the three surfers were definitely not outgoing but they weren't hostile either- it was just a cool reception. I'm always amused by the attitude of gringos in the water at Mexican breaks- I pretty much laugh off any hint of localism by any gringo (expat or tourist) in Mexican waters, their fantasy of possession in a country in which they themselves are foreign is, to me, openly funny. I do, however, respect the claim of Mexican locals for their spots- their country, their spot, nothing more to be said really.

The right was good but since the surfers were on it first, I just passed it by for the overlooked left breaking unmolested in clear, 70 degree water. It was a poach-fest! The three of us paddled and surfed in a continuous cycle of fun. The theme of these stories is becoming repetitive: paddle up on SUB, grab overlooked, vacant wave, surf with just your friends, wonder how this can be happening... repeat.

To be certain, the surf was very small. I am dying to see what that little stretch of rock reef and point will look like with even just a four foot swell- it can really only get better. Additionally, we had just scratched the surface of paddlesurfing in this area- there are many other name spots in the region that host fun waves and their associated non-spots. Undoubtedly, I'll be back for another shot at the Jewel- are you in?