Avoiding Mama Roca at Punta Roca – El Salvador part 1

Punta Roca, El Salvador.

I flew three days from Bali through Malaysia, the United States and into San Salvador, El Salvador overnighting in Kuala Lumper and Los Angeles. My friend James had arranged a pick up for me at San Salvador, so I headed straight to La Libertad, a little town on the east coast. Without exception every one of my friends who had travelled to these parts had told me not to stay in this town but James was staying at one of the surf camps and I was excited to hang out with a friend from home.

Punta Roca and La Paz were the two local breaks, both right handers breaking over rocky bottoms. La Paz was the easier of the two capable of holding a nice sized, very fun wave that you could ride from the point to the shore. Punta Roca on the other hand, is a nasty bitch of wave. It has a horrible entry over barnacled covered rocks with a nasty shore dump. It is super fast, a little critical and crowded with rippers.

I was pretty scared. Punta Roca really pushed all my buttons but I surfed it twice a day with James and managed to take a few nice ones each session. I found the entry incredibly quick and could do little more then speed down the face holding on. The wave in the photo above was taken by an American photographer, Seth. I remember that particular wave so clearly as it was the first one I made without going oner the falls. I was stoked that I looked relaxed as I certainly didn't feel it.

Going right has always been one of my weaknesses. Although I am regular (my right foot is at the back of the board) I spent my formative surfing years in Western Australia (lots of lefts) and surfing around Indonesia (amazing lefts). I am so much more consistent on my backside particularly at the pop up and feel more in control when turning. El Salvador has a lot of rights which means I am forced to spend more time facing the wave and working on my rhythm.

Ciao Bali

An empty line up, Kuta Reef, Bali

I said good bye to Bali on a swell of 6 – 8 foot sharing Kuta Reef with 70 of my nearest and dearest. Sometimes you can jag that wave with 4 or 5 others in the water but with a big swell running and school holidays there was no chance of that. It was horror and I really felt the three weeks I had spent out of the water riding Red (my motorbike) around Java.

Needless to say the Australian men surfing those last few days were not the countryman I am proud of. It only takes one or two overly aggressive men (or women for that matter) to ruin a surf. People were dropping in, snaking and yelling at each other, generally committing every single surf sin possible.

I love surfing Kuta Reef. It is a really fun wave that can handle some size, even barrelling at the end section. I have surfed it with good friends and a handful of other surfers. The downside it is the closest decent wave to Kuta/Legian area so when the swell is on it, so are a million others.