Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Popoyo Day 4


Popoyo May 8, 2012

Position, paddling, timing conditioning

First light at Popoyo wally and vert walls

  Manpered

Congrejo magic

Here’s the scene, just had tipico Nica noche meal buffet for dinner.  So satisfying and yummy.  All the surf crews are sitting around the cocina chillin to some Bob Marley, and watching surf videos.  Mostly we are rehashing the sweet day of surf.  So we are totaling about 19.5 hours on the Drazich meter for total hours of surf.  3 sessions today, descriptions to follow.

An interesting fact, is that for every hour of surf, 50% of the time is spent paddling, and only 3% is spent surfing. So for every hour of surf, only 3 minutes is spent actually riding your board.  Fun, huh? 

We got an earlier start than usual today, as we wanted to be in the water before the crowd scene at Popoyo got unmanageable, and before the onshore winds started.

We were fed, loaded, and in the water at 6 am.  Popoyo was walling up and driving some fast vert lines to the beach.  A shoulder was the best ride, and some pretty good surfers were in the water and scoring some sweet rides.  We surfed for about 3 hours, when a much deserved break was required.

We returned to the lodge for a real breakfast, not continental.  Following the lodge motto of “surf them til they drop”, we only enjoyed an hour of down time, before we loaded up and headed to Popoyo again.  We got there just in time for a thunder storm, but we waited, undaunted, and patiently for the storm to clear.  It was fun hanging with our crew under the bohio overlooking the surf spot, and just smokin’ and jokin’.  After a while, the tide started to creep back in, and the set size began to grow.

So, if the magic congrejo said to me then, “You have one wish for the waves this afternoon, quick, what would it be?”  OK, let me see, an uncrowded Popoyo break, with head high A-frames, glassy conditions, surfing with my bros.  Well, you can guess what happened…………….

As the storm blew through, we got a post rain clean up, an oil slick glassy ocean surface, a scared away crowd, and wave after wave of break to beach lefts tipping the meter at the slightly overhead size.  Wow,  how much more could you ask for.

After some sweet hours of that, we again retreated to the lodge, for the ever delicioso quesoburgresas!!!

Chris, our guide would not allow us to sit still for the afternoon, so he rallied us again to head through the town of Limon to the beach break Santannas.

Located at the point of a small bay, the swell hits the beach break directo, and there are 3 peaks of sometimes closing out screamers.  I sat this session out, as I was already working on rehabbing the shoulders after 6 hours of surf today, in anticipation for tomorrow. 

Having headed out before dawn, and arriving back at our lodge after sunset, there was no better cure than the Nica buffet. It was awesome, we are tired, out bellies full, and happiness abounds.

In Eddie’s afternoon computer session as he lifted his laptop,  he found a freshly squeezed 3 inch scorpion who had climbed up there .

We have decided that a group of golfers would be expected to be pampered to, caddies and all.  We are just happy to be bouncing along a bumpy 3rd world road in a Landcruiser in search of surf.  True, Chris loads our boards, and tells us where to surf, with local knowledge of tides, swell, and winds, making it a mindless pursuit for us.  Therefore, we have coined the term “manpered”  Pampering for men!!

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