While the West Coast has had one of it’s best summers in years, it still doesn’t compare to what you could find if you journeyed down beyond the border and deep into Mexico. If you’re based on the East Coast, well, then fuhgeddaboutit — the summer doldrums were in full effect.
Whenever a big ol’ blob starts forming in the Southern Hemisphere, with the capacity for generating swell for hundreds of miles of coastline, the collective gears start turning in the minds of the stoke-hungry. Flights get checked, calls get made, and, if everything lines up, triggers get pulled.
Boom. Strike mission, commenced.
That’s exactly how it went for four surfers from Dark Seas Division: Duran Barr, Chauncey Robinson, Nils Schweizer, and Walker Hawes.
Nils — who spends a healthy portion of the year posted up in Pascuales — had the easiest commute of the bunch. He dusted off some old-faithful foam, rolled out of bed, got properly tubed, and was back home before lunch.
Like a good uncle, Duran took the young gun Walker down to Puerto Escondido to test boards (and bones) in the gladiator pit that is Zicatela. Turns out the grom is a phenom when it comes to shooting heavy tubes. Check out his wave around the 2:20 mark, I mean, seriously. Look close at how he stalls to set up his backside barrel ride and flawless grab-rail technique. The kid is batting way above his age. There’s two words that come to mind when you see a young’n rip so hard on an epic surf trip, thanks unks.
Meanwhile, Chauncey traded a dead-flat Florida summer for the long, spinning right-hand points farther down the coast. On one of those points, the set up itself is the kind you would dream about and, if you were artistically inclined, draw in your notebook. I’m not sure if Chauncey’s the type to sketch dreamy waves but he sure knows how to draw a sick line when the canvas is a pointbreak.
Check out the edit to get hyped and then take a look at the charts, there’s plenty developing on both coasts and further afield. So, you know, check the flights, make the calls, pull the trigger and do the damn thing.
Related: Finders Keepers: One Week on the North Shore with Dark Seas