Around The World In 80 Waves

Las Flores is another fantastic right hand point break. However for me at least there is definitely a but to this particular break.

That but is the rocks which are just a handful of metres from the peak and then stay that way for the whole of the ride to the shore, which can be as long as 300m. One fall and you could be in a very bad place very quickly.

The international crew in the water here are certainly friendly enough though, and amongst others I spend a great deal of time chatting with the lovely Whitney who you can see behind me.

However if I am honest for the whole of the time I am in the water here I am not feeling that comfortable.

A good wave would usually sort out any nerves I have. However the set up of this break is such that in order to be sure of being the person that catches a wave you need to be paddling for it directly adjacent to the rocks sticking up out of the water at the very tip of the headland which you can see over my shoulder. Everybody knows this and the result of that is everybody pushing one another closer and closer to the rocks until people take off directly in front of them assuming they will make the turn. The natural breaking of the wave does indeed keep you far enough away from the rocks once you are riding, but such critical take offs are not really my cup of tea anymore. I have been to A&E too many times, and it is never fun!

Despite my better judgement I tried this once only to have picked one of the bigger waves of the day which then broke well before it got to me leaving me very much between a rock and a hard place, and was then lucky not to damage myself let alone my board. (One of the Brazilians here did something similar and landed on the rocks and put a two foot long gash in the base of his board ‘game over’-ing it earlier in the day!)

Regardless of all the above I have caught loads of long rides here though and this one shows the trees on the point a little too close for comfort behind me. This particular ride was about head high, but during it I also had to charge through a gap between two rocks which appeared sticking out of the water that was little wider than my board and just hope it was deep enough in the gap for my fins to get through. It was but more by luck than judgement and I dont think I will be doing that again.