3 hot chicks.... in a van, travelling down into Baja Mexico; what could possibly go wrong?? Well.........for you to decide!! All that needs be said really is that we had an absolute whale of a time and El Presidente was the DON …...did I mention I love my van??
I know in theory we were supposed to be heading down for the AWT windsurfing event but from the moment I picked up Katie McAnena and Sam Bittner from the airport we knew that the event would be secondary to the fun and friendships about to be formed.
It all started with a late night airport shuttle; El Presidente was booked to deposit 2 weary Chicas, to a rowdy hostel, on a Friday night, in down town San Diego. Accordingly they had a rather sketchy night and with stories of phantom tent poles we met up the following lunch time at the Waterfront Hilton. YEP I started off my professional athletic training chilling poolside at the Hilton, sipping cocktails. I was introduced to Sam´s craziness pretty instantaneously when she gifted me a tight leopard print dress and we all decided to don these delightful items and head out for lunch looking a kin to hookers :-/ It didn´t stop there, by 8pm most of the convoy crew had showed up, we were staying 5 to a room so that we could lavish ourselves in the otherwise to expensive Hilton luxury.
We kick started the day early at 7am and after a brief pit stop to collect our drive thru Mexican insurance and a brief flirtation with the Mexican border control we were on the road.
Poor Poor El Presidente; 3 Chicas driving through Mexico with the tunes cranked up as we danced along and badly impersonated the artists :-/ Then he had to bash along the final 2hr section of dirt road before arriving at an impressive 5pm on Camp.
Punta San Carlos, Solo Sports camp is essentially glamping in the middle of the desert. It´s dusty, its windy and most essential there´s waves :-) As a bonus the camp provides you with a carpeted area to rig on or if your name is Vickey practice yoga. You get a lovely comfy tent to yourself, a solar shower bag at the end of the day and best of all a well stocked bar, which we made the most of.
I managed to hit the water as soon as we arrived, sneaking in a windy session with some smallish waves. It was a great sunset session allowing me to shake off the drive and introduc me to the local wildlife. The following day they launched us straight into competition, I did terribly having not sailed the competition spot or ever competed I was completely put off by the whole tactical sailing thing but did manage to have fun which was the important part. The following days were windless and with just some micro waves coming through we borrowed long boards from camp and all the girls paddled out in fancy dress for some playtime, party waves galore. By Tuesday El Presidente was called back into action this time in the role of girls party bus: we danced around under the stars drinking warm champagne.......classy! It seemed we might all turn into alcoholics but after several days of long boarding, Sup ing and yoga the conditions returned with some bigger waves starting to come through. The Amateur event was commenced which despite my protestations, Sam and Katie dutifully enrolled me in for some extra competition practice. Shockingly against the odds; these being I was pretty damn hung over and tried to sail out without my harness, I won my heat and went straight through into the Quater Finals. Thursday morning I had an excellent surf in the building swell up at the point. Then by lunch time the wind had picked up enough for them to commence running a few heats. Sadly just as we entered the water they called it for the day saying the wind had dropped. As I was already dressed for action and with some building logo to mast high sets coming through, in my infinite wisdom I decided to attempt it anyway. I was rewarded with an amazing session; some long peeling waves coming in at the point and going all the way down into the Chilli Bowl. As the sun began to set the sky turned a glorious Pink and Orange, the seals popped up continuously as if watching the spectacle as the pelicans swooped down over my head. I was in my element and feeling at one with the world right up until the moment it was dark, I was still out and Katie seemed to be in a right old panic by the van flashing the headlights and beeping me in :-/ I had planned to get much further up wind but decided to head towards the lights to assure her I was fine.......bad move. I got caught in the massive current running under the cliff due to the huge high tide I was taken in towards the cliff and had to bail all my equipment as it got sucked into a cave and clamber up the cliff to safety. The ocean´s way of keeping my ego in check I presume. I spent a fitful night constantly checking the beach as the tide dropped. I did manage to recover my board in a rather sorry state but the rig has gone to Davey Crocker.
The next day the swell was pretty sizeable a solid 4m on the sets but no wind all morning. We did a small bit of filming, I tried to paddle out for a surf but got pushed back to the beach by the currents. Just as I was contemplating another surf attempt the head judge called the event to run. I still had my bigger board and managed to beg steal and borrow in order to cobble together a rig so sailed out with my deflated ego. Due to the high level of the other sailors in my heat I figured I was just out there for fun getting to sail great waves with just 4 other people on the water. Due to the previous nights stupidity my board was huge and on occasion I thought my ankles might snap as I bounced along the face of these monsters but fun I certainly had, it was the best 28mins ever catching bomb after bomb, whooping and cheering whilst the others also caught some great sets. I was sad to sail into the beach but mightily delighted when Sam shouted down to me with the megaphone that I had to get my arse back on the water for the finals!! The finals were another story, all the sailors were really good and pulled out all the tactics for the heat. Once again I found myself over whelmed by my lack of competition knowledge and after catching a few mediocre rides and despite the little voice in my head saying ´don´t do it´ I panicked that Id not caught anything yet so caught a shitty little ride too far into the bay and once again found myself swimming in under a cliff despite the jet ski trying to pull me out of the foaming white water. Happily this time I managed to rescue my gear or more appropriately everyone else's gear :-/
So that´s about it prizes were given, I was awarded a brand new deck plate and extension along with my new nickname ´Kamikaze girl´. The following day El Presidente escorted 3 tired chicas back out of the desert and to the Hilton for a much more subdued night before we all went on our way. I had an amazing week, met some genuinely interesting and fun people. All the windsurfers were so friendly and welcoming, the AWT is like a big family and they accepted me in unquestioningly. Best event ever amongst the greatest group of people Im now proud to call friends. Thanks to all muchos Love :-)
