![person flying off a surfboard into the waves person flying off a surfboard into the waves](http://yoninetanyahu.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/ALINKA-ABC-OR-KBC-ALINA-MATSENKOMEMSAHEB1.jpg)
#Person flying off a surfboard into the waves free
Pros will get in miles, while intermediates and beginners will receive free lessons on positioning, gaining speed, and reading and responding to a wave that transitions from fickle to perfection if you can stick with her. Its speedy start slows when it gets tangled in a sand bar or two, tripping you up on a few closeouts before curling down the line for what feels like days. Even when running waist to shoulder high, the wave is fast, challenging, and fun. But El Point makes it easy to be a happy loser. That only works if El Hombre's sandbars line up, and it's all exceedingly rare. By then, you would have won Chicama, and maybe even life. On a big swell, it can take you to the pier, and if you can make the fast takeoff, hang on for a kilometer to El Hombre, shift into hyperdrive, and keep it up for another 800 meters. El Point is the business, producing the wave that can steamroll for almost two kilometers in the right conditions. Keys can also deliver you 500 meters down the cape, within striking distance of the main break, El Point. When it's small, it's soft and, according to Sousa, sweet. She's a fan, calling it friendlier and easier to read than the lock at the main break, El Point. So I checked with Katia Sousa, casual shredder and co-owner of Surf House Chicama, to learn more about the wave. Keys was only working one day during my trip, and it happened to be the day that I felt like a death in my hotel room.Ī quick side notes: Don't drink the water without purifying it and be careful when eating out. It won't be an issue for experienced surfers, and nervous intermediates could tackle it with the help of one of two things: a local surf instructor or confidence. One of the two peaks sits above an intimidating rock, but it's harder to hit it than it looks. It takes a half-hour or so to walk there, but the ride is well worth it. Because of this, it's the most sheltered spot if offshore winds start to blow the waves apart. It's also tucked behind the bluff that runs from the hotel block to El Point. This spot has two takeoff zones tucked into the swell shadow of Malpaso, so they never connect. The second break is known as Keys or El Cape. They don't need you here, so their friendliness isn't bought. It still feels intact- run by and for locals. Even as the wave gets more popular among surfers, tourism isn't crushing the town. The wave is fascinating and is probably the only real reason to come to Puerto Malabrigo, aka Puerto Chicama, which makes it another sort of magic. Since the cold water often throws up a fog cloud, an additional eerie quality is common among the breaks. Receiving less than an inch of rainfall a year on average, the landscape defines stark. A small to a mid-sized day at El Point offers a ton of mileage on fast takeoff, followed by a race to dodge a few possible closeouts before it settles into a perfect peeling pace. We're both mid-level surfers, and Chicama held its reputation as a great spot to progress. The best days we got were well worth waiting for. There are bigger, more consistent waves nearby, but Chicama is unique, laidback, and great for learning. Swells of this size begin linking the last two peaks, sending you driving hard to make speedy, hollow, and feathery sections along a kilometer or two of desert coastline. June holds an average of 6 feet, that number where Chicama magic carpet rides dreams start coming true. Magic Seaweed's monthly overview estimates that average swell heights are four feet from November to March and about five feet from April to October-with one exception. It's most consistent during South America's winter months from March to October.
![person flying off a surfboard into the waves person flying off a surfboard into the waves](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8e/03/4c/8e034cf00e13c725a7e70f46e7d5be3b.jpg)
But the fast, long, and challenging little left we found at the main peak, El Point is blissful. There are four breaks and gaps between them, so it's not the one wild ride you might be picturing that would be Pacasmayo to the north. But it's continually working, catching southerly and westerly swells of a meter or more, and pitching them up to be sculpted by nearly constant offshore winds. Chicama's not often working at its best: south or southwest swell anywhere from 6 to 12 feet.