Where did you surf today?

You'll shake it off, o-s. How are your shoulders coping with the sweep?

Keep the reports coming - you have a keen audience.

Shoulders were holding up surprisingly well, but today was a killer. The key seems to be paddling way wide out of the sweep and then darting in at the last minute to try time a wave.

Got fully flexed on a couple today, serious power in the swell and it moves so quickly.

Had a brief look at Punta de Lobos this evening and a nice chat with Sloth in the car park and the ins and outs of this part of the world. Lobos was pretty solid on the outside (8ft or so? Was hard to judge scale being so high up and far away) but the lower sections looked like they had some ok ones, only a few guys out. The rock off looks gnarly.

You have to paddle across that channel to the big rock then rock-off that?

Looks hectic.

Apparently - juice doesn’t look worth the squeeze if you ask me.

lucas hildreth has a few vids on paddling out
@ Punta de Lobos on youtube..
loving this @o-s, generous of you to share..

Nice one O-S, just ran through the last couple of pages with the morning joe. Epic trip. Thanks for sharing.

Good reading definitely. Nice distraction.

I got to agree with everyone else.

The updates are awesome. Not much is better than travel.

don't abandon us and sell to tracks, @o-s ; )

Last surf day today. Driving back to Santiago tomorrow morning to carry on with non-surf related travel.

Slow start this morning and with an 11am high tide probably missed the best of it. Surfed the main point in town for a few ok waves but nothing special. This felt like more of a Aus/Nz style sand point/river bar than the waves I surfed down south. Top to bottom you could ride one for well over 500m if it linked up.

Arvo surf decided to give Lobos a go. We arrived bang on mid tide and there was no one out. I think the lower tide is preferred but I paddled out straight into two absolute bombs. The swell died a bit with the outgoing tide and by the time I came in there was a decent after work crew of 15-20 on it. I will sheepishly admit I did not attempt the rock off and used the kiddies corner keyhole about 50m down the point. What growing up at beach breaks does to a man.

In the end I had 10 surfs in 5 days, no marathon sessions but I feel like I got my fill.

If anyone has any general questions about stuff ill do my best to answer.

It's been great OS.

Just a bit about life on land? Local vibe etc. Also, you mentioned you're vegos but what are we looking at for a meal for two and a couple of beers? Did you pre-book accomm. or wing it? I've always wanted to visit South America but wife is scared of Banditos and that kind of negates Africa too.

Anyway, been great OS, cheers for taking the time.

Yeah, what Zen said O-S.

what a beer, feed and roof over your head worth?

only-sams wrote:

Last surf day today. Driving back to Santiago tomorrow morning to carry on with non-surf related travel.

Slow start this morning and with an 11am high tide probably missed the best of it. Surfed the main point in town for a few ok waves but nothing special. This felt like more of a Aus/Nz style sand point/river bar than the waves I surfed down south. Top to bottom you could ride one for well over 500m if it linked up.

Arvo surf decided to give Lobos a go. We arrived bang on mid tide and there was no one out. I think the lower tide is preferred but I paddled out straight into two absolute bombs. The swell died a bit with the outgoing tide and by the time I came in there was a decent after work crew of 15-20 on it. I will sheepishly admit I did not attempt the rock off and used the kiddies corner keyhole about 50m down the point. What growing up at beach breaks does to a man.

In the end I had 10 surfs in 5 days, no marathon sessions but I feel like I got my fill.

If anyone has any general questions about stuff ill do my best to answer.

Yep keep it coming OS.
Would love to do a trip there one day.

Sounds like you had a blinder, congrats. Enjoy the "non-surf related travel".

No worries fellas. I will preface everything I say with the fact that my partner is essentially fluent in Spanish.

In general I never felt unsafe or unwelcome anywhere we went. Everyone seemed to say hello in the street etc. Down south the towns are basically just little fishing villages with a huge forestry industry inland. They are popular summer holiday spots for local Chileans but at this time of year they are pretty empty. We took all the usual precautions regarding the car and our valuables etc. Basically had everything in a small bag that my partner kept on her while I was surfing. Other than that we just kept everything in our accommodation as much as possible. Coming from New Zealand the roads are perfectly fine and driving was not as hectic as I thought it was gona be (first time driving on the right).

Pichilemu is a much bigger town and feels like what I imagine Byron might have in the late 90’s. Surf town on the rise for sure but in summer is packed with local beach goers

There’s the usual stuff like street dogs etc but they pretty much leave you alone.

Accomodation wise we mostly stayed in cabañas which are small little self contained cabins with a bathroom and small kitchen set up. Some were just a double bed and others had bunks as well. Price per night for 2 was between 60 and 80 AUD. These aren’t flash by any means but we didn’t really mind too much - warm, dry and an ability to cook was all we cared about. Because it’s off season we just kinda looked a few days ahead and messaged places on WhatsApp to ask if they have any availability and paid cash on arrival - never had a drama.

Local restaurants are not super cheap. For a basic kinda meat/rice/salad dish and a beer you’re probably looking at just under 20 AUD a head. We went out tonight in Pichilemu to try some seafood and paid about 25 each for a big plate of fish/chips/salad and a beer. Beer in the little minimarts is cheapish, a couple bucks for a big tall can of a local beer. We mostly cooked for ourselves because of the vego thing but also because honestly it’s not that cheap.

On the surfing part a couple things I will add is that in general I felt that the water quality was good at all the breaks. There’s streams coming out at most of the breaks and the fishing infrastructure but it never felt smelly or dirty. Pretty much zero rubbish in the water as well. The other thing is that if sea lions freak you out then this is not the place for you. I didn’t have a surf without seeing at least a few. None of them seemed interested in any of the surfers though, mostly just passing through or feeding. I thought this was quite interesting vs the sea lions you encounter in southern NZ which seem to always want to come and check you out and can get quite testy at times.

I did a bit of back of the envelope maths and for 3 guys I reckon you could do a 3 week trip for about under 10 grand each.

Really great job with your photos and writing, I think you have a bit of a talent when it comes to expressing yourself. Well done& look forward to your next adventure.

This morning was picture perfect 4ft , long down the line waves . These photos don’t do it justice as were taken once I came in , was out from first light and was pretty much spent after 3.5 hours . Paddling back out looking at the absolutely perfect conditions we had earlier was dream like . 4-6 wave sets were at times inconsistent but it was just a really beautiful moment and experience sitting out there . Tomorrow is apparently a touch bigger ( thanks again Craig )