July 24th, 2018

Somewhere in Nicaragua

This is what 6ft at 16 seconds SW swell @ 217 looks like. In case you were wondering.

Eric and the rest of the crew for that matter were on it early, trying to beat those ferocious offshore winds.

3 powerful elements of energy in one image. Ocean power, horse power, man power… well 4 if you count them winds!

Right in my comfy place today in my teepee.

Pancho knifing one under the lip on a more manageable sized nugget hitting the inside reef, after miles and miles of travel.

I have to say Pancho was playing with the waves today like it was 3 foot playgrounds.

Only is wasn’t playgrounds and it wasn’t 3 feet.

Pancho in his happy place.

My buddy Abe, (the one I mentioned earlier who was coming down just for this swell) finding some fun waves at first morning light.

This is why strike mission surf trips always trump any boardroom meetings. Although this is Abe’s regular go to kind of board meeting. We’ll just right it off as R&D since he makes some of the best surf trunks in the business.

We roll deep, like my buddy Gray here, with not only one, but two camera angles. Boat, Cam A.

Water, Cam B.

Watcha think?

Either way, we got it covered!!

Kevin Malone has been clocking some serious big wave time the last few season, stepping up is game.

Not only every year, but literally every swell.

The workout routine he does every single day outside the water might play a roll in this.

Maaaaaybe??

The small crew & people who surf these types of waves when the south Pacific lights up have these places dialed. So when you see empty waves goes by, it usually means one of two things. It wasn’t big enough, because there’s a much bigger one coming. Or said local experts were sitting too deep waiting for said next big wave coming. Anyone want the scraps???

Speaking of, well here’s a happy scrapper right here! Pancho had everyones single digit wave count doubled easily before the session was close to being over.

This is a pulled back shot of what some of the fat off the ol’ T bone looks like. B-money, you surfed like a freaking grom out there today amigo!

The fan favorite out there today was easily none-other than Mr. JJ Yemma.

Why might you ask?

Well the last two shots were from the boat (which are insanely sick, wouldn’t you agree?)

This was my view from the water. I for sure thought I was gonna get freight trained with this wide swinging monster.

Instead of following my instinctual reaction, which was to put my camera in the water and swim like mad for the channel…

I held my ground and kept firing when I suddenly saw a surfer emerging from this crazy cavern.

Sure enough it was legendary surfer JJ Yemma.

Surfing this wave such style, and confidence.

I give a lot of people who surf big waves a lot of credit.

But, to come out of giant draining barrel like that and follow though with a big turn at the end like this is what separates years of surfing a spot like this vs kicking out, stoked to still be alive.

And this is what real big wave surf stoke and camaraderie looks like when your buddy gets one of the best waves of the day.

Trin is another stand out surfer who is usually standing tall in any or most of the barrels he tackles.

Mystery surfer at the end of another meat grinder. I’ll give you a hint. His name rhymes with payday.

Carlos Caliente was out there cooling off with some nuts-o winds that came up towards the end of the surf sesh.

Ok, all joking aside, the winds really did come on, and they come on strong.

Making for some even more challenging paddle ins and take-offs.

Two angles can really make a difference of perspective, for example, here’s a quick change up of what it looked like from the playing field.

Hot Carl playing around with his rail game when it looks like he should have a kite attached to his step up.

When I said the winds came on… I wasn’t kidding.

Think paddling into your little beach break is hard with some offshores, try padding into this.

If you’re lucky and the wave let’s you in, happy days. If not, you could be free falling into oblivion of one of your worst surfing nightmares.

But don’t worry, I’ll be there to catch you! On my CF card that is.

When I see a set rolling through like this and the two guys on a ski are looking back, this is when I wonder if swimming was a grand idea for a moment.

Late takeoffs with 30 mph + winds

and being sucked up and back over the falls is usually when it’s time to call it a good day and count your lucky stars. Or in this case, lucky waves for the day.

Because as I said earlier… who wants some of the measly inside scraps anyways. Beautiful to look at, but maybe not touch. That is, unless you like big frothy mutant waves. She’s all yours! But be careful she bites!

The crew: Well, it’s 9:15am and they’re ready to go make some breakfast and start the day like the rest of the normal world.

The only one left to watch the show! Peace out Mr. Pelican…. see ya mañana!