Beach trips-Fortune favors the brave
Derek Brewer tore a shoulder on a wave like this when the lip landed on him. He said it was worth it.
by Chris Brown
My latest trip to Northern Baja started with a phone call from my life-long friend Derek Brewer.
“The swell for this weekend is going to be really solid and conditions look unreal. We’re going and you’re in.”
I had been watching the surf forecast myself and knew he was right, but there were a lot of unsettling media reports coming in from Mexico lately. The day I received Derek’s call a teacher from El Monte had been kidnapped and murdered in Mexico while visiting his in-laws for the holidays. Another news story that day detailed how a Mexican drug cartel had killed a rival, removed his face from his body and stitched it onto a soccer ball.
I found myself wondering if it was really safe to go. My next step was to talk to my friends who still travel to Baja on a regular basis. Every person I talked to told me the same thing: don’t drive at night, don’t bring or buy drugs and you should be fine. One friend told me he still takes down his wife and kids. After checking the surf forecast for the umpteenth time and weighing the likelihood of getting perfect waves versus the likelihood of getting my face stitched onto a soccer ball, I called Derek and told him I was in.
We left Hermosa at 4 a.m., crossed the border just after sunrise and got to our destination by 7 a.m. Joining Derek and myself were Derek’s brother Keith, Mark “Mumbles” Eastman, Morgan Mainz, Jeff Belandi, and Pete “Love” Indelicato.
Keith Brewer pays the price
We had seen swell lines pouring in and the wind was howling offshore. But nothing prepared us for the first peek we got at Baja Malibu. Just as we got to the point where we could see the surf, a big, perfect, “A” frame reared up with a jet-ski running full throttle towards the beach. A surfer jumped off the back of the ski, bottom turned right and stood tall in the barrel across the entire sandbar, before getting blown out at the end. There was no need to watch another wave. We turned and ran back up the hill for our gear.
While running back down the beach two things became abundantly clear: the waves were absolutely perfect and, surfers are still traveling to Baja. Although, not crowded by California standards, there were plenty of surfers in the water. At least a half dozen jet-ski teams zoomed in and out of the surf line and another 50 or so surfers were spread out over about a mile of beach break. Raising the bar were reigning U.S. Open Champion Brett Simpson of Huntington Beach and fellow pros Brian Conley and Brad Ettinger.
It appears that for the time being, surfers are weighing the risks versus the rewards of traveling to Baja and deciding to go for it. Unfortunately for the local residents, almost nobody else is.
Chris Brown shows why he's not abandoning Baja
For surfers, the reasoning is basic. Many traveling surfers will gladly pay thousands of dollars to travel to the other side of the planet in pursuit of waves. Often, the waves will be inferior to the waves we scored for the grand total of a half a tank of gas and three hours in the car. For non-surfers, the thought process is just as clear. Why risk putting the family in a potentially dangerous situation when they can just substitute Hawaii or Mammoth as a vacation destination? This thinking has had devastating effects on the Baja economy, which is based on U.S. tourist dollars.
After surfing all day, we went to Puerto Nuevo for a lobster dinner. Dinner was fantastic (a delicious lobster dinner for $16), but sadly, we were the only diners in the restaurant. This formerly bustling hamlet is now a ghost town. On the Saturday night we visited, three quarters of the businesses were boarded up. These small business owners are the uncounted victims of Mexico’s drug wars.
Day two of our trip was basically a repeat performance. Although, not as flawless as the day before, the surf was still very good.
After another morning of thumping, beach break barrels, we had a quick lunch, and then retreated to the point break in front of our rented house. The weather was sunny and warm. The surf was glassy and playful. Head high to double overhead with nobody else out except our crew. Pacificos went down like water and at that moment, it was hard to imagine having more fun anywhere else on the planet. Did I mention that our beach front, luxury accommodations came out to $40/person?
So there you have it. We had a great experience and will return to Baja soon. My feeling is that we tend to discount the dangers we are exposed to every day and focus on the dangers that lie outside of our comfort zone. Are there some bad things happening in Baja today? Yes. Is it any more dangerous than traveling through a seedy part of LA? Probably not. Statistically, the most dangerous part of any trip to northern Baja is the drive down, but very few people worry about that. When debating the pros and cons of a trip south of the border, don’t discount the horror stories. Today’s Mexico has some very serious problems. Just make sure you are weighing the risks rationally and remember that the rewards can be very sweet. B