Tropical cyclone Odile hit Cabo San Lucas in September of 2014 and rolled right over the top of as a category 4, the most intense storm for Baja of the satellite era*. The damage was still very evident. A local by the name of Kane said the day after it hit, civilization broke down, and it was mob rule for the next two weeks until the Federal Police arrived in town. Widespread looting sent him scurrying home to bar the doors and hunker down. Roofs were blown off everywhere, entire hotels lost windows, and major flooding ripped out roads and bridges.
Eight months later, Lovers and Solmar Beaches are still 20’ lower in sand than before and rocks now block most of the sidewash waves, reducing them to a fickle friend, and leaving a lot of riders stranded in the impact zone.
Presented and organized by the Melaque group, X3M consisting of Diego and Jorge Barbas, assisted by locals Alfredo and his son Alfredo, Drew Peace and a handful of volunteer judges, the contest started Friday on Lover’s Beach in small 2-3’ conditions.
With a small, and inconsistent sidewash, and a slightly more productive secondary, it was a tough day to get through for some of the more hung over contestants. But on Saturday the swell started to grow to triple overhead monsters, thundering onto the sand at Solmar.
Sunday morning the harbor master closed Lover’s to the water taxi services, so Diego shifted the event to the sider at the South end of Solmar. Teddy managed to get a ride to Lovers by a water taxi that hadn’t heard or didn’t care about the closure, and he found himself practically alone, with no ride back. The climb over the rocks required two major up and down hikes, and was totally exhausting. Not a good start for him on Sunday. By now the siders were creating quadruple overhead and bigger waves that were heart-stopping to watch. Huge huevos were required to go low and the Pros knew that was where it was going to be won or lost. Getting an air re-entry was out of the question as it was a 30’ drop. Just watching made everybody nervous.
Heats started out at 18 minutes each, giving the guys plenty of time to pick and choose. Morgan got bumped out by the illusion that a set was coming, he was outside waiting for 5 minutes before he swam in. No way was he going to come in during a set.
The finals pitted (!) Sam Stinnett against the local Juan Carlos, better known as Bullo. Hey, why can we all have nicknames? All the judges were shaking their heads as they matched each other wave for wave, screaming closeout to screaming close-out. It was too close to call for the average spectator, and must have been a very tough decision for the judges. Congratulations to Bullo, now a bonafide local hero, the toast of the town, and the pride of Mexico.
Jared Green took first in the amateur division, the high point for the Vic Team. Morgan finished at 8th and Teddy 6th in the pro division, which were very respectable finishes in what was probably the most competitive contest of the year.
It was a wonderful award party, followed by a showing of Shorebreak, The Evolution of Skimming, which was unfortunately too hard to hear at all, followed by lots of drinking and partying well into the next morning. Surfing wishes it could go back to the kind of rootsy, family feelings that night. Lots of respect goes out to all the riders. Let’s keep the vibe alive!
Thank you Diego and Alfredo for all the hard work, and logistics. Best ever contest. Boom!
Words and Pictures by Tex Haines
*Wikipedia
Pictures by @lagunasocal
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