Surf contest

So in another long string of firsts that I have experienced while being on the island, I had the opportunity to take in a professional surf contest this past weekend. It was being held at Domes Beach in Rincon and I knew something big was going on as soon as I had to stop and park my car almost 1/2 a mile away from the beach it was so packed. At the beach there was gigantic crowd and great atmosphere. Lots of families, food, drink and good times.

The only disappointment was the small size of the waves... it was literally about knee to thigh high most of the weekend (1-2 feet). This makes it very tough on the surfers since it is very hard to generate enough speed to do high powered manuevers on waves like that, and they are also so weak that you can only do maybe one or two tricks on a wave at best - hmmm, sounds a lot like surfing in South Carolina or Florida doesn't it??? oh, but at least these Puerto Rican waves don't close out as often!! Anyhow, every now and then (like every 30-40 minutes) a slightly larger sized set, about waist to stomach high, would roll in, and whoever was fortunate enough to catch it would then remind you why these guys are so good. Whoever caught those rare waves would always win their heat and get a big score since they would be able to pull off many more moves on the longer faster ride. A lot of the surfers really looked like they were in the same skill category, but serendipity would determine who got the better waves and ultimately who would win. The other trend I noticed was that younger and lighter surfers tended to do better in the weak surf, as they didn't require as much speed or power to be able to carve and maneuver on the waves.

As for the atmosphere, everyone seemed in a festive mood. Probably didn't hurt that the contest was sponsored by Corona Extra beer and all kinds of libations were freely flowing on the beach, from spiked coconuts, pineapples with their cores removed and filled with rum, all brands of beers and home made concoctions. Right next to me, there was a friendly young family who I started chatting with. They had come from across the island to support one of their local surfers and they began to thrust a beer into my hand each time they dug into their cooler. Gotta love the hospitality! On my other side, there was this tired (old) drunk local who I watched progress - or should I say "regress" - through all the known stages of inebriation. First he was very loud and cheery, often yelling out "Viva Puerto Ricoooo!!", but then he became a little more exhausted and somber, in fact for about 15 minutes he was weeping like a child as he wistfully muttered something about "Mariaaaaaa!"... check out the attached YouTube clip on the bottom to sample a little bit of his audio...

So back to the contest, in the final it was a young kid named Eric Torres vs. one of the local pros from here in Rincon - Darren Muschett. The heat was very close, but it was evident that Darren's local knowledge gave him the edge as he knew exactly where to wait to catch the best waves. Also, having a ton of his friends and family hooting and hollering as he rode the waves definitely didn't hurt his cause either. It was his first contest win as a Pro and definitely not a bad way to pocket $4000.

Every time I've come down to PR I've always seen him out surfing in Rincon and I have to admit that I love watching him surf. While there are always plenty of other really good surfers out in the water, riding the same kinds of waves, it seems like he just moves at vastly greater speed than the rest of them. Not to mention the radical moves this guy can pull off when the surf is big... which reminds of another one of the cool things I like about surfing - you get to be in the water right next to the pros!!! I mean in what other sport do you get to be right next to the pros? You can't just go down to your neighbourhood basketball court and jump into a pickup game where LeBron James is playing, right? Or step on to the training pitch at Milanello and play alongside Kaka and Alexandre Pato! But when surfing, you can be right next to them in the lineup and watch these guys do all kinds of amazing stuff... Carlos knows what I'm talking about, as I guarantee you we will both never forget the amazing 360 degree air Darren pulled off right next to us at Maria's while we were both just trying to stay alive among the 12-15 ft waves!!


Leif Engstrom, a goofyfoot like me (goofy means you put your right leg forward as opposed to your left) catches one of the better waves of the contest while a barge steams past in the background


Darren Muschett enjoys the thrill of victory.. as well as the putrid taste of getting doused by nasty Mexican beer!!!


Here's a quick video clip from the contest... the drunk guy next to me starts doing a strange kind of moaning karaoke along to Paul van Dyk's timeless trance classic "Time of our Lives"