After some shake internet I didn’t write so much here the last days, but here comes a summary of my KSP competition. I wrote this for the Flexifoil webpage:
Coming in to Lima in the evening light with fog over the mountains was really pretty. In Lima I changed to a domestic flight to Trujillo, after one hour I arrived and got picked up by the KSP organized taxi. I was really looking forward to go to Pacasmayo and ride the legendary extremely long wave that I heard so much about. And I felt happy to once again be in a spanish talking country after not understanding to much of the french during my months on Mauritius. After two hours of refreshing my vocabulary with the taxi driver I finally arrived at the destination of the trip, Pacasmayo. The hotel that was hosting all the riders, El Faro Resort, is located straight in front of the spot. When I arrived it was one o’clock in the night but the owner of El Faro, Jaime, was still awake and there to great new guest. Finding my room that I was sharing with four other girls from the competition and falling asleep as soon as I touched the pillow. Waking up the next morning I was am amazed at how beautiful and peaceful the location was. Endless untouched pebble stone beaches and loads of birds cruising over the water.
The first days the wind and waves wasn’t really good so the competition was on hold. But we didn’t have to wait long since this spot is really consistent this time of the year. On the third day long sets were rolling in with a good side offshore wind for my 10.5 ION. The wave at Pacasmayo is a left hander and many say it’s the longest kiteable wave in world. The wave is actually so long that when people surf it they take a moto-taxi, a special vehicle that is basically a three wheel motorbike with a tent on it, back up to the line up. So it’s really a great wave for riding and it is also gentle and easy compared to the fast and hollow One Eye at Mauritius. This place was perfect to keep improve my riding at left waves since I have a lot more experience of riding right handers. In my first heat we were three riders on the water and I had a hard draw coming up against two of the most experienced girls on the tour and didn’t pass through. Then everyone gets a second chance when you are two girls on the water, this time I had to compete against the girl who won the whole competition so that was also a hard heat that I didn’t pass. But it was a great experience and I just got to train harder in left hand waves to be able to challenge the top girls.
The spot in Pacasmayo I can recommend to intermediate and good wave riders, the wave itself is quite easy and the wipeout isn’t to hard, the tricky parts are the strong downwind current that makes it hard to go back upwind and the launch is not so easy since you have to walk on slippery pebble stones full with barnacles, so booties might be good to have. The place to stay is definitely El Faro Resort where you have a view over the break from your room, and the restaurant where they serve good food is also overlooking the waves. The wind was mostly light and I was riding on my 10.5 ION all days apart from one when I used the 8.5 ION, so bring big kites for this spot.
ERIKA LINDBERG 