Recently, I was called out. Quite blatantly called out in print by one of the largest international kiteboarding mags out there. I’m not going to name names but if you’ve seen any recent 12 page interviews of me recently, you’ll know exactly what I”m talking about. Now this call out wasn’t all bad. Basically it called me out for being a big fat slacker. And thats just what I am when it comes to updated my blog. This blog that I started well over a year ago and currently sits at a meager 2 posts.
So here I am, barely off the plane from another fall season spent in Brazil and about to bring in the New Year and thinking that I have a lot of catching up to do. So that is just what I’m going to do. In one, all encompassing elephant of a blog post that will take us from a quick jaunt to the Peruvian coast, to private park sessions and heli shoots along the shorelines of Cape Hatteras, to the Triple-S Invitional, then ‘home’ to Hood River.
We’ll start with Pacasmayo, PERU.
I was invited to come to Pacasmayo, Peru (resort accomodations shown above: El Faro Adventure resort, http://www.elfaropacasmayo.com) by the North Distributor for the region, Augusto Nicolini (second from left in photo below). Augusto’s invitation stemmed from the idea to bring me out there and encourage some of the local kiter girls to take their kiting to the ocean, something most of them have never done before.
With Augusto, Jamie (owner of El Faro), and Brissa Malaga (local ripper who kicked my butt her first time in the ocean!! She is also a national surfing champion so I think she may have been over qualified to be called a novice)
Brissa charging one of her first waves on a kite.
This was the last day in Pacasmayo and probably one of the ‘sloppier’ days of swell that we had (although until I had seen a good day here I would have thought this was incredible). Most days delivered meticulously peeling lefts, lusciously spaced by about 16-18 seconds, with a steady 17-20kts side-offshore breeze. Can’t get much better than that for a goofey footer!
After Pacasmayo, I was guided to a small tourist town about a two hour drive south of Lima called Paracas. While Paracas does boast one of Peru’s best rights, it is best known for its shallow, flatwater conditions. If you were looking for a spot to learn to kiteboard in Peru or maybe a place to break up your kitesurf vacation with a bit of freestyle, this would be it. I was invited here by Jose Losno, owner of Kite Club Paracas (www.kiteclubparacas.com) who offers comfortable accommodation, expert lessons, and knows all the local know how…best kite spots on the radar and off!
Paracas, Peru:
First kite spot for the day. Just Us and the birds.
Native peruvian dog. This may have been one of the moments where my naive self was getting the better of me but my local guides told me that these peruvian dogs are known to have healing powers and are always warm. Even went temperatures drop their dark skin will stay warm. It is said that if you are sick you should cuddle up to one of these dashing creatures and they will help to heal you….give it a try and tell me how it works out for you 😉
After checking out one spot just outside of town we decided to venture on to a protected bay that holds nice shallow flatwater within its sandbars. To get there we drove what seemed to me, straight into the desert. No roads. No signs of life…anywhere. Just two 4x4s and the knowledge for how to get there.
When we came over the last sandy ridge finally, signs of life and what looked to be promising kite conditions.
Before taking to the water I wanted to poke around town.
We found a friendly face who didn’t mind having his picture taken while working on his fishing net.
And while the thought was to post Peru, the North Kiteboarding Teamshoot in Cape Hatteras & Texas, Triple-S, and Hood River all in one massive post. I will have to stop here to catch my next flight home to visit my family for Christmas (with good intentions to continue what i’ve started as soon as I board my plane!).
So please, check back soon for more updates, photos, videos, and travel insight.
Happy Holidays!
Colleen
Colleen Carroll 