Well it’s been quite a rollercoaster lately what with all the award ceremonies, spending a few weeks in Mozambique and J-bay and then finally getting the call for one of the three Big Wave events on the 2009 calendar, namely the Quiksilver Ceremonial Chile.

Now this is an event that I wouldn’t miss for the world, Chile is like a second home to me since I went last year for the first time; it’s an amazing country for a number of reasons but for me first and foremost is the people. You won’t find a place with friendlier, more accommodating and downright fun folk then in this, the southernmost country of the world.

This event was kind of sprung on me at the last minute and as always it can get very difficult to get to a faraway place with only 48 hours notice and this time was no different. But with the help of my trusty Travel Agent Sarah we managed to pull it off and I arrived with half a day to spare to settle in and get a surf at the fabled Ponta De Lobos.

Now Ponta De Lobos is a very different wave to the usual Big Wave spots like Mavericks and Dungeons. First and foremost it’s a left which makes it very difficult to surf as a natural footer, secondly it’s a sand bottom point break which when it gets over 10ft makes it one of the heavier waves around because of how it shifts and moves on the sand bank making it very difficult to choose the right wave without years of experience surfing the place.

And thirdly the jump off the rocks is probably the most intimidating I have experienced in my surfing career. It’s a climb, paddle, scramble, run, jump, wait, run, dive and paddle experience that leaves you terrified and completely breathless by the time you get out the back and the whole experience from the time you start down the cliff to the time you get to the beach is gnarly in every sense of the word.

So it was good to get a surf in with Peter Mel the day before the event and work out the cobwebs after the 30 hours or so it takes to get there.

Then the contest dawned with a new strong 15ft swell and strong winds which made the day as intimidating and seriously dangerous as any event I have been in. There was carnage throughout the 7 heats and don’t ask me how but I managed to squeak out of my first round in the last 30 seconds by catching my 2nd scouring wave, battled through my semi final and then won the event by finally finding some rhythm in the final and getting two great waves.

When I say I was lucky in this one it’s a major understatement, but I guess you make your own luck sometimes and there were times throughout the event that I had to force myself to keep going and to keep trying and in the end it paid off.

So with R50k in my pocket we had the mother of all parties that night and woke up to Ponta De Lobos going off for the next week with the swell ranging from 10-18ft and super clean and it was amazing to share some bombs with the local surfers and live at Ramon’s surf compound with my friends, Gary, Kohl and Danillo.

Chile is an amazing place for a surf adventure; it’s super consistent with too many points and reefs to surf in a lifetime and I would recommend it to any core surf traveller and one of the must see destinations on your map. And for a South African it really does feel much like home, it might just be the fact that we share the same latitudes and that house in the city have electric fences but for me the attitude of the people is very similar to that of the folk on our coast and for this reason it helps you to settle in well.

But as fast as I was there, it was time to head back home as a swell was appearing on the charts for Cape Town and that’s where I want to be this winter so to all my friends down there....See you soon!!

Twig

Grant "Twiggy" Baker is a former Mavericks Surf Contest champion and special contributor to TheExtremeScene.com.  Twiggy's official sponsor is Billabong.

The Prize Giving

The Paddle Out

The Wave