“The amount of energy in the water is crazy, that’s definitely some of the heaviest and craziest waves I’ve ever seen. It’s also like the perfect arena for watching surfing. You can literally feel the lip hitting the water from the sand, it makes this crazy thundering sound,” said Northern Beaches lifeguard Samuel Partington.
Parto and fellow lifeguard and friend Jasper Giddy are chatting to me following six days of non-stop swell at Puerto Escondido – Mexico’s premiere wave. The conditions over the past week have ranged from fun four foot barrels to XL dredging caverns.
“We’re absolutely fried. We’ve been getting up every morning at 5.30 and paddling out pretty much in the dark and then surfing all day until the wind comes up,” said Parto.
The boys are currently spending a couple months travelling in between seasons working on the beach and it’s the first time they’ve visited Mexico. While Parto came slightly prepared with a 7”6 semi-gun shaped by James Cheal of Chilli Surfboards, Jasper didn’t bring anything bigger than a 6”0 and had to hire something more appropriate whilst here.
Being under gunned didn’t stop Parto from free falling down this one and scoring what he called the ‘wave of his life’. Photo: Miguel Diaz.
“We have been part of a small minority out there that don’t have impact vests and aren’t riding boards longer than eight foot. We’ve definitely felt a bit under gunned on the bigger days,” said Parto.
Jasper added: “The past few days have been the heaviest waves I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t just get bigger, the wave also gets thicker.”
Despite being slightly under gunned, the boys have been getting stuck in and sending it. Judging from the clips and shots, you’d never have guessed that they hadn’t surfed here before. Parto admitted they were nervous when waking up on the biggest day of the swell.
“We had some pretty sleepless nights and on the biggest day we went out in the dark and we were pretty quiet, I think we just did a little ‘love you bro’ on the beach and paddled out.
“I definitely got the wave of my life that day. It’s crazy though because you’ll sit for like four hours and you’ll be lucky to get a wave in an hour, but then if you do get one and it’s a good one the adrenaline rush is next level.”
Jasper with the elevator drop. Photo: Ronne Jones.
Jasper added: “It’s pretty crowded as well but the peaks seem to pop up everywhere and it’s pretty random. Because it breaks so close to shore, the water needs somewhere to funnel out and you get these rips popping up everywhere. One minute you think you’re in the spot for a bomb, the next you’re a few hundred metres out to sea.”
Amongst the crowd during the swell was big wave legend Greg Long who is often seen taking on the Mexican Pipeline when it goes XL.
Parto explained that watching Greg from the beach was an experience of a lifetime.
“He is crazy. He sits further out than anyone and will just happily let bombs go by because he knows exactly what wave he wants. I remember I got the wave of my life and I’ve beached it. Two waves after mine Greg takes off, stands tall in this thing and gets spat out. The beach completely erupts and he comes in like it was nothing, no claim, he just stood there. It was like he just had some spiritual moment with the wave.”
Parto lets his thoughts be known before the wave impales him. Photo: Ronne Jones.
As the swell begins to taper off, Jasper is preparing to head back to Australia soon while Parto is going to explore Central America for another few months. While the boys have no definite plans, they are sure of one thing; they are taking a few days off from surfing and enjoying some beers.
“That wave is so heavy, it just pins you to the sand and beats you up. We’d come in from the surf each day and spend so much time washing the sand from our unholy crevasses. It’s been a crazy run of waves and I think everyone in town is pretty surfed out. We’re keen to chill for a few days and then hopefully we’ll get another run of swell,” said Parto.
