A surf trip through the Americas… “while Billabong held the Big Wave contest at Pico Alto, we scored up north.”

They said it was the biggest swell to hit Peru this year so off I went to the long left of Pacasmayo.
For 6 days we surfed in average conditions, waiting for a big swell showing on the swell maps. Two days before it hit Peru, it was being claimed to be the biggest one of the year. And it was! For that reason pretty much everyone left Pacasmayo to go to Chicama where the waves are a little smaller and more perfect. It is also meant to be the longest left in the world.

In my 3 or 4 years of surfing, I had never seen a proper solid swell so it was my chance and I decided to stay in Pacasmayo. All my traveling buddies left , but a few Brazilians stayed. My intention was to watch them as it was going to be too big for me, and my board was way too small for bigger waves… good excuse!

Two nights before the swell hit us, Billabong announced that they would start the Pico Alto contest. It is part of the Big wave world tour, and was going to be 30ft! Anyway, on the big day I woke up as the local guys were getting the boat ready: too hard to paddle out here, as the current is too strong when it gets big. One of them suggested that I use a bigger board, some kind of semi gun, a 6’9″. At that point I didn’t really have an excuse to not give it a go.

In the end, ten Brazilians and myself surfed all day in some solid surf. How often do you surf a wave of that size for 800 meters! Some people say it was 8 ft, some even say it was 10ft – whatever it was, we had a ball and caught some bombs. It might not huge to international standard, but what a great way to finish my 6 weeks in Peru.

In fact; a Brazilian looked at me without smiling and said: It’s the best day of my life… it was up there for me too!

I am off to Nicaragua today.

– Ben

Who am I? My name is Ben Herrgott and I started surfing a few years after moving to Australia in 2002.
After working for 10 years in Melbourne, I recently decided to catch-up on all the years I didn’t surf, and try to fast-track my learning. It’s an investment in my future: if I surf all kind of waves with all kind of people in all kind of countries for one year, I’m bound to improve enough to ensure that I will have a ball every time I drive 2hours for a surf… I am not sure how this blog will evolve, but my simple plan is to show photos and video clips of the places I will find, and make the most of these locations.

Pacasmayo, big swell from ben herrgott on Vimeo.