El Salvador – No Fear riders practice what they preach when it comes to surf
Story and Photos: Toby Ogden
When somebody mentions El Salvador, most people get the conception that the place is a dangerous, unstable society with gang members and women eating chicken feet on the sides of roads. In fact that is the truth. El Salvador statistically has the highest murder rates in the world. What better trip for a few NO FEAR surf groms to pack some boards and a couple pairs of board shorts and head down to get some fun waves. To be honest, The accommodations in El Salvador at Las Flores Resort were that of a 4 star hotel with an awesome view of the ocean, AC, wireless internet, great food and service. Just a few steps away from a super fun right-hand point break and a boat on call to explore other fun waves along the coast.
X pro surfer Doug Silva took the 3 groms, Britt Galland, Keala Nighe, and Dominic Dipetero down to El Salvador for 5 days to work with each kid and to coach them on different things that they individually needed to work on with their surfing and take them up a few levels. The long right point break was perfect for the groms coaching and progression.
After the guys got back from their journey they had time to reflect on a once in a lifetime trip.
Here is a little Q & A from the groms.
We start with Britt Galland first:
So Britt, what was the trip like from the Airport to the Las Flores Surf Club in East El Salvador?
The car trip from the airport to the surf club was super long, but I had a whole row of the van to myself and went to sleep. Every time I woke up and looked outside we were in a street filled with poverty, one with a three legged dog, one with old ladies eating chicken feet from a bowl, and one even had people selling inappropriate DVDs next to the kids cartoon section. All of it was super intriguing.
What did you think about the surf club property and accommodations?
The property was really nice, we had one of the suites of the club and had a perfect view of the point break in front of the hotel. Everyone that worked there was really nice and remembered your name.
What was the weather like down there in August?
Really hot, humid, and sunny. Not in a bad way, but the only time you would ever throw a shirt on is at dinner to protect you from the human sized insects.
How did the 84-degree water affect your wax?
I had base coat and tropical wax on my board, the tropical wax completely melted off and I was surfing with just base coat on. Good thing I was using bubble gum wax.
How was the food at Las Flores?
The food was AMAZING! Not once did I have a bad dish, they give you a menu with about 7 things for you to choose from, all of them are excellent
What kind of surf were you expecting to score in El Salvador?
Well, from the pictures we saw of the pics we were thinking we were hoping for some big barrels and more punchy of surf
What kind of surf did you actually get?
Well even though we didn’t get it barreling and punchy we still got some fun rippable waves, its a really good wave to work on a lot of different things
How much do the tides affect the quality of the surf?
Basically the wave is only good on low tide, usually the tide comes up in the afternoon with the wind and the waves go to crap but that’s our time to eat, sleep, and blast the trance music in our room.
How many different spots did you guys surf during your stay?
Two, Las Flores the point straight out and Punta Mango, which was a right point break about 15 min. Boat ride up the different points.
Were the spots sand bottom or rock and reef?
The point straight out was more of a sand bottom and Punta Mango was more cobble stone reef
What was the best session of the trip?
Probably the last two days of the trip when the swell came in. We got some fun shoulder high waves that went on for a really long time
Anyone get sick or injured on the trip?
Ya, Keala tried to do a super man and his tail hit him in the nose and broke it, there was blood EVERYWHERE in the water and on Doms towel, we were scared he was gonna have to go home but he man’d up.
What did your coach, Doug Silva have you working on during your sessions?
Each person had there own thing to work on, mine was to keep my right arm in front of me and to keep my left leg more bent, we all benefited from him being there with us on the trip.
How was Doug’s surfing?
Definitely for sure on of my favorite surfers of all time, he’s really fast and powerful, I hope I can surf like him one day
What did you guys do when you weren’t surfing?
I brought my ipod speakers with me on the trip and put my techno/trance play list on loop and 24/7 we had trance, I think we may have turned it off twice the whole trip, once to switch trance play lists and another when we were leaving the surf club.
Who surfed the most out of your crew?
Probably Dom Grom. We was frothing constantly and was always ripping
Are there many towns nearby? Any night life?
We were on the edge of one sketch town and there was a couple we saw on our way to the airport, the guy that drove us said that they had a good trance club but I was over that. ha-ha
What would it be like to live down there?
Its a really nice place to visit and get away, but at the end I was ready to go home, its a nice place and all but its kinda sketchy with the town and all
Are there a lot of local surfers in the Eastern part of El Salvador?
There was a couple that we saw, they actually surfed really good, but some have a back paddling problem, but we weren’t bothered by it, this was there break and we would probably do the same at our own breaks
Next up we heard from Keala Nighe :
Can you get by with just boardies and tee shirts down there?
For sure! That’s all I used the entire trip
What was the weather like down there in August? Extremely hot sunny days. Then at night it would rain with occasional thunder and lightning
How was the food at Las Flores? Best steak I had in my life
How much do the tides affect the quality of the surf? Low tide is a perfect 3-4ft point break. On high tide its a 1-2ft beach break
What was the best session of the trip? Last day getting back paddled the entire session that was pretty fun
Anyone get sick or injured on the trip? I broke my nose the second day of the trip. Luckily it wasn’t too bad and it only kept me out of the water for the remainder of that day.
Some people think El Salvador is unstable and not so safe for tourism? Did you guys see any signs of that? I think its the complete opposite. There are guys holding shot guns at every store, resort etc.
What did your coach, Doug Silva have you working on during your sessions? Connection and flow
How was Doug’s surfing? 3 words. Speed, Power, Flow
Who surfed the most out of your crew? I think little Britt got the most surfing time in on our trip. He was always the first one up in the morning. Amped up to go surf.
Are there many towns nearby? Any night life? We never really went anywhere. We just stayed at the resort. But the night life was pretty fun we had Techno going in our room all night.
What would it be like to live down there? It would be pretty difficult. I don’t think I could live in that heat without A/C.
Are there a lot of local surfers in the Eastern part of El Salvador?
Lots of local surfers and they are all pretty aggressive. So, its important to get out there when the crowd is small.
And last but not least Dominic Dipetero shared some thoughts too:
What was the trip like from the Airport to the Las Flores Surf Club in East El Salvador?
When we arrived at the airport there was a mob of locals waiting for family members and they were staring at us gringos giving us a weird vibe. The shuttle ride was long and there was some cool scenery.
What did you think about the surf club property and accommodations?
The shuttle ride was long and there was some cool scenery but when we arrived at Las Flores I was blown away by how spectacular the place was.
How did the 84-degree water affect your wax?
I started out using tropical but it started melting off so by the end of the trip I was using straight base coat.
What was the best session of the trip?
Morning of our last day. Low tide, with long walled up rights.
Some people think El Salvador is unstable and not so safe for tourism? Did you guys see any signs of that?
Yeah we saw people living in the jungle that would definitely rob you if they got a chance, Toby almost got jacked.
What did your coach, Doug Silva have you working on during your sessions?
Doug made me surf with more energy and told me to try to injure the wave.
What did you guys do when you weren’t surfing?
Watching Harold and Kumar, grinding, listening to trance, or hanging out by the pool.
Who surfed the most out of your crew?
Toby
What would it be like to live down there?
You would score good waves but you would have to work really hard to make a living.
Are there a lot of local surfers in the Eastern part of El Salvador?
Yes. Las Flores had its share of mosquitoes.
