Reader Submissions
The Legend of Petacalco
Submitted by Bill Hall
My surf story has to do with Gerald Saunders who attended UCSB when I was there in the late 1960s. Gerald graduated in 1969 and then continued a remarkable pursuit of his passion, surfing. He surfed worldwide for over 40 years and sadly passed away from cancer last year in Kauai. Saunders grew up in Palos Verdes and after graduating UCSB spent major surfing time in France, Mexico, Kauai, Bali and points around the globe wherever the best surf and later snowboarding was happening. He surfed almost every year at G-Land in Indonesia for 25 years, often 6-8 weeks a year. He was a hardcore surfer with an unlimited passion for waves. Except for waves that roll through camp in the middle of the night. Below is a description and picture of the chaos created by the tsunami that hit the G-Land in 1994. Saunders was in camp and sleeping when the tsunami hit G-Land. He was not injured.
Link: Surfers Ride "THE BIG ONE"
Gerald Saunders was one of the few people to surf the LEGENDARY spot called Petacalco, about 300 miles north of Puerto Escondido in mainland Mexico. Saunders, in his lenghty Surfer's Journal article Winter 1999, stated that this spot had the BEST waves that he ever surfed. This really means something when you consider his 40 years of international surfing experience. He surfed Petacalco from 1971-1975, months each year, until it was ruined by damming and jetty construction of a nearby river, the Rio Balsas. Petacalco is certainly the Atlantis of surf spots. What could have been a national treasure for Mexico and the surfing world is gone. Below is the location of Petacalco.
From reports I have read, Petacalco truly rivaled the greatest surf breaks in the world, including North Shore of Oahu spots. Actually, I have never seen or read about a surf break quite like Petacalco. Mostly only a handful of VERY territorial surfers ever surfed it, including now deceased Pat Tobin (well known surfer/artist) from Laguna Beach. Pat stumbled upon this magnificent spot in 1970 and lived there in the 70s. He kept it VERY secret. Pat was the Gerry Lopez of this magical break. Here was the set-up. Deep submarine canyon focused waves on a beachbreak. Warm water, the unique geographic curve of the shoreline provided afternoon offshore winds (unusual in Mexico), with the surf averaging 6 feet plus and very consistent throughout the year. When the surf was 6-12 feet, waves broke very close to the beach, like Pipeline but closer in and both right and left. Cobblestone/sand bottom. At 12-20 feet the waves broke on an outside reef and looked like Sunset Beach, Oahu. At 25-50 feet plus (no one surfed this in the 70s but would now be perfect for tow-in surfing) the waves broke 500 meters outside and probably looked like Jaws on Maui.
Read the Winter 1999 Surfer's Journal story about Petacalco written by Gerald Saunders. This is one of the greatest yet least known stories in surfing lore. Imagine a single location providing Pipeline, Sunset Beach and Jaws quality waves!! Gerald Saunders, in his surfing life, truly lived an endless summer which included many magical years at the Atlantis of surf spots, Petacalco... Here are some extremely rare pictures of the break: Petacalco Montage.
In 2007 a few surfers towed into the outer break at Petacalco. Here are some amazing pictures taken that day: Gallery of Outer Break Petacalco Images.
Thanks for the submission Bill! --Jon
"HARVESTER: The California Urchin Diver Experience"
Harvester: The California Urchin Diver Experience from Highliner Films on Vimeo.
For more information, please visit www.highlinerfilms.com.
Videographer Andy Hahn's First Rincon Short of the 2008/2009 Season
In order of appearance: Conner Coffin, Max Kleet, Mike Walters, Travers Adler, Anthony Petruso, Brandon Smith, Some Kid in the tube, Aaron "ARSON" Ernst, & Trevor Gordon.
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a good information given about the Harvester ,Nice article thank you for posting..
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Lovely video i felt that i am doing surfing.
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