Natural Beauty

The first three months I spent in Pichilemu, I saw some of the best waves I have ever seen in my life. Beautiful, crystalline barrels running down a sandy point almost everyday. I was spending more daylight hours in the water than out of the water. It was great and I couldn´t help but tell people about it. I mean it was absolutely incredible.

So my parents and brother decide to head down to see this cold water perfection. They make plans while I steal up north to Peru to avoid the winter here in Pichilemu. I spent two months away from Pichilemu but when I came back the wave had been completely changed. I knew this was a possibility as the wave here is a sand point so it´s incredibly sensitive to wind, rain and swell. There happened to be all three while I was gone. A huge storm came through with Northerly winds, monster surf and so much rain that the rivermouth broke open and poured sand into the well formed point leaving it broken out of shape like a frat boy on Sunday morning.

There has been some swell pass through Pichilemu, and since my brother has been here for a couple weeks we´ve gotten some good days at Pichilemu/Punta de Lobos, but it´s been a shadow of it´s former self. But my dad doesn´t even get to see what my brother saw. Reyn at least got to see three weeks of swells start to reshape the point, until, the day before my parents left, a huge southern ocean swell came through. I had thought it would possibly be the best thing for the point as south winds and swell usually lead to a better forming of the point, however I was wrong. The size of the swell and possibly the fact that it was more westerly than normal completely undid the past three weeks grooming. My dad got here and we paddled out for a couple mediocre (by Pichilemu standards) waves. My dad was cool enough to say that he could see the potential, but there is something about actually seeing a wave of this break. It´s like seeing a bald eagle if you are an ornithologist or a lion if you are a safari trekker. It is impressive to see in the magazines, but to see it in real life, just seems to add a special bit of magic to your life. You understand that you are in the presence of greatness, which is just as important and impressive (if not more so) in the non human world as it is within it. I think it´s great that we recognize greatness and its importance in the human world. How special it is to read Catcher in the Rye/Great Gatsby/On the Road, or watch Kobe Bryant/Tiger Woods play their respective sports. But I think it gets lost how amazing greatness is outside of the human touch. And for that I´m sorry that my dad and brother don´t get to see what the wave at Pichilemu is, or what it can be.