Wave of the Day: Naxto Gonzalez at Puerto Escondido, June 14, 2021

How to wrestle a vicious foamball and a firehouse of spit -- and win


Puerto Escondido has had a banner season so far in the swell department. As is usual at Zicatela, it hasn't always been perfect -- closeouts outnumber a-frames 10-1 -- but there's been no shortage of solid to giant surf. Basque charger Natxo Gonzales has been posted up at Puerto for over a month now, and somehow managed to wrangle this crazy spitball of a wave and make it out unscathed on Monday morning.

"I’d been resting for a week after a nonstop swells," he explained. "I woke up at 6am and it was stormy again -- but the offshore was stronger than the last few days. There were some eight-foot a-frames in between rips, so I grabbed my 6'8" and I gave it a try. I spent all morning waiting for a bomb, and when this wave came in, I was almost too far out, so my first reaction was to paddle hard to the inside. I felt the wave sucking hard and I was a bit late and on the top of the wave. It was a crazy takeoff, but I put all the rail in, made it to the bottom and pulled in to a crystal blue, clean barrel. I was too deep, so I had to make a couple pumps -- there was a lot of pressure inside that cavern, I thought it would just explode. I couldn’t see more and just came out -- finally got a perfect wave after a month."

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