California 2 Puerto Rico » Surf

Rachel Tanner Surf Slideshow – Aguadilla Marriott

Stefan — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 19:47:25 +0000

Rachel Tanner, Puerto Rico Surf Photographer (amongst other photography talents), is being featured at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel and Casino in Aguadilla on November 5th at 7:00pm. I wanted to post this, because the world tour of surfing is in town and it will probably be lots of fun to go check out Rachels photos as well as see the who’s who of competitive surfing these days. For one, Kelly Slater is going for his 10th world title.

Jordy Smith is the only surfer who can still feel the chop from Slater’s wake. If Slater wants to get this thing over with and not worry about Smith, he needs a third place finish or better. If Slater gets a fifth or a ninth, Smith can take the fight to Hawaii with a first. If Slater gets a thirteenth or a twenty-fifth, Smith needs a third. And if Smith get a fifth or worse, than Slater will be champion even with a twenty-fifth.

-Source

Here’s the thing, there are so many great surfers competing from Puerto Rico that all these guys have the chance of getting knocked out by a local PR ripper. Just to name a few; Darren Muschette, Brian Toth, Dylan Graves, Carlos Cabrero, Alejandro Moreda, Pablo Dias just to name a few (if I left some out and you want to be added, email me and I’ll add to the list, or comment them in!).

I digress; If you are in Rincon or anywhere on the west side of the island, go check out the slideshow, it’s bound to be a good time with GREAT photos.

Pre-Sydney, Summer and I would cruise out there to play black jack, Caribbean stud poker and Texas Hold ‘Em Poker. It is the newest casino hotel on the west side of Puerto Rico and is located a few blocks away from the BQN (Ramey Base) airport.

First, here is the flyer Rachel sent out to all of her friends..next are some Google Map directions to the Marriott Hotel & Casino in Aguadilla by the airport and last is google’s widget if you know the address of where you are located.

View Courtyard Marriott Aguadilla in a larger map

Great Surfing Video of Puerto Rico

Stefan — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 03:48:36 +0000

It has been a long time since Summer and I have posted, but it has been a long time since we have been at the house. Our friends are living at the house with the dogs while Summer, Sydney and I travel.

One of my friends on facebook just posted this video, stating; This is Puerto Rico. I couldn’t agree with him more. Check it out:

Surf Anonymously in Rincon and Become Famous

Stefan — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 01:10:08 +0000

A great friend of mine, Mark Buondonno, takes surf photos in Rincon every season. Big days or small days, he is on the beach taking shots. If it weren’t for his back injury, he would be in the water with the same commitment. I was at his house the other day and saw a few of his images that he was commissioned to print on stretch canvas. All the shots were from the same swell at Tres Palmas and the stretched canvas turned out insane. So insane, that I wanted to give him a plug on the blog.

Here is the photo I took with my iPhone:

If you want to get a hold of Mark to look through is portfolio for shots of you (while you were in Rincon PR on a surf trip) or would like to find some tasteful just ocean and wave shots to have blown up to be framed or stretched onto canvas, check out his PhatAndTan.com website or fill out our contact form with your email address and phone number and I’ll have Mark get in touch with you.

Thanks for the good shots this winter Mark!

Surf, Work and Guests – Busy Rincon Life

Stefan — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 18:22:47 +0000

Like Summer said over here, between guests, house projects and surfing we have not made enough time for the blog lately. Having guests has its privileges. Everybody that has come down has offered to help with projects around the house, so we have been putting all of our friends to work while they are in Rincon on vacation. It’s nice having a little army of workers, we are getting some big projects done (ie. staining all the mahogany trim and runner boards). We have also had a couple of great surf days. Surf, work and guests makes for a busy Rincon life.

A huge low pressure system moved off of the east coast and its pressure dropped to 980mb’s. That is the same pressure as a category 3 hurricane! It produced a long period (14 seconds) swell that gave us waves for about 5 days. On the bigger days, all of the little waves in the bay were lining up great. Smaller waves but great form.

Little Malibu in Rincon Puerto Rico

The low pressure system that gave us some great surf.

If you want to see some surfing pictures from that day in Rincon, you can see all the photos Mark Buondono took on his website/blog: www.fatandtan.com

The Bronco is Broke

Stefan — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:22:27 +0000

I woke up early this morning in anticipation of the North East swell that started rolling in last night. I checked Puntas side and it was mostly closed out and about head high. I drove over and ultimately surfed at Marias. It was head high, somewhat lined up and glassy on the sets. After a great 3 hour surf session, I got out to start a long day of work and the Bronco wouldn’t start.

When I would turn the key, it would just click. I tried jumping it with someone elses truck, put in a new battery and banged on the starter trying to get it to do something besides click. No such luck. It is still sitting next to The Calypso looking all beat up. Stupid Bronco. Looks like I have one more thing to add to my to do list before I leave town on Friday night.

Clean House
~~Fix Fence in back yard~~
Install Track Lighting
~~Weed the garden~~
~~Mow the lawn~~
~~Do Laundry~~
~~Socialize Monkey and Kuta with RT and Nora’s dogs (they are staying here)~~
Launch big work project
Fix the Bronco

Here is what made the situation even better. I stepped on a piece of glass while I was walking around the Bronco. Mike stopped to help and gave me a pair of pliers to pull out the glass. While I was operating on the toe on my right foot, my left foot rolled over a bumble bee and it stung me right in the arch of my foot. So far today; delicious coffee, a bunch of fun waves, one really good top turn, truck won’t start, glass in foot, stung by bee. Life is cyclical, the rest of the day is going to be great!

UPDATE::
Eddie the Mechanic picked me up and drove me over to the Bronco. He cleaned out all the receptors and it still wouldn’t start. He then shoved a crow bar behind the fan and turned the engine a half of a rotation. After that, it started right up. He told me I need a new starter. The Bronco is now back in the driveway. I hope I can get to it before I head out of town.

Why Did We Move to Puerto Rico?

Summer — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 07:03:37 +0000

When people find out that Stefan and I live in Puerto Rico, most people ask: “Why did you move to Puerto Rico?!”

Well, let me put it to you this way…

Stefan about to get shacked in PR:

Photo: Rachel Tanner

And there you have one of the many reasons why we moved from California to Puerto Rico .

Finally, Puerto Rico Gets Some Surf

Stefan — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:06:04 +0000

It has been a long of summer of no surf in Rincon. Plenty of time to plant, build and work. However, that doesn’t leave much time to keep my sanity! Two/Three months without surf makes Stefan a dull boy.

This past hurricane (Hanna) that cruised north of us, then south east to hit us and then back up North sent us some waves…just not in Rincon. I drove up to Isabella and surfed with about 50 of my closest friends (just kidding). It was head high to a couple feet over head, glassy and lined up.

Yesterday, I surfed in Rincon. I don’t have pictures but it was a South swell wrapping around the point and breaking in front of The Tamboo. Glassy lefts breaking into the bay towards Aguadilla. That swell direction is so uncharacteristic of Rincon it is weird to see the waves breaking there. There was a bunch of sand on the bottom where there is normally reef. I broke one leash and busted out the center fin of my fish. Not really a good day for equipment, but perfect for my head.

Hurricane Bertha Misses Puerto Rico

Stefan — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:36:53 +0000

Not much to say about Hurricane Bertha as far as Puerto Rico goes. By the looks of the ‘predicted path’ it is moving North and is going to sweep by Bermuda, hopefully causing minimal damage if any at all and no injuries. The thing with hurricanes is that you can’t write them off until they have completely dissipated over cold water. For that reason, I’ll keep an eye on it for the next few days.

As far as waves go in Puerto Rico, the hurricane didn’t push any swell over to Rincon. Rumor has it that it was head high up North yesterday, but the trade winds were blowing hard all day (makes the wave faces choppy and less desirable). When I woke up at 6:00am this morning, the trades were already pushing a gorgeous sea breeze through our master bedroom. It’s probably really windy up there again today.

There Is No Surf In Puerto Rico

Summer — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 02:55:12 +0000

The surf in Rincon, PR has been dead flatter then flat for the past 2 months. This is weird for me. I grew up in San Diego where a “flat spell” lasted 3 days at the most and it wasn’t really flat (you could still ride a wave on a surfboard 365 days out of the year). Here in Puerto Rico, when I say it is flat, it is completely flat. NO OLAS, at all.

Stefan and I are sick of being dry docked, and we decided it was time to get back into the ocean, surfboard or no surfboard…So we got kayaks!

We heard a rumor that Sam’s Club had kayaks back in stock (for $499 each), so we picked up a pair.

Here is Stefan kayaking at Tres Palmas. Weird how Tres can go from 40 ft surf to absolutely nothing at all…

After paddling around in the new kayaks for a couple of hours, Stefan and I decided to play a game of (giant) chess at one of the local Rincon resorts.

It was lots of fun, but kayaking and chess (or anything else) are simply diversions for surfers…Donde estas tus olas, Puerto Rico?

Big Waves Big House

Stefan — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:31:57 +0000

I surfed this morning with one friend of mine (we didn’t arrange the surf, we were both at the same place and same time) some pretty good waves. There is a solid North North West Swell pushing towards Puerto Rico at about 7ft at 13 seconds. The sets were a couple feet overhead, oil slick glass and lined up for 200 yards if you chose the right wave and surfed fast enough. We were out alone for about an hour and a half before 6 other people came paddled out to join in the phone. The waves were good, all of the seasonal surfers are outta here and we scored with just a few people out!

I paddled out at 6:00am sharp after making coffee, loading up the back of the Tacoma with trash and driving it up to our designated trash area (today is trash day) and waxing up my board after its recent visit to the ding doctor. I got out of the water at 9:30 exhausted an already thinking about work. I have a lot to do this morning and have afternoon meetings lined up until 5:30 (1.5 hours of surf before dark). After about 3.5 hours of very productive computer time (10 minutes ago), I decided that I wanted to take a 45 minute break, grab Summer and check the surf via a nice walk on the beach (working on the Internet in a home office has its advantages to my lifestyle, I can’t surf at night but I can work on the web!).

Sounds pretty good right? There is only one problem. I can’t find Summer! Both of our trucks are here, the dogs are kickin’ it in the back yard and my walk through of the house yelling her name like a little kid didn’t produce my girlfriend! Man, this house is so much bigger than we thought when we bought it. We laughed at the idea of a home intercom system when it was suggested to us, but with all the fans on and pure magnitude of our house, it’s just plain old difficult to find each other sometimes.