We just wrapped up week 2 of the 3rd annual Mitu Wave Camp in San Carlos, Baja, Mexico and we were blessed with an epic south swell and plenty of wind. We want to thank Solosports (Kevin, Joey, Lauren, Clark and all the crew who work tirelessly to provide great food, booze, etc… in this remote place that has no electricity nor water); and who have been hosting guests in this awesome place since 1988 (and the reason why this camp exists in the first place), F-One International for helping with Mitu’s logistics and of course Mitu for being Mitu and shredding those big waves! We had an awesome new group of guests and we want to thank all of you for being a part of this special wave camp, and hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Thank you again Tod (USA), Bonnie (USA), Brian (USA), Aaron (USA), Marcus (USA), Ariel (USA), Cindy (USA), Paco (USA), Ken (USA), Cam (USA) & Laurel (USA); hope to see you again next year!
What a week! We were told the forecast looked great and indeed it was, with the biggest south swell of the season to roll through San Carlos. In my 4th times going down to San Carlos, these were by far the best conditions I had seen and the spot came alive big time.
After a quick flight from Brown Field (and a pit stop in Ensenada to clear customs), we landed in San Carlos on Solosports private airstrip. I arrived a day before the start of Week 2 so I had the chance to meet the guests of the Week 1 camp.
The Week 2 new group all knew each other already, with the majority of them coming from the Bay Area and some already having spent time here in San Carlos in past years. Laurel came down from Montana with an eye on the forecast and joined the group last minute. Not a bad decision!
Saturday was a day with small waves and almost no wind so we all went SUPing, I had a great time in the Chilly Bowl with Ariel. Then starting on Sunday the swell started to build, and from this point on, it was game on! with plenty of wind (all week long, we used 6/7/8/9/10m kite for the most part ) and great waves with good period between them. The swell peaked on Wednesday with double overhead conditions and photographer Clark Merritt had a blast shooting Mitu all over the place. It was the Mitu Show ! The way San Carlos break works, it has something for everybody. Even in big conditions, the waves peel and roll in front of the camp and it’s super fun, in a way where you are not in survival mode and only trying to go down the line, you can actually work on your bottom and your top turns. Everybody improved immensely all week long.
Typical day started with a great breakfast (and special green juice with plenty of good stuff in it, courtesy of www.clubdetoxoc.com), some went biking, some stretching, some surfing, then at around 10am, Mitu will hold his daily briefings and we will also review video footage from the day before, and be able to work with each rider on the best way to improve his/her own riding skills. Everybody had between 2 and 3 sessions each each day, so needless to say a lot of exhausted faces at sunset with a big smile on their faces. We had our share of rescues, with Mitu and Cam on deck to help riders coming back safely to shore. Favorite board was the Mitu Pro Model! Everybody loved the Bandit kite in those conditions, offering power at will, being very nimble and drifting very nicely. In San Carlos, you don’t need to fly the kite too much when on the wave, you just bring it down and up depending on where you are on the wave. Mitu is a master at reading and riding waves, his coaching and advices are priceless.
At the end of the week, I thought there are a lot of places in this world to ride waves, but a lot of them are pretty extreme and don’t give you the confidence you need to attack the lip and improve your skills. San Carlos is just the best place I have been for learning and improving your skills, especially in conditions like this. We will back next year and we are already plotting with Solosports 2 x wave camps in the spring of 2017, dates not yet finalized. Stay tuned !
Nico Ostermann
F-One America
Photo Album: Browse below or click here
