And for three days, not just one!
Well that certainly took a sharp turn. More later, but in the meantime, Kelly Slater and his Surf Ranch have altered surfing in more ways than can be neatly summed here. The reality that a wave, nearly perfect, could be conjured with the push of a button instead of waiting for Surfline to report storms, that surfing can be practiced anywhere on earth, that waves have monetary value, all groundbreaking.
And it is regarding the latter, surfing’s price economically established, where we lay our scene. A day at Surf Ranch reportedly runs from $50,000 in the offseason, to $70,000 at peak times. Groups can get together and share the cost though, of course, wave count per person is altered. Still, the facility is private, no interlopers feeding off crumbs etc.
Well, according to a source in deep southern Mexico, a group of enterprising surfers, “middle-aged dudes from Southern California,” allegedly, took Surf Ranch financial model to one of the world’s greatest right hand point breaks, Barra de la Cruz, and rented it for three days at $20,000 US total.
Barra, you’ll recall, burst into the surf consciousness in 2006 when the World Surf League nee Association of Surfing Professionals traveled there for “Search” event. The waves were perfect, pumping overhead barrels, and the late, great Andy Irons took the cup with an unforgettable performance in what is still considered “the greatest contest of all-time.
Back to our modern day, the source shared that he/she rolled up to Barra’s gate and was met by a woman informing him the beach was closed for a private event from Tuesday through Thursday. It was initially assumed it was for a contest but, through some sleuthing, discovered the middle-aged Southern Californian buy.
The local folks were not happy, being shut out of the homebreak and, moreover, setting the precedent that a wave like Barra can be purchased by wealthy interlopers.
Wealth disparity etc.
On the surface, $20,000 for three days of Barra de la Cruz seems like the deal of the century. But in this climate where more and more is going to fewer and fewer the optics, as they say, might be not great.
Thoughts?
And if you could rent one wave in the world for three days, which would you choose?
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Cabo sucks.
Lotta “Cabo’s” if you knew….
After pondering this a bit further, they did Not ‘rent’ the wave—they rented ‘access’ to the wave through the town.
You cannot legally own a wave in Mexico—(Not yet anyway).
This is so messed up!! Just another obnoxious result of Mass Marketing surfing to a mainstream audience. It just made some parasitic clothing company execs rich, while simultaneously flooding the waves with everyday jocks and soccer moms, because they made it an “acceptable” sport. These are the kind of pricks who think it’s ok to rent out Barra. Most of these knobs would have never even attempted surfing without the mass marketing of surfing via Roxy, Quick etc. They would have stuck with basketball, golf and tennis.
Now these rich guys with no conscience, happily exploit a resource like Barra to the exclusion of all others. Souless douchebags! I guess it’s what we get for buying the “surf t-shirts” that turned the mainstream on to a once special thing. Little did we know we were feeding the monster.
Maybe it’s too late, but stop supporting an industry that doesn’t support you. Buy only necessary surf hard goods and screw all the “surf lifestyle” companies. Go book your own trip and do it without a tour operator. Don’t feed the machine. If we’re lucky, surfing will go out of fashion someday.
As for what wave would you rent for 3 days? Screw you for asking! Anybody who thinks it’s OK to buy Barra or any other wave in the ocean is part of the problem.
Well said.
Sorry Chas, he thinks you’re part of the problem.
Agreed, and while they may have the right to keep you off land that they own, they have no legal right to keep you out of the water—it’s just getting to the water that’s the problem.
Baja is part of Mexico, and no one has or owns rights to waves there, but just about every access to a surf break Between Tijuana and Ensenada is blocked by fences by people who own the land in front of the breaks, similar to the Ranch, so good luck trying to get in.
You could still boat in or try to walk in from down the coast in Mexico , (legally)—but with laws and corruption such as they are in Mexico—a little intimidation from the locals in a 3rd world country —goes a long way— they’re gonna protect their little gold-mine.
It’s only gonna get worse— there, and other places.
Liquid-gold.
Comment of the month
i kept it clean with familiar names, yes.
What guys today don’t know is the thrill of adventure, finding stuff.It’s still there, but you can’t look for parking lots.
Laundering doesn’t often include good architecture
The corridor in Southern Baja is an eyesore, RIP old friend SJD
Questions :
Who were the surfers?
Where were they from?
Were there any females involved?
What tax bracket are they in?
Did they have a filmer? ( Of course they did!)
Obtain a copy of the sessions and edit it down for our short attention spans.
Project it on The World Wide Spiderweb.
It should be good for a laugh………………..
Surfing has become such a clusterfuck, I’m not outraged by privatization. 3 days at Barra alone are worth 30G’s easy.
No fucking wave counts either.
Almost cheap in some circles.
you think building an entire coast with unsustainable monster resorts hasn’t been gamed by the construction costs? Fonatour is Cartels.
Build build build.
have the No 3 give us a discount on the back 40///
i wore home-made surf gloves~
blue nun wa a HS intoxicant…Mom still wants me to be a Priest…:Mom, I’m a shaman~Have a few followers…surfers. “Don’t they work anymore?”
Mexicans following the Tavarua business model
so, if anyone says anything against this, they’re racist and hate Mexicans.
MBGA
palapa’s chick is your daughter at the border selling frutas…mang or’r peaches…at Chas’ Beach…
father serra was a gnarly priest…I can testify….hundreds of years later…
time_nelson
Tavarua used to be cool.
“the Tavarua business model”.
Very good, but I believe Tavarua actually had ‘legal’ rights to the wave at the time—while these jokers don’t.
don’t be a gringo…worms are protein…salud!
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I’ve lost track of what we were arguing about
Indica. You mispelled.
answer: both sativa and indica amp you up. been tested on monkey’s, gorillas and worried editor/bloggers/coders/free-lancers…Coors keeps us leveled out. SEA LEVEL..
Waves worth paying for exclusive access if there is guaranteed swell.
Barra
12 I can’t name or else VONR will explode
Restaurants
Cloudie
Entrie Bukit
Macafuckingroni’s
Lances, either side
10 more places I can’t name
Jeffrey’s
Malibu
Rincon
This is a stupid exercise.
Since society can’t manage themselves and chaos is the new normal, 20 G’s is cheap for empty quality. Unless you know where to go….
tortillas&monteqiua…butta~
20 gs is cheap?
For whom?
Entitled Americanos?
You have 5 buddies, you’re in for less than 4 grand each.
Cheap by any measure. Go spend more at a resort and watch out for your bar bill or stay at home and surf garbage. That’s the cool thing about freedom, choice.
How much do Indo boat trips coast K44?
Hey now
You’ve gone full life guru and it suits you.
So Virtuous. “I wouldn’t rent a wave!”
Gorilla, I’d rent Barra in a snap. You ready?