Riptide Magazine

The Aus Contigent has Landed in Arica.

Last Updated on Monday, 17 May 2010 08:17

A postcard from Chile

Well, I’m not sure who coined the phase “the best part of the trip is getting there”, but who ever it was obviously hadn’t travelled to Arica, Chile from Sydney. Three long haul flights, at least 10 aeroplane meals you wish you never ate, 12 hours of lay-over’s, another 13 hours that disappeared somewhere along the international date line and 1 case of extreme sleep deprivation. Safe to say I had a 20-hour sleep in mind once my head met the pillow at Hotel Arica.

But it wasn’t the case, 6am the very next day it was El Gringo at an inviting 6ft. Waves have proper pumped everyday since, the level of riding so far is nothing short of unbelievable and I’m more than certain half of this year’s tour competitors have coped a 10ft clean up over the past two days. Seems as though when the best are in the same place at the one time in Chile, riding just gets taken to the next level, I’m trying my best not to over hype this post, but there has been some incredible surfing these past couple of days. This is a tour event believe me, not just a short right rip bowl between the flags, it’s an event that would make anyone in any sport sit back and appreciate. El Gringo is what bodyboarding is all about and everyone here knows it, in fact the whole town knows it! Check the billboard, haha.

Looking forward to the contest, think it might start tomorrow.

TEXT & PHOTOS // dallassinger.com

We've also got this clip from the Arica Chilean Challenge homepage:

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