A trip with the Ride Engine crew is sure to be an off-the-charts adventure, and this one was no exception! On a mission to find endless, uncrowded, peeling waves, the RE team set off to Chile. In this exclusive article, Brandon Scheid takes us along for the ride in the land of lefts!

More often than not, when people imagine their dream kiteboard and surf vacation, they conjure up images of azure waters, palm tree lined coastlines, and tropical sun-soaked sessions in boardshorts. This concept that the idyllic kitesurfing vacation is somehow intimately tied to warmth is a mainstay of the kite/surf "travel industry" After all, who wouldn't want to have a picturesque tropical wave paradise all to themselves? However, because so many like-minded people share the same tropical vacation dream, you may find that when you arrive at your previously imagined location, it's a bit more crowded than expected.

What if I told you that if you only expand your location expectations, there are endless, uncrowded, peeling waves and windswept shores around the globe? Those open-minded individuals willing to say yes to a little bit of adventure and not afraid to don some thicker neoprene will find their efforts greatly rewarded. After all, there is a lot more swell in the colder regions of the planet than in the tropics.

Enter the RE crew of willing adventurers and our fearless leader/planner Gary Siskar. Always one for an off-the-charts adventure, Gary chose the location of this year's annual product shoot with a careful hand. We needed somewhere with beautiful backdrops and endless days of wind and waves, somewhere off the maps, where the crowd wouldn't become a factor. Luckily for us, during the previous year's RE group trip to Peru, we heard about Jesse Faen's amazing house on the central coast of Chile. He often spoke of long powerful empty point breaks, daily dense, strong wind, and a pristine, untouched coastline. These conversations must have stuck in the mind of trip leader Gary because when it came time to pick a location, Chile magically found its way to the top of the list. 

A few months later, bleary-eyed from travel, we all met up and traded travel stories in the small cafe at the arrivals zone of the Santiago airport terminal. While we awaited coffee and our first empanadas, fuel for the six-hour drive ahead, we started to try and flesh out our imagined ideas about where exactly we were going. Luckily, we had two seasoned Chile veterans in tow, Jesse and Manuel. Jesse Faen has been coming to the area for over two decades and has helped put central Chile on the map in the world of professional surfing. Manuel Selman hails from Chile and has had many a trip to the zone of famous points we were about to set off towards. Fortunately, the long drive ahead would provide ample time for them to fuel the group's stoke and get everyone mentally set up for what was in store for the coming days. Although, no amount of adjective-filled explanation, long winded stories, or minute details could prepare us for what lay ahead. 

Chile has this funny way of consistently exceeding expectations, especially if you have very few to begin with. For all of us, save our trusty guides, this was our first trip to the rugged coasts of Chile. As we got closer and closer to our final destination, you could feel the energy of the group begin to grow, culminating in our first view of the coastline, complete with long lines of breaking swell.

If I were to describe the region we arrived at, it reminded me of what California's central/northern coast would have been like in the 50s. The undulating coastline is filled with big rugged headlands protruding out into the cold water. A very pervasive marine layer sets the tone for the area's weather, and the fauna is skewed towards the coastal rainforested vibes of the PNW. Because the central Chilean coast is not on the mainstay traveller's map, many visitors either stop at Punta Lobos or keep going south, leaving the area relatively unpopulated. 

Most of the small towns in the area were either based around a robust fishery, small-scale agriculture, or logging. There was a small sector of hotels, vineyards, and restaurants; however, most of the region was refreshingly relatively rural, with small towns filled with happy people. We were surprised to find most of the local Chileans living a lifestyle most of us would be jealous of; a life outside, surrounded by close family and friends, in a beautiful region of the country. 

There was, to our surprise, a small budding surf culture in the immediate areas surrounding the region's various world-class point breaks. It seems wherever in the world clean waves break, there is interest in riding them. Although the rigours of a small-town fisherman allow little time for recreation in the sea, we found plenty of frothy Chilean surfers in the lineups and surf school programs swelling with kids excited to boast of the great waves in their small hometowns. I've had the great fortune to travel all over the globe, and I have never had more positive experiences in the lineup than I did in Chile. That was if there was even anyone in the lineup with you. Most days, we surfed and kited alone.

The conditions, on the other hand, were far from forgiving and friendly. The coast of Chile is quite rugged, and most of the waves break on or around rocky headlands or outcroppings. While some of the points hold sand, making the bottom a bit more forgiving, most heave right onto kelp-covered rocky shelves. Not only are the waves breaking in somewhat hazardous places, the waves themselves are also extremely powerful. The coast of Chile is bathed in large, long periods of south swell for the better part of the year. One look at a surf forecasting site will set the tone for what's to be expected, and power is the name of the game. Tall open faces and cavernous pits await all who dare enter the sea. 

Conveniently for our purposes, a lot of these large points are exposed to the barrage of the southerly winds, and boy, oh boy, does it blow. A typical windy day will start socked in with a heavy marine layer. As this begins to burn off and the inland temp rises, a hard wind line can be spotted offshore. This wind line hits the coast like the flip of a switch, and the cold and dense winds begin to blow. Most of the true windy days saw gusts well over 30 knots, causing us to reach for the 6m kites in the peak of the day's wind, something most kitesurfers only dream of.

There's nothing worse than really big waves and light wind, and luckily, during our trip, we had enough wind to help us attack the large, powerful faces. With a plethora of waves to choose from in the area, we would often spend the early hours on caffeine and egg-fueled recon missions. This meant a bit of time driving from spot to spot, gathering intel for the day's shooting location, something every surfer can relate to. 

Life in search of conditions is filled with constant excitement and numerous letdowns. You have to be willing to drive just a little bit further, look around the next corner, and carry stoke about the possibility of the unknown, something this particular crew of adventurers was very good at. Never was there disappointment arriving at a location, only the desire to explore a bit further with the hopes of finding the session of our lives just a little further down the road. It was this very attitude that led to some of the best sessions of the trip.

One standout was the day we proved you can go right in Chile. The forecast for the day was very strange, with winds from the NW, opposite of the normal direction and less ideal for left-hand points. With the assumed down day, we headed off to explore a bit and shoot some b roll for the video and photo marketing collaterals. When we arrived at the beach location, complete with a massive arch and sea caves, we noticed a bit of breeze on the water. The swell was maxed out, and the large waves were heaving onto the reef break, a random right-hander. As we got deeper into the shooting, my wind spidey sense started tingling. I was convinced there was a session to be had, and on my frontside nonetheless. 

No one else on the trip was seeing what I was or had any desire to go out into the questionable wind and relentless waves. They opted to run beach support crew as I got in the neoprene and mentally prepared for a probable beating. I ended up being reasonably powered on the 9m SST and slowly coaxed my way deeper and deeper onto the peak. After several close calls, and a few fun waves, I ended up putting my kite down in the water. As I was on the inside, I immediately hit my release and started swimming for the beach. Luckily, the kite washed up on the sandy shore, and the support crew was able to wrangle up all the gear. I feel like I got away with a little something special that day, going right in the land of lefts.

Perhaps the greatest session of the trip was a sunset at La Serena, one of our most ridden spots on the trip. The break known as La Serena, with its long walls and exposure to the SW winds, breaks down a long sandy beach with only a few rocks in the water. This made it the most forgiving of the waves in the area, lending confidence to the group. This truly is one of those kitesurfing dream waves. A proper set wave would reel off down the long point, allowing for 10+ turns. And its low-lying headland made for relatively smooth wind all the way into the inside section of the wave. 

During one of the better days of swell, we struggled to get solid wind conditions on the wave, and the group was hemming and hawing on what to do. Gary and I decided we would give it a go on our big kites (9m) and see if we could spark the group's stoke. While the wind was a bit funky, Gary and I traded off on perfect waves for the better part of an hour as the rest of the crew scrambled to get all their gear together. By the time everyone got out and got a few waves, the wind pulled back out, and we all ended up walking back up the beach. However, it felt like Gary and I got the best of it, and we were so amped to have had such a great session. It ended up being the last great kitesurfing session of the trip, one I'm grateful I motivated for, and a stellar way to end our adventure in this remote part of Chile.

 

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Left of Nowhere
By Brandon Scheid

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