Throwback Thursday: Panama!
This video is taking you back to July of 2007. My friend Kyle and I were lost somewhere down on the Venao peninsula in Panama. We'd heard about two waves in a town not on the map at the time. It was named Cambutal. The first of the two breaks was called 411's and it was a sweet point that broke along cobblestones and sand bottom. It was a really fun wave and bowly, it just wrapped into this bay and went right forever. It was sketchy to park there so we only surfed for a half hour before adventuring on to find the second break.
At the edge of the wilderness in Cambutal, when you can't drive any farther, you reach a wave called "Cortocircuito". This translates to short circuit. The guide told us there were a lot of sharks, but I think he was just trying to scare us away from surfing. We had been hassled a little bit at 411's by some locals. They said something to him about not showing us where the waves were and my friend Kyle got punked on every wave he paddled for... so I think the guide was questioning if he should even be bringing us there. But, we pressed on and after almost getting stuck in a river of mud, we finally made it.
It was a great point, that was a little sketchy on the inside with all the rocks. Kyle shot all the video. I edited using Final Cut Pro 3 or 4 and a Macbook Pro. The music is a B-Side from the Hoodoo Gurus, an Australian new wave band from the 80's. I think they're way better than INXS and Men At Work, but what do I know?
In this video, I'm riding the last of a long line of 6'4 swallowtail jebshred models that Gee Rainbow shaped me over the course of two decades. It was a magic board, and during those times when hand-shaping was all you had, no two boards ever felt exactly the same. Gee could come close... but there was something special about this one. It also had my jebshred.com laminates, orange & blue gator airbrush, and the retro journey logos I loved in the 80s. I still have this board hanging in the garage. I didn't know at the time it would be my last Gee board. But I'm glad I kept it.
This edit was on the internet back in the day when youtube was first getting momentum. It got a lot of hits until I pulled it down. This troll from San Diego got all bully on me because I was exposing the spot in Cambutal. The guy is a real turd. Come to find out he runs the Witches Rock Surf Camp in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. What a kook. This guy is commercializing surfing, teaching it to any fool tourist who has money, exploiting surf culture just to make a buck. And he's hassling me? A purist surf adventurer? Ha. Listen, Tamarindo used to be a sleepy little town in the north where you could connect to several good surf breaks. These days it's riddled with idiots and it's crowded to the max with touristy crap and little local flavor. Thanks Joe Walsh, you helped ruin this area. Avoid his camp if ever in the Guanacaste area.
I reposted this video a couple years ago after taking out the Cambutal credits. I've been back to the area recently, two more times actually. I highly recommend the Hotel Cambutal, right on the beach owned and operated by a nice young couple Albeiro and Hannah, they have a facebook, check it out. Cambutal is an easy 4-hour drive down from Panama City, straight across the mountains, and through the town of Las Tablas. You could go the coast road through Venao for a longer drive. That video is for another posting. Enjoy!
