Surfing in Peru
Encyclopedia
For travelers from all over the World
, Peru
offers waves for everyone: beginners, intermediate, and advanced longboard riders alike surfers. Máncora
, the largest left hand point break
in the world, located in the northern coast of Peru, deserves special mention. In addition to this, the greatest left-handed wave in the world is to be found at Chicama, which is over 4 km long.
Swells are generated far south and most of the spots get consistent offshore winds. The large number of surf spots make it easy to find uncrowded waves.
Surfing is a very popular activity in Peru; it has produced world wide champions such as Sofia Mulanovich
, 2004 female world champion, Luis Miguel "Magoo" De La Rosa ISA
World Masters Surfing Championship 2007 leader, and Cristobal de Col, 2011 World Junior Champion. Lima
, the capital of Peru, is also very attractive to surfers because of the variety of its waves. Surfers that are adventuring into the waters in Peru are advised to use a wetsuit
to protect themselves against the elements.
Although the birthplace of modern surfing is associated with the Hawaii
islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean the first Peruvian settlers have tried to ride the waves for fish since ancient times.
Today, surfing enjoys great acceptance within Peruvian society thanks to the worldwide success of its many national representatives. Long ago, surfing was deemed as a sport for the "elite" with a few spaces on newspaper articles, some minutes on the radio, an ever-present daily sea report on Double Nine Radio and scarce television interviews. Nowadays, surfing has found a place in the hearts all Peruvians and it currently has gained more exposure, having its own space on TV: Surf Peru, a program delivered through CMD, Magic Cable channel 3.
Every summer, the beaches of Peru fill with surfing children, youth, adults and even pets. During winter, surf academies make their appearances to new surfers preparing for next summer. Peru has become the obligatory point of passage for various surfers around the world. Peru is, after Brazil
, the second more important country in the region in this sport.
The amount of surf shops has increased near beaches or in big cities. Many artisan and industrial shops are making headway in a market that becomes more competitive every day. A surfboard, which had not previously cost less than $300, can now be purchased for $50. To achieve all this, however, Peruvian surfing had to go through many stages.
, and one indicates the sport began on the northern Peruvian coasts. The latter is based on pottery of the pre-Inca Moche
culture, which apparently shows a man on logs, trying to traverse the waves. These ceramic pieces can be found in major museums in Peru.
Although the latter is one of the most widespread versions, neither of the two versions have been confirmed. However, the issue of Norwegian
explorer Thor Heyerdahl
confirmed there was contact between the ancient Peruvians and people from Polynesia. Therefore, it is not uncommon that the history of surfing
is connected with Peru and Polynesia.
Even today, one can appreciate the famous caballitos de totora (lit. "ponies of reed"), or small reed fishing boats, for example in Huanchaco
. These 'caballitos' are small boats made of a material very similar the used by Heyerdahl to build Kon-Tiki
. The shape of the boats resemble the shape of a surfboard. Fishermen use them for easy handling.
, the founder of modern surfing, who taught him the rudimentary techniques to master the waves.
When World War II took place, Dogny had to return to Peru. In 1942 he founded Club Waikiki 2, and though it started out as just mats facing the sea, it was the first club for the exclusive practice of surfing in Peru. Today, Waikiki is one of the most famous and exclusive clubs of Lima. The first National Surfing Championship in Peru took place in 1950. Since then, there have been more than 30 tournaments.
opened north of Lima, and in the 1980s came San Bartolo
and Punta Hermosa
in the south. In those two decades, surfing not only spread along the Costa Verde and the beaches around Lima but extended to other beaches in Peru, arriving in La Libertad, Lambayeque
and Piura
. Peruvian waves were dominated by intrepid youth as Magoo de la Rosa and other surfers of the early years; these new young people looked the sea as a friend and not as an obstacle to overcome.
During the 1990s, surfing underwent a major takeoff in the creation of the Latin American Surfing Association (known by its acronym ALAS). This association served as an important showcase for the new batch of Peruvian surfers.
The Pan American Championships in ALAS helped Peruvian surfing definitively take off internationally. At the same time, the South American championships, largely dominated by Brazil, became a new sample to the Peruvian delegation, who were just winning some dates in both competitions.
became the second Peruvian representative to reach the World Open Championship title. As had happened with Felipe Pomar in 1965, Mulanovich brought Peru back at the front page of world surfing.
But she was not the only Peruvian winner; Analí Gómez became the Latin America champion in the open category. In 2007, she won the title of world runner-up in the youth category, the first Peruvian to win in the category. This was only the beginning of a long list of Peruvian champions in South American and Pan-American tournaments including Matías Mulánovich (Sofía Mulánovich's brother), Javier Swayne, Manuel Roncalla, Gabriel Villarán, and Sebastián Alarcón.
All this was subject to the improvement of the beaches of Mancora
, a small coastal town in the northern Piura Province
and the seat of one of the dates on the Professional Circuit in 2007.
The Peruvian Surf Team reached the 2010 Billabong ISA World Team Championship in Punta Hermosa, Peru. The final score was 14370 for Peru, Australia got second place with a 14160 points score and the third place was for South Africa with 11820 points.
Months later, Peru won the Quicksilver ISA World Junior Championship 2011, again in Punta Hermosa. Cristobal de Col became World Junior Champion. This outstanding achievements consolidated Peru as a Surfing powerhouse.
Today, surfing in Peru has begun to spread; boys and girls from different social classes practice this sport. It has the support of many sponsors and international events have been conducted on the beaches in Peru.
World
World is a common name for the whole of human civilization, specifically human experience, history, or the human condition in general, worldwide, i.e. anywhere on Earth....
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
offers waves for everyone: beginners, intermediate, and advanced longboard riders alike surfers. Máncora
Máncora
Máncora is a town and beach resort in the Piura Region, in northwestern Peru. It is located in the Talara Province and is capital of the Máncora District. The town has 8,852 inhabitants ....
, the largest left hand point break
Point Break
Point Break is a 1991 action film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and starring Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Lori Petty and Gary Busey. The title refers to the surfing term point break, where a wave breaks as it hits a point of land jutting out from the coastline.The film was a box office success upon...
in the world, located in the northern coast of Peru, deserves special mention. In addition to this, the greatest left-handed wave in the world is to be found at Chicama, which is over 4 km long.
Swells are generated far south and most of the spots get consistent offshore winds. The large number of surf spots make it easy to find uncrowded waves.
Surfing is a very popular activity in Peru; it has produced world wide champions such as Sofia Mulanovich
Sofia Mulanovich
Sofía Mulánovich Aljovín is a Peruvian surfer. She is the first Peruvian surfer ever to win an Association of Surfing Professionals World Championship Tour event. She is the first South American ever to win the World Title. In 2004, she won three out of the six World Championship Tour events, and...
, 2004 female world champion, Luis Miguel "Magoo" De La Rosa ISA
ISA
Isa is the name by which Jesus is known in the Muslim world.Isa may also refer to:* Isha Upanishad, Hindu religious text* Isa , 2004 album by Enslaved* Isa , common Arabic and Turkish male name...
World Masters Surfing Championship 2007 leader, and Cristobal de Col, 2011 World Junior Champion. Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
, the capital of Peru, is also very attractive to surfers because of the variety of its waves. Surfers that are adventuring into the waters in Peru are advised to use a wetsuit
Wetsuit
A wetsuit is a garment, usually made of foamed neoprene, which is worn by surfers, divers, windsurfers, canoeists, and others engaged in water sports, providing thermal insulation, abrasion resistance and buoyancy. The insulation properties depend on bubbles of gas enclosed within the material,...
to protect themselves against the elements.
Although the birthplace of modern surfing is associated with the Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean the first Peruvian settlers have tried to ride the waves for fish since ancient times.
Today, surfing enjoys great acceptance within Peruvian society thanks to the worldwide success of its many national representatives. Long ago, surfing was deemed as a sport for the "elite" with a few spaces on newspaper articles, some minutes on the radio, an ever-present daily sea report on Double Nine Radio and scarce television interviews. Nowadays, surfing has found a place in the hearts all Peruvians and it currently has gained more exposure, having its own space on TV: Surf Peru, a program delivered through CMD, Magic Cable channel 3.
Every summer, the beaches of Peru fill with surfing children, youth, adults and even pets. During winter, surf academies make their appearances to new surfers preparing for next summer. Peru has become the obligatory point of passage for various surfers around the world. Peru is, after Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, the second more important country in the region in this sport.
The amount of surf shops has increased near beaches or in big cities. Many artisan and industrial shops are making headway in a market that becomes more competitive every day. A surfboard, which had not previously cost less than $300, can now be purchased for $50. To achieve all this, however, Peruvian surfing had to go through many stages.
Pre-Inca age
The mythical origin of surfing has two versions: one that indicates its beginnings in PolynesiaPolynesia
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...
, and one indicates the sport began on the northern Peruvian coasts. The latter is based on pottery of the pre-Inca Moche
Moche
'The Moche civilization flourished in northern Peru from about 100 AD to 800 AD, during the Regional Development Epoch. While this issue is the subject of some debate, many scholars contend that the Moche were not politically organized as a monolithic empire or state...
culture, which apparently shows a man on logs, trying to traverse the waves. These ceramic pieces can be found in major museums in Peru.
Although the latter is one of the most widespread versions, neither of the two versions have been confirmed. However, the issue of Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
explorer Thor Heyerdahl
Thor Heyerdahl
Thor Heyerdahl was a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer with a background in zoology and geography. He became notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition, in which he sailed by raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands...
confirmed there was contact between the ancient Peruvians and people from Polynesia. Therefore, it is not uncommon that the history of surfing
History of surfing
The riding of waves has likely existed since humans began swimming in the ocean. In this sense bodysurfing is the oldest type of wave-catching. Standing up on what we now call a surfboard is a relatively recent innovation developed by the Polynesians...
is connected with Peru and Polynesia.
Even today, one can appreciate the famous caballitos de totora (lit. "ponies of reed"), or small reed fishing boats, for example in Huanchaco
Huanchaco
Huanchaco beach is a summer vacation spot located in the northern city of Trujillo, Peru. Huanchaco is famous for a few things but particularly for being a surfer's dream spot and its caballitos de totora. The most famous food here is the ceviche. Huanchaco is nearby the very famous ruins of Chan...
. These 'caballitos' are small boats made of a material very similar the used by Heyerdahl to build Kon-Tiki
Kon-Tiki
Kon-Tiki was the raft used by Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl in his 1947 expedition across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands. It was named after the Inca sun god, Viracocha, for whom "Kon-Tiki" was said to be an old name...
. The shape of the boats resemble the shape of a surfboard. Fishermen use them for easy handling.
Early days of modern surfing
The first major incursion of surfing on Peruvian beaches was in the 1930s when Carlo Dogny was invited to Hawaii for a tournament. It was in Hawaii that he met Duke KahanamokuDuke Kahanamoku
Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku was a Hawaiian swimmer, actor, lawman, early beach volleyball player and businessman credited with spreading the sport of surfing. He was a five-time Olympic medalist in swimming.-Early years:The name "Duke" is not a title, but a given name...
, the founder of modern surfing, who taught him the rudimentary techniques to master the waves.
When World War II took place, Dogny had to return to Peru. In 1942 he founded Club Waikiki 2, and though it started out as just mats facing the sea, it was the first club for the exclusive practice of surfing in Peru. Today, Waikiki is one of the most famous and exclusive clubs of Lima. The first National Surfing Championship in Peru took place in 1950. Since then, there have been more than 30 tournaments.
Evolution
Since the championship, won by Felipe Pomar, surfing began to spread to other latitudes of Lima and Peru. In the 1970s, the resort of AncónAncón District
Ancón is a district of northern Lima Province in Peru. It is a popular beach resort, visited every summer by hundreds of people from Lima.Officially established as a district on October 29, 1874, the current mayor of Ancón is Jaime Jesús Pajuelo Torres. The district's postal code is...
opened north of Lima, and in the 1980s came San Bartolo
San Bartolo District
San Bartolo is a district in southern Lima Province in Peru. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the west, the district of Punta Negra on the north, the Huarochirí Province on the east, and the Santa María del Mar District on the south....
and Punta Hermosa
Punta Hermosa
Punta Hermosa is one of 43 districts of the Lima Province in Peru. The capital of the district is the village of Punta Hermosa. The district's main attractions are its beaches.-Geography:...
in the south. In those two decades, surfing not only spread along the Costa Verde and the beaches around Lima but extended to other beaches in Peru, arriving in La Libertad, Lambayeque
Lambayeque, Peru
Lambayeque is a city in the Lambayeque region of northern Peru. It is notable for its exceptional museums featuring artefacts from local archaeological sites. The Bruning Museum, established in the early 1900s, contains hundreds of gold and silver pieces, as well as textiles and ceramics, from the...
and Piura
Piura
Piura is a city in northwestern Peru. It is the capital of the Piura Region and the Piura Province. The population is 377,496.It was here that Spanish Conqueror Francisco Pizarro founded the third Spanish city in South America and first in Peru, San Miguel de Piura, in July 1532...
. Peruvian waves were dominated by intrepid youth as Magoo de la Rosa and other surfers of the early years; these new young people looked the sea as a friend and not as an obstacle to overcome.
During the 1990s, surfing underwent a major takeoff in the creation of the Latin American Surfing Association (known by its acronym ALAS). This association served as an important showcase for the new batch of Peruvian surfers.
The Pan American Championships in ALAS helped Peruvian surfing definitively take off internationally. At the same time, the South American championships, largely dominated by Brazil, became a new sample to the Peruvian delegation, who were just winning some dates in both competitions.
News
In 2004, Sofía MulánovichSofia Mulanovich
Sofía Mulánovich Aljovín is a Peruvian surfer. She is the first Peruvian surfer ever to win an Association of Surfing Professionals World Championship Tour event. She is the first South American ever to win the World Title. In 2004, she won three out of the six World Championship Tour events, and...
became the second Peruvian representative to reach the World Open Championship title. As had happened with Felipe Pomar in 1965, Mulanovich brought Peru back at the front page of world surfing.
But she was not the only Peruvian winner; Analí Gómez became the Latin America champion in the open category. In 2007, she won the title of world runner-up in the youth category, the first Peruvian to win in the category. This was only the beginning of a long list of Peruvian champions in South American and Pan-American tournaments including Matías Mulánovich (Sofía Mulánovich's brother), Javier Swayne, Manuel Roncalla, Gabriel Villarán, and Sebastián Alarcón.
All this was subject to the improvement of the beaches of Mancora
Máncora
Máncora is a town and beach resort in the Piura Region, in northwestern Peru. It is located in the Talara Province and is capital of the Máncora District. The town has 8,852 inhabitants ....
, a small coastal town in the northern Piura Province
Piura Province
Piura is a landlocked province in the Piura Region in northwestern Peru. Its capital, the city of Piura, is also the regional capital. The province is the most populous in the region as well as its center of economic activity.- Boundaries :...
and the seat of one of the dates on the Professional Circuit in 2007.
The Peruvian Surf Team reached the 2010 Billabong ISA World Team Championship in Punta Hermosa, Peru. The final score was 14370 for Peru, Australia got second place with a 14160 points score and the third place was for South Africa with 11820 points.
Months later, Peru won the Quicksilver ISA World Junior Championship 2011, again in Punta Hermosa. Cristobal de Col became World Junior Champion. This outstanding achievements consolidated Peru as a Surfing powerhouse.
Today, surfing in Peru has begun to spread; boys and girls from different social classes practice this sport. It has the support of many sponsors and international events have been conducted on the beaches in Peru.