9 Feet @ 23 Seconds

Phil Soltysiak scores jackpot in Punta San Carlos.

While the slalom fleet opened the 2009 race season with the nail biting Dwarf8 PWA Surf World Cup, freestyler Phil Soltysaik (Starboard / Dakine) was on the opposite side of the world laying waste to some classic Baja right handers.

Lucking out, his trip coincided with a solid swell and wind to match, here’s Phil with the story:

“The trip down there started for me with a flight from Toronto to San Diego, where my friend Matt Case picked me up. From there we packed the van full of windsurfing gear and camping equipment and headed South.

The drive involved 6 hours on winding roads along the Mexican coastline before pulling off onto 60km of dirt road that lead us to the Solo Sports campground at the San Carlos point break.

We set up our camp that night in 30 knot winds and cold temperatures. The next few days were spent riding small waves and a bit of freestyle while we waited for a big south swell that was forecasted to peak Thursday and Friday.

On Wednesday we already saw some bigger sets starting to come through. In the morning we had really light wind so we surfed and waited until a nice 15 knot breeze picked up in the afternoon to go wavesailing.

Thursday and Friday the wind was the same, but the waves continued to pick up and we saw a few 16 foot wave faces peeling off the point.

We pulled out from there on Monday after the swell disappeared and are now looking to drive out and check out Lake Isabela, CA, for some freestyle sailing.”

For more stories from Phil’s travels, check out his website at www.can-9.com

PWA / Andrew Buchanan