Zachary’s Peruvian adventure! If you know Zach or you have met him (maybe even saw this piece on surfline http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/10-questions-zach-keenan–surfline-san-diego_22218/) , you’ll know he is a bit of a hippie, he likes his boards heavy, and he still rides the AME model which is the oldest t-knox model we ever made. He rips really hard and does really good airs. He always brings his own food when he travels without any explanation other than that’s just Zach. When he emailed me from Peru yesterday I asked him if we could post a weekly email from him about his adventures and he was psyched!! Having been to Peru and traveled and surfed with some of the same cats ( Pulpo in particular), I feel it should be a great read!

Volume One

Hi everyone,

Peru is amazing, so thankful to be able to explore this new country and coastline, such incredible setups and natural beauty everywhere! I stayed in Punta Hermosa south of Lima with Tio Richi for the first three days here, then took an 18 hour overnight bus ride up to the north of the country to Mancora. My friend in Cali, Jimmy from Lokbox, put me in touch with his friend here, Pulpo, who is an absolute legend! The guy is a full on bro, knows all of the spots and what conditions each one is best on, and is super fired up to search them out everyday, so stoked! His passion for life and the love he has for it is contagious, and I am so blessed to have him as my guide and friend for this part of my journey. While the Lima area required a fullsuit and suffers from a similar condition to that of SoCal in the spring, where the temperature contrast between the ocean and land create a coastal haze and cloud cover, up here in Mancora it is super tropical blazing sunshine and trunks is the only option for surfing, although on my first day I probably should have used a shirt because my shoulders got torched and I am paying the price now. But at the time it was totally worth it, as this wave is such a playful and rippable perfect peeling wall that I couldn’t go in until close to three hours of surf in the midday sun, just too much fun to stop. My two friends from Cali, Jon and Greg, came down from Ecuador and met me here in North Peru a day after I got here, and we have been up early and on it searching the coast for the best surf everyday at dawn. While the wave right here is fun it is a bit crowded, and we have seen so many amazing setups, with empty coves and points and beaches, peeling lefts for years on end, that it is a bit overwhelming yet inspiring at the same time. One could definitely spend some time searching around here for a while if perfect lefts provided them contentment. Our other friend Trevor is coming in tomorrow early to join us for the next few days, before I head back south toward Lima, so it will be fun to have a little crew to charge out to the empty spots with. Hope everyone is well at home, more updates soon. Aloha.

Love and Light,

Zachary

Bienvenidos. Welcome to Mancora, Peru.

Cherimoya stockpiling at the Marcado de Frutas, psyching!

Untying a knot in your trunks has never been so much fun, Pulpo has had us laughing all day long, the guy never stops!

Mancora peeling behind the coconut palms.

The crew with the owner of the Cabo Blanco Restaurant, Don Pablo, who had been working there since the days of Ernest Hemmingway. The tiny fishing village of Cabo Blanco holds World Records for some of the largest Black Marlin caught offshore. L to R: Trevor, Jon, Don Pablo, Pulpo, Me, Greg.