Putting together an Odyssey Expedition, or a Standby Session like the one that these photos are taken from, takes an enormous amount of logistical planning. Gary Linden, famous big wave chaser and tow board shaper from Oceanside, has done innumerable trips to Todos from BTB (Before Tow Board) days. So it was a natural choice to have Gary do the Mexican leg of the planning for this Todos trip. Imagine trying to co-ordinate everything required to get the entire crew onsite for the session. Check out the number of watercraft alone that were used. Gary did an excellent job.
Imagine paddling into this beauty. Shaun 'Barney' Barron leaning into his first carve slightly behind the peak, a position he could only have gotten into with the help of tow partner Flea Virostko. While it might seem that the thrill of the drop is taken away when a surfer is towed inot the wave, not so. Some of the waves the boys towed into at Mavericks had real easy beginings, but when the wave hit the bowl, no matter how ready the surfers think they are, all hell breaks loose.
One of the highlights of trip was Flea's 40 mph crash. In Skinz words, "Flea tried to spray us, so I punched it and they (Flea and Barney) smashed into us (Skinz and Loya) and ate shit. After all the water settled, there was their empty ski, and they were having a yard sale 50 yards back! Flea tried to get pissed and yell, but we were laughing soooo hard that he just started bust up as well." Flea's barrel of the day, shown here, got the second most cheers.
The water at Todos Santos is super clear, and while it may be colder that Southern California on occasions due to the current that comes in close to the coast just there, it's way warmer than Mavericks. Barney and the Santa Cruz westside crew were loving it, going off in the 12 to 15 footers like they were headhigh Steamer Lane waves with 72 degree water.
Josh Loya whips Skinz onto a left-go-right for a midface carve that was impossible before the advent of towsurfing. Riding over the glassy Todos boils, Skinz came around and out of his bottomturn to bank off the whitewater Loya's ski left on the wave face. Brad Gerlach is also well known for laying down midface rail carves at both Cortes and more recently at Mavericks, where he pulled an unbelievable full-rail, high speed cutback. Photo to come..
By 9am, several boats of recreational paddle surfers had floated out, and we shut down for breakfast as soon as they entered the lineup. While the surf remained perfect, it didnt build enough to clear out the paddlers. After two hours of surfing with a bunch of waves ridden and a good test run for the real deal, the Odyssey crew loaded up, and headed back to Ensenada for the drive back to the border.