Surf Forecast  El Gringo

El Gringo surfspot characteristics

More about El Gringo surfspot

Sometimes nicknamed the Chilean Pipeline, El Gringo is another tubular A-frame crashing close to the shore with serious power. It’s a fast wave too, pushing surfers to go for broke and score a great barrel or get slammed on the reef. The left is the real deal with compression tubes and a more predictable rate of speed and openness, once the lurching air-drop has been negotiated. Paddling out to the left is fraught with nose-crunching duck dives and currents that can hold you in the impact zone for an eternity. Meanwhile, the symmetry-balancing right holds a bigger SW swell and throws wide before triangulating the wall into deeper water that provides a far safer paddling channel back to the peak. Tide is dependant on size, as it is usually the small swells that lure victims onto the barely watered rocky platform.

General: El Gringo is referred to locally to as the Chilean Pipeline for the shape of the wave. The wave, situated on an outer island one mile or so out to sea, breaks 300 feet from where the public is standing and can reach easily 15 feet-plus, which makes it an impressive arena for surfers and watchers alike. The wave is dangerous, and a cross in honor of a dead surfer is just in front of the spot to remind you of this. Most pros enter this wave with a helmet on; the last section of the wave on small swells sometimes breaks on dry reef.</br></br>The entry through the left channel is an experience in itself. You have to stand on a rock in front of the breaking wave, wait for a calm moment, and jump in and paddle like mad to the lineup, duck diving the incoming waves in shallow reef. If you don't feel capable of this feat, just take the long route through the right channel and paddle your way up to the lineup.</br></br>The smaller this wave breaks, the more dangerous it gets if you fall badly in the last sections next to the reef. But seeing Gringo break big can take away your will to surf the break. The right (the Chilean Backdoor) will usually accept more size than the left, but the left is the real deal, a steep drop followed by a solid bottom and straight into the tube. Once you master the left, you can score some real tube time. Just be careful not to overshoot and get taken around the island, the tortuga (turtle) rock is just next to where the waves crash on a rounded rock, and it won't let you out of that spot. If you ever fall here and can't fight back the current, you will most likely have to be rescued from this spot. Tides: Low Size: Overhead to double overhead Wind: Calm Swell: S Bottom: Reef Paddling: You probably won't stop paddling. Spot Rating: There's a reason the locals refer to it as the Chilean Pipeline.

Expert

You can walk or drive up to the outer island and park in the parking lot in front of the wave.

May-July

Crowd Factor: Not much of a crowd. Tends to get slightly crowded when all the pros are in Arica during May, June, and July. Local Vibe: Most Chileans in the water know everyone. The wave is dangerous so a heavy dose of humility and respect will pay dividends.

If the description doesn't make it obvious this is an experts wave then the hazards may help. Ultra-shallow sharp reef studded with urchins and some barnacles, swept by currents and occasionally patrolled by aggressive sea-lions and the areas best surfers, who wont take any nonsense. It's cold, foggy and generally a scary vibe unless you feel right at home in the maw of one of Chile's best waves. Crowds have increased since Rip Curl ran the Search in 2007.

Not bad.

Shallow reef, drowning.