The Chicama Setup

Rumour has it that when the conditions are perfect it is possible to ride a wave all the way from the peak of El Point, through the inside beach section of El Hombre before finally kicking out at the pier over a staggering 2.2km's away. However, these legendary conditions can prove to be more rare than an uncooked Guinea pig in Peru as very, very large perfectly groomed swells and perfect sandbanks are a prerequisite. The total distance from El Cape (the furthermost point) to the pier is around 4km but there is no record of anyone ever riding a wave this far and it is actually deemed impossible to do so.

The majority of surfers prefer to sit near the exposed rock outcrop at El Point, the main peak. A good day will see most watermen catching 3-5 separate waves to take them down the point through 4 defined breaks. As mentioned previously it is very rare for the waves to break all the way through except on the highly illusive all-time days.

We scored Chicama in the overhead to 1.5 times overhead range and whilst the waves did not break anywhere close to the legendary lengths previously mentioned it was still possible to get waves of close to 600-800 meters in length. True leg burners indeed and you don't exactly find me complaining. While at times Chicama can be more of a fuller wave I did luck into a few sessions with very racey down the line sections and the very odd barrel thrown in for good measure. In fact the inner beach break section of El Hombre can get very hollow on it's day.

The wave quality at Chicama can be can be greatly affected by sand flow, swell size and swell direction and it is these factors that can prove the difference between all time conditions with long endless rides and fun days with shorter rides often plagued by unpredictable sectiony conditions. [Continued below]