By Kyle Khatchadourian
Staff Writer
It has been a Mira Costa surf team tradition to take an annual surf trip to an exotic South American surf mecca, and this year head coach Tracy Geller and assistant coach Mike Quinn took the surf team to El Zonte, El Salvador where the team got to experience some of the best waves they’ve had the chance to surf.
Every spring break the team ventures to a different country. There are limited amounts of spots for the trip and as usual its seniority over underclassmen. By the time it was ready to venture off the team had a total head count of 20 including Geller and Quinn.
“The surf trip was super rad,” Payne English Surf Team Captain said. I’ve been on all the surf team trips since I’ve been on the team and I feel like they just get better every year with the different places we get to go. There was such cool vibe at this place; you could surf all day for wanted and if you weren’t surfing there were more than enough things to do to occupy your time. El Salvador was definitely on the top of my favorite places we’ve gone.”
The team had a daily list of things they would accomplish that day. The team was lucky enough to go during a time where El Zonte happened to be getting a good solid swell. Down where the team was staying there was more than just one spot that the team surfed and with all the spots being so close together. It was easy for the team to drive up the road multiple times a day. A few of the spots they surfed included K59, K61 and Punta Roca. Each beach had something different to offer the wave hungry surf team.
“When we first got to El Zonte, El Salvador I was a little sketched out on how good the waves were going to be, but when we pulled up to where we were staying I was super excited to see that this placing was firing,” surf team co-captain Wyatt Boyd said. “El Zonte was unique because you could literally drive up or down the road a little bit and find a whole new surf break.”
On a day-to-day basis the team would either surf out in front of where they were staying or travel north or south to other local breaks. After their first session they would all meet back at their hotel to make and eat breakfast. As the days went on and the surfing slowed down the team would gang together to play pranks on their guide, like putting an iguana in his office. No matter what the team was doing, they mad sure something good was happening.
“The surf trip definitely how I wanted to spend my spring break,” surf team member Noah Collins said. “It really doesn’t get much better than going to surf all day everyday, eat whenever you want and relax however much you want. I would go back to El Zonte for sure, that place was sick.”
In past years Costa’s surf team has been taking surf trips for spring break, but it wasn’t until this year, where the team got to surf all different kinds of waves in one trip. All the surf spots down there happened to be very close to each other, so it was no struggle for some kids to surf a different wave than the others.
“This trip was another great adventure for me and it makes me want to travel to other places around the world to experience other cultures and the waves different countries have to offer,” senior Payne English said.
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