Nils Schweizer, the Puerto Escondido sand crunch, Oaxaca

Ok, we’re gonna break the rules a little here – this ain’t the newest photograph, but it simply must be given oxygen. “This is at Nils (Schweizer)’s Mexican home away from home,” says the awesomely-named photographer, Gunner Hughes. “I went down with a few guys for the break between the Cabo and Acapulco contests. This was two days before the swell peaked, when you saw all the stuff from Puerto with Shane Dorian, Brad Domke, etc…

“Nils is tricky to shoot here because he usually sits a lot further down the beach than most and will wait so long between waves you almost forget about him. So this day I spent a good bit of time sitting right on him. He made a few smaller ones and than got into a little funk on this one and the next, before redeeming himself with one of the best barrels of the day. Im pretty sure I’ve seen Nils make more waves at this spot than not. He knows the wave so well that he usually doesn’t go on the shitty ones. I’d say he was a little under-gunned on this one. It may not have been the tallest wave of the day but it was by far the heaviest. He made a pretty heavy drop and then ran into a brick wall. Broke his board when it hit the wall, he came in, upgraded to a bigger stick and went back for more.”