Proof Of A Radical Summer With One Of Quik’s Most Underground

We’re big fans of young Puerto Rican stud Rolo Montes here at Stab. 

Since meeting the bright-eyed bruiser a few years back, we’ve consistently been impressed with the kids chops in heavy conditions, and with his casual but hi-fi approach on rail and in the air. 
With a fresh clip to deliver, which you can see above, we caught up with Rolo on his summer run. 

Rolo with childhood pal and Metal Neck recruit, Mauro Diaz, in Mexico.

Looks like you had a nice fuckin’ summer, guy! How’d it start? Indo residency?  
It was a nice summer, indeed! It all started in Mexico. Went on a surf trip with a bunch of my good friends from Puerto Rico and had some really good waves there. I randomly ran into you guys in Salina Cruz [filming the Electric Acid Surfboard Test]. Haha. 

Then I went to Indo for a few months and tried not to miss a swell. Of course, I had Canggu as my base camp—its just too much fun.  After the first two months, I had to leave the country for a visa run and thats when I went on a trip to WA for like a week. Luckily there were waves. 

Then, I went back to Indo for one more month.

Ladies, he’s available.

You and Mauro get into any mischief down there? I heard there were some mature cats prowling you young bucks?

Yeah, you could say Mauro and I had some fun in Canggu, haha.  Surfed Canggu all day, then roamed the streets at night. I met a beautiful girl towards the end of my trip and fell in love. That kept me out of the party for the last bit of my trip. I still drank bintangs with the boys at the beach, though.

How was that Nias swell?! Was that the biggest you’d ever seen Indo? 

That Nias swell was huge. Never seen anything like it.  The big day was really scary.  Definetly biggest waves I’ve ever seen in indo.  Boats were going over the falls and shit.  The day after the big day was really fun. The ocean had calmed down a little bit and conditions were perfect.

Rolo’s absolute bare necessities.

What were you riding? Seems like you had a pretty mixed bag for the summer. (And how’s that Neck Beard go?!)

On that Nias swell I was riding a 6’2″, way under-gunned. So hard to catch waves. The rest of the summer pretty, I much rode a normal shortboard when the waves were good. 

As far as the Neck Beard, it has made me want to surf twice as much. It’s so fun. The first few sessions at Canggu, I was surfing on my shortboards and just wasn’t having much fun; then I rode a Neck Beard and never went back to my shortboard at Canggu again, hahaha.  It feels like a skateboard!

Was that your first time to WA? Was that place a full on or what? How heavy is Gnaraloo compared to, say, Pipe or Nias?

That was my first time to WA. I would say its my favorite place in the world. I went to Gnaraloo with three good aussie friends—they’re mad dogs! Myles Carroll, Felix Leaver and Josh Cattlin. They just picked me up at the airport and then we drove 13 hours into the middle of nowhere.

Stayed there for about a week and had such a good time. Waves were pumping and there was no one around.  The last day we ran out of food.  We had to split a can of beans in between four of us.  It was sick.  The wave is super gnarly. Especially when it’s low tide. You can see the rocks coming out of the water from inside the barrel. It’s definitely one of the longest waves I’ve ever surfed. It has three really heavy sections. I wouldn’t say it’s as heavy as Pipe, but definitely as heavy as Nias, but way longer.

Rolo with some Indo loc-dogs.

What’s next? Quiksilver got a prime spot at the Pipe house for ya or what?

I’m gonna try to stay as busy as I can here in Puerto Rico.  Film as much as I can and then by the end of the year or early next year hopefully I can go to Hawaii and stay at the Quik house. Hopefully theres a spot for me. Would be nice to spend some time in Hawaii and try to get some bombs at Pipe!

Well, we’ll look forward to running into in the pack!
Thanks so much! So psyched!