Stab Magazine | Watch: Barge Faces Off Against Central American Bomb-Set, Loses Miserably

Live Now — Episode 3 Of Surf100 Challenge Series Presented By Pacifico

255 Views

Watch: Barge Faces Off Against Central American Bomb-Set, Loses Miserably

“Oh no, there’s a guy on the barge! There’s a guy on the barge!”

cinema // Jun 17, 2018
Words by Stab
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Blair Conklin is a professional skimboarder, expert surfer, and like many of us, a proponent of Central American tubes. 

On a recent trip to the land of rice n beans, Blair found himself surfing a special sand point with just a few heads out. With a large south swell in the water and offshore winds gracing its presence, Blair’s annual tube quota was filled quicker than your grandma’s pocket-book at a restaurant with free mints. 

But then, on the biggest day of the swell, a couple heavy locals attempted to take back the lineup from this tow-headed gringo. 

No, wait, actually it was just a tug-boat pulling a massive barge RIGHT THROUGH THE IMPACT ZONE. 

Lettuce watch. 

With waves like that around, who could blame the captain for wanting to get drained? Still we had very many questions about this ridiculous encounter, so we chatted up Blair for some answers. 

Stab: So what’s the deal here? Was the wave you were surfing some kind of port as well?
Blair Conklin: Yeah it’s more like a pass. And they use that pass to transport oil and other things from tankers that they have docked off the coast. It’s just pretty sketchy when the waves get big, because they break straight across the channel. I think there was talk of dredging it, but that would probably mess the wave up too.

So did they just kinda chance it and hope there wouldn’t be a set?
That was the peak day of the swell, when the incident happened. I kinda wonder if they even looked at the swell forecast for the day. It seemed like they were just going in blind. I mean I guess you can’t really stop when you’re towing a barge, but they obviously timed it wrong, and they were going very slow, so it didn’t end well.

Had they been doing this all week, or was that the first one you had seen?
They go back and forth a good amount. That was the only one we saw get caught by a set though. That was also the same pass we had to go through with our little boat, and even doing that was kinda sketchy. And we could go way faster than the tug-boat obviously.

And what happened after the chain broke?
The barge washed into some rock on the inside, and I think they were able to dislodge it and take it back to the port. The people on our boat also went to check on the people in the tug-boat and on the barge to make sure everything was ok, and they were all good, so we just kept surfing.

Were you guys all just tripping watching this go down from the lineup?
Yeah it was pretty sketchy watching that set roll in as they were trying to cross the path. They took the first one fine, so we were kinda like, “Oh, maybe they’ll be sweet,” but then the next wave was even bigger and it snapped the huge cable like it was nothing. 

Comments

Comments are a Stab Premium feature. Gotta join to talk shop.

Already a member? Sign In

Want to join? Sign Up

Advertisement

Most Recent

How Josh Ku Nearly Died Trying To Cross From Ulus to G Land by Hydrofoil

“If someone finds me dead at least they can find my phone and know what…

Jul 10, 2025

Expect No Kiss, All Climax At The “World’s Most Perfect Pointbreak”

A Corona Cero Open J-Bay 2025 preview.

Jul 9, 2025

SEOTY: Liam O’Brien stars in ‘Friction of Perception’

"Hopefully I don’t come across like too much of a peanut."

Jul 8, 2025

10 Shapers To Watch In The Next 10 Years — Part One

“It’s like a drug empire, man. Cut the head off the snakes, and more will…

Jul 7, 2025

Mason Ho Joins Ritual Vision, Releases Remix Of Greatest Hits

Dion Agius riffs on the eyewear brand’s U.S. expansion, Ritualistic Tendencies, and the new stars…

Jul 7, 2025

Is It Time For A New Judging Format?

We have a modest proposal — a WSL head judge disagrees.

Jul 7, 2025

Luke Thompson Turns Last Year’s Priority Disaster Into Ballito Gold

+ earns himself a wildcard into Jbay.

Jul 7, 2025

Fiji Has Its First Professional Surfer, And He’s Unbelievable

16-year-old James Kusitino’s incomprehensible tube lounging leads to a deal with Former.

Jul 6, 2025

Laird Hamilton on The Limitations of Being a Purist, Invention vs. Ownership + Why He Never Had a Sticker Deal 

Untold stories from his How Surfers Get Paid interview.

Jul 4, 2025

Surf100 Challenge Series Presented By Pacifico: Episode 3

"The tribe has spoken," Dane Reynolds pronounced, and a surfer's torch was snuffed.

Jul 3, 2025

When Surfer’s Eye Is Actually Cancer

Erin Campbell's brutal journey from surf camp dreams to chemo drops, cryotherapy, and surgical horror.

Jul 3, 2025

Surfing’s 2025 Q2 Report

An assessment of surfing's vital signs throughout the second quarter of 2025.

Jul 2, 2025

What Actually Happened to Occy’s Mad Max Plunger Pool In Yeppoon?

Surf Lakes’ brass talks: internet hecklers, the unplugging of the plunger, and the Tom Curren…

Jul 2, 2025

Poor Goofy Foots 

Data shows that the world is stacked against goofs — they even make 15% less money than…

Jul 1, 2025

Britain’s First Wavepool Has Closed — What Really Happened?

Bankruptcy, social media hackings, debts unpaid — and yet, reopening looms.

Jul 1, 2025

Watch: Was Matt Meola’s Air Actually Better Than Hughie’s?

Watch the full Swatch Nines highlight reel and decide.

Jun 30, 2025

Houshmand Bludgeons Field To Win Second CT — Molly Picklum Tastes Blood, Snatches World #1 In Brazil

You can't argue with big surfing — that's Saquarema wrapped.

Jun 29, 2025

37 Years Old And World #1 — What’s Changed For Jordy Smith?

On rediscovering decades old surfboard templates, having a personality on the CT, and why this…

Jun 27, 2025
Advertisement