Our Second Fav Surf Event Is A LUX Foamie Comp That Took Place Last Weekend In Cabo

Upon your initial exit through the sliding glass doors of Los Cabos International Airport, a hot wind blows; sweat pools in the awkward dip of your chest, gently wetting your t-shirt. A top-40s hit from 2006 (London Bridges, Lean wit it Rock wit it) is blasting through speakers. Thoroughly tattooed men in tank tops and some wearing no shirts at all hit the bars conveniently sitting just outside the airport – the first order of business is to grab a drink at American prices: Six dollar Modelos, ten dollar tequila shots.

Some guy in a white sunglasses and a flat-brimmed hat yells, “Where are you surfing, bro?” at the sight of your board bag.

“Around,” you respond. “You surf?”

“Nah, I don’t surf,” he laughs, exhaling a silver steam from the butt of his Camel cigarette. “I just came to fuckin‘ party!”

“Cool.”

Sage with her star-spangled singlet.

These gentlemen (Rob Machado and Blair Conklin) have been farming hair since day one.

Blair Conklin treating the Monuments rock like it’s made of cotton.

Photography

Los Cabos of Surf

People come to Cabo to do a lot of things: surf, eat, drink, see the sites, take a boat to Lovers Beach, take a photo with an iguana, fish, be hand fed jello shots from kinda cute 20-something Mexican women with braces who will proceed to blow a whistle, stick your head between her breasts, give them a light shake, pinch your nipples, spank your ass and, occasionally, grab your crotch.

The usual.

But mostly, people visit Cabo to escape the primary mill of their lives, forget about home for a few days and have a good time, and that’s what the Los Cabos Open of Surf – a soft top soirée – was about.

The event took place at a fabulous luxury boutique hotel overlooking the urchin infested, left-hand power burger better known as Monuments called The Cape, A Thompson Hotel. The hotel itself is one of the finest establishments I’ve had the pleasure of inhabiting. The drinks were choice, the food from all the restaurants, decadent, delicious, and out of my price range. Luckily, (for those with the event) all the food was complimentary, drinks were 20 percent off, and I escaped without bleeding my account dry. Who said surf jernalizm won’t get you anywhere in 2019…

It’s a chair, a human chair! Josh Kerr using zero leg strength to get up the sand.

Miss Ashley and hubby to be, showing off her shiny new accoutrement.

And, the contest: Oh-so-fun and refreshingly irreverent, because, really, how serious can you be riding a five-foot-two foam board in overhead conditions.

The talent in the event, however, was serious.

It featured some of the world’s best and most entertaining surfers from a span of generations: Rob Machado, Josh Kerr, Sage Erickson, Mitch Coleborn, soft-top and skimboard enthusiast Blair Conklin, Anastasia Ashley, the first Mexican ISA World Champ champ Jhony Corzo, and local wildcards Ana Gonzalez and Robert Krulick.

Oliver Kurtz was invited, but he missed his flight in Los Angeles. Then he booked another flight five hours later out of San Diego, but a long, inundated 405/5 southbound freeways would see him missing his next flight, having to take an Uber back home and ultimately not making the party. Without traffic, you can get to San Diego from LA in roughly two hours. Midday on a Friday, that commute can be four-plus. It’s miserable, really. 

The Newmark gals and a couple of youngins.

Sam Blacky ain’t scurred of a party or a bass-laden backbeat.

The rules of the “soirée” included priority on an honor system. If you wanted to swap boards mid-heat, you were urged to do so. During the briefing/drink-and-greet on Friday night, Anastasia Ashley (who got engaged over the weekend, congrats!) asked, “Will leash pulling be allowed?” To which contest organizer, ex-Pro surfer, and dear friend of Stab, Dooma Fahrenfort replied, “Absolutely.”

At one point, due to a lull-filled final, Dooms asked over the PA system if Josh Kerr and Mitch Coleborn would like to add an extra five minutes to their heat. They both raised their hands like skinny antennas to the heavens in agreeance, which allotted enough time to ride an extra wave or two.

Mitch spraying the world famous Cabo San Lucas horizon.

Photography

Los Cabos of Surf

From left to right: Abe, Kerrzy, Uli Torre, Dooma, Chad White, Abe, Dooma and Greg Fernandez – hermanos in the afternoon glare.

Photography

Los Cabos of Surf

Judges Josh Kerr, Dooma Fahrenfort, Ana Ashley in front. Sage Erickson, Greg Fernandez, a man in a hat that says BUENO and some nerd staring at his phone in front of him…

The Los Cabos Open is the type of surf event we’re fond of. One where competitors have cold Pacificos between their heats with a rotating judging panel of those surfing the event, anchored by Mr. Fahrenfort. Where you can talk shit over the loudspeaker, crack jokes and watch Rob Machado sit further out than anyone, tucked behind a rock on the south end of the beach waiting for the wave of the heat, then high-line with five piggies over the front of his blue foam board for 100 straight yards. 

It was an event where the first heat starts at 12:30 PM and there’s time for breakfast, a late sleep on account of a late night and maybe even a surf down the road. Where surfing’s sweetheart and semifinalist Sage Erickson, after meeting a pint-sized fan on the beach brings her up to the judging booth, hands her a scorecard and has her help judge the Kerrzy and Coleborn final alongside myself (who, apparently, has the credentials to judge the event) and Dooma.

This guy loves jello.

“You know how to judge fun surfing, right?” laughed Kerrzy to me before the finals. To which I told him, “Dunno, I’ll probably just give Mitch the win.”

Between the semi and final heat, they hosted an expression session that invited anyone on the beach to grab a soft top and surf with the competitors. The crowd cheered, awed, sipped their ever-warming beverages in the Mexican heat and laughed while Blair Conklin mounted a rock in the center of the break, gifting his feet to the urchins. After three attempts he stuck an acid drop. A few urchins in the feet was the price of the $1k check he walked away with for his heroics.

Jhony Corzo ollied the backend of the same rock, which for the record is large, covered in barnacles, urchins and is quite menacing. Getting caught between that rock and a wave would result in a blood sacrifice. And a Monument local – one who Uli Torri, the man in charge of the Los Cabos Open of Surf, told us is the guy at Monuments – did three 360s on a single wave to win a $500 check for the spin-to-win division. Which, I think was made up on the spot but he dreideled his way into some cash, and held down his local. Jhony won the other $500 for his rock hop. 

Kerrzy was the eventual winner. He was chaired up the beach, which if you did at Stab High in Waco, Texas this Saturday, would result in forfeiting your prize money to charity — but hey, this wasn’t our event!

The night drifted into a frenzy of laughs, drinks, handshakes, hugs, high-fives and innovative dance moves.

That’s all folks.

The Cape Hotel put on one hell of a party on their rooftop, at one point, a slew of Newmark Models strutted the catwalk, which was a strange break in the action. Then Sam Blacky (model/DJ/Instagrammer), plugged into the decks and played deep house music for what would turn into a packed crowd looking to bring down the roof of The Cape Hotel.

We eventually made our way into town, stomped the gluestick floors of Squid Row and the rest is well, a little fuzzy, and probably not in my best interest to publish.

The Cape, A Thompson Hotel is truly a fabulous place.

Final Results:
1 – Josh Kerr 11.33 – $5,000
2 – Mitch Coleborn 10.00 – $2,000

Semifinal Results
H1: Mitch Coleborn 14.83 def. Sage Erickson 13.67
H2: Josh Kerr 15.33 def. Jhony Corzo 11.83

Leaderboard after Round 1
1. Josh Kerr – 14.83
2. Mitch Coleborn – 14.67
3. Sage Erickson – 13.17
4. Jhony Corzo – 12.67
5. Rob Machado – 12.50
6. Blair Conklin – 12.17
7. Robert Krulick – 11.50
8. Ana Laura Gonzalez – 9.67
9. Anastasia Ashley – 7.67