This wind and wave paradise was kept secret for 15 years. Join Bea Wüthrich for the trip of a lifetime.

Who's up for a spontaneous wave-kiting dream trip away from it all? (was the header of Marc’s email and news post in August..)

After having canceled two years' worth of epic trips and much sought wave clinic coachings – we’ve had enough... we're going to check out the new private dream spot in Northern Peru next month.

The first trip there was scheduled for May 2020 but has since then been corona-canceled twice. After having talked to Martin Vari, an old friend of Marc and legend in the early years of kitesurfing who is running a surf lodge in a protected natural reserve with an exclusive wave in northern Peru – the spontaneous wave kiting dream trip was going to happen. Time to escape and personally check out the latest addition to the very few wave spots at such exclusive and high-quality level, and also part of the new Kitesurf Wave Clinic line-up.

It's only really supposed to be a reunion among friends and a scouting trip, but there have been a few spots available to join Marc and explore this magical place, paired with some of his wave coaching.

About Marc, Martin, and the Punta Luna Surflodge:

Marc Ramseier started to kitesurf in 1998, turned professional two years later, and has ever since dedicated his life to Kitesurfing. After a number of years on the freestyle tour, Marc has since then been devoting his focus on riding waves and pushing that side of the sport. 

Originally from Switzerland, Marc has been spending most of his life abroad close to the ocean, getting familiar with surf breaks all over the world. He’s had a home base in Fuerteventura where he started to kitesurf 23 years ago all by himself – being the first one on the island to venture into the new sport. After that, he’s spent some winters in Maui/Hawaii, before moving his base to Indonesia where he belonged to the first group of pros that discovered one of the best kitesurfing wave spots still to this day.

This is actually where Martin and Marc's paths crossed last time, belonging to the group of pro riders that went out to find this jewel in the Indian ocean. Marc then kept going back there, built a house, and spent most of his time abroad over there, whereas Martin went on and focused more on his life back in South America.

The two originally met in 2001, both taking part on the first world tour in the then-new sport of kitesurfing. They then traveled the world together with the first generation of kitesurfing athletes to compete at kitesurfing events all around the globe, showcasing the new water sports discovery of the 20th century back then. Martin and Marc are sharing a lot of memories and experiences from these memorable times, further because they both set off into their professional careers by being in the same team around Hawaiian waterman Pete Cabrinha.

After more than a decade of riding, competing, and also being involved in the industry, Marc got into coaching other kiters that were keen on improving their wave-riding game. The combination of his extensive experience within kitesurfing and the instructing and coaching skills previously learned in other sports was a great match. It started with the first venue in Bali in 2012 and evolved quickly into his coaching business that has expanded into holding Kitesurf Wave Clinics for advanced riders at prime wave spot destinations worldwide.

Martin Vari from Argentina has been kitesurfing since 1999. He made it to Oahu at the early age of seventeen. The primary goal of his stay initially was his studies. He quickly learned the new sport of kitesurfing in his off time in Kailua. This lead to winning his first kiteboarding event he took part in two years later and becoming two times PKRA freestyle world champion (2001 and 2003). His passion then expanded into kiting in waves and he was one of the pioneers pushing the sport this way. In 2007 he won the first PKRA wave contest, in 2009 he founded his label ‘Vari Kites’.

On one of his trips he met Wawa:

Fernando "Wawa" Paraud was a famous and legendary Peruvian surfer, kitesurf pioneer, and well known for his charm, good vibe, and charger spirit in everything he endeavoured - an authentic waterman. Wawa always had an intense spirit of adventure and exploration. This is how on one of his trips along Northern Peru he discovered a treasure. He named it Punta Luna. His friends Kai, Gallo, and Martin followed. Wawa and Martin were partners in this secret for more than 15 years, keeping secret the treasure Wawa had found. Years went by, surfing perfect waves with no one else around. Astounded with the nature of the place, Wawa fell in love with it and decided to build a house. Martin was with Wawa in all the process of building the roads and house. They shared many epic swells in Punta Luna.

Wawa was convinced that Punta Luna should be a protected area and he was able to accomplish the designation of all the Illescas Peninsula as a National Protected Area, and it became a legend of environmental care amongst other things.

During his mission of preservation of this area, Wawa had an accident and died in the year 2012. His legacy continues. Today his longtime friend Martin together with his wife Ana Matera are in charge of maintaining the Lodge.

Through Martin and Ana, Wawa´s legend is still alive. 

Martin and Ana spend the winter months at Punta Luna, in the summer they live in Uruguay where Martin has been running his farm being one of the licensed hemp producers in the country.

So after around 15 years, Marc and Martin’s paths would cross again with Marc’s first-ever Kitesurf Wave Clinic that takes place at Punta Luna. Here we go to explore this magic place with a small group of people. 

Flights are booked and PCR Tests are negative, ready to take off. Once landed at Piura Airport the adventure starts right away. The Lodge is about a 3h drive away, only accessible by 4x4 as a third of the trip is leading through the reserve, access only with permission. What a ride through a stunning desertlike landscape. 

The bay in which Punta Luna is located is breathtaking and the first glance at the lodge amazes us. What was created here is magic. 

After a warm welcome from Martin and Ana, we were treated to an excellent lunch prepared by Juana and Maria. The 2 Ladies are in charge of our well-being at the Lodge and preparing all the incredible meals that we were spoilt with every day during our stay. They cook up all sorts of Peruvian dishes from Aji de Gallina (Creamy Chicken) over Tiradito (Peruvian Ceviche) to Causa (one of Peru’s best dishes). Not to forget the homemade cakes we were spoilt with for desserts daily. While having our first lunch on the open terrace we could watch the waves from above and could already guess what to expect in the following ten days – pure bliss.

The other half of the crew at the lodge are Jhonny and Wilmer. They are both expert fishermen and they provide the fresh fish for the Lodge and are also maintaining and taking care of the place. Besides that, they are the most eager caddies, helping us to pump kites or wings, and they are always on the beach with the quad for our safety should you end up further down the beach.

The swell forecast was looking good, real good. Already before we even set off on this trip we could see a huge storm that had started working the Southern Pacific ocean next to New Zealand. As this storm was sticking around for some time it would create a solid south swell heading for Northern Peru. We were going to be very lucky with the wave conditions.

On our arrival day, the sky was a bit cloudy what made the wind light and offshore. Good enough to jump in the water for short arrival wing and surf sessions. After a long trip to get there, it was nice to have a quiet start to arrive and to process the first impressions. Marc was delighted not only to catch up with Martin, meeting his wife but also with a first tow-in foil session in which Martin would tow him into some first waves at this new spot for him. Ideal to get to know the place, plus important getting some practice in for the bigger days to come. 

It turned out that besides swell we also had sun and wind every day for the entire time we spent there.

There are no words to describe how it feels to wake up after the first night with this view over the bay and the waves lined up just perfectly out the front. You also see Pelicans air surfing the waves and Flamingos strutting across the beach. The diversity of animals and nature are impressive here. Therefore mornings are great for walks and to see all kinds of birds and marine life. In the area, you will also be able to see Andean Condors, Bluefoot Boobies, Penguins, Dolphins, Foxes, and more than fifty types of birds. However, nature is as cruel as it is beautiful. To our astonishment, many animals end their lives on the beach in this remote place. A whale was stranded not far from the lodge and had died on the same day. Sad and beautiful at the same time. That's life, nothing is infinite. There is also a large sea-lion colony, one of the biggest in South America close by. 

Around noon the sun comes out and the wind starts to blow. The fun little waves from the first days looked very inviting and we were excited to hit the water. Looking at the swell forecast Marc decided to use the first couple of days for kite coaching. This means morning theory lessons, us trying to put it into practice on the water and then personal video coaching sessions in the evening.

Even though Marc is still running Clinics that are focusing on passing on his expertise in wave kiting, he is totally frothing on stepping up his winging and foiling skills. This also was apparent here on that trip. There was a small group of four kiters that were being coached for their wave-riding to improve, but whenever possible Marc was out with his wings pushing his wave-riding skills on the foils. It was great to see that Martin also in fact was just getting his kites out when the winging action wasn’t possible. That was mainly the case when the waves become so big that you can’t get off the beach with wings and foil boards anymore. With the increasing size, the waves become cleaner and breaking more ideal to ride them down-the-line. However, the current increases too, and together with the shorebreak it becomes very hard to get off the beach. Before the swell arrived they were contemplating whether to take the ski to get out with the gear and inflate the wings outside the break to go and ride some of those bigger waves. However, waves got so fast once the swell hit that there was no urge to realize this as Martin and Marc didn’t think they would be able to go fast enough with their 1050cm2 front wings they both have gotten used to.

So the days prior to the arrival of what might have been the biggest swell of the summer was used to wingfoil, Martin and Marc sharing the stoke of yet learning a new way of harnessing the wind – 20 years after being in the forefront of the last wind boardriding sports revolution (kitesurfing). Their enthusiasm wasn’t any smaller in the mornings before the wind was filling into the bay – much on the contrary: Just as Wawa had one, Martin also invested into a jetski once he spent some time here being in charge of the lodge. It’s an investment into a rescue craft on one side – but more so into endless fun having a spot to yourself!! There was some great fun to be had getting towed into small to medium waves trying to start ripping waves without a wing in your hands.

What an incredible experience it is to have such a spot to yourself for tow-in, prone, and wing foiling – it’s from another world. When it’s small, waves are super gentle, breaking in sections which you can combine to ride the whole bay, the perfect playground for prone and wingfoiling. Medium-sized Punta Luna offers the wave rides of your life, becoming more powerful, super clean perfectly peeling, barreling lefthanders that dreams are made of. The biggest days of the swells are rather challenging and require a top level of foiling skills that yet have to prove themselves. On that particular swell that we got the waves seemed to be faster than other swells of the same size. Even for wave kiting Martin and Marc were challenged by the speed of the waves, creating some breathtaking action – trying to get barreled but also producing some heavy wipe-outs in the process of pushing towards it. The isolated situation being on our own out there also added a bit of a natural ‘not-going-too-crazy’.. 

After the peak of the swell, the waves came back down into the wingable size even though in the beginning with a lot of remaining current it was a real challenge making it past the shorebreak. The effort was much rewarded with great rides – however trying to stay out far enough not to end up too far on the inside, and having to start at zero again.

The swells creating this natural playground are generated by the storms far south in the southern pacific and by the time they reach Punta Luna they have traveled thousands of miles ending up to be high period and high quality swells common for Northern Peru.

The wind here is side-offshore and blows 15-25 knots from noon on. Dreamlike conditions – surfing and foiling in the morning, wind action in the afternoon. ‘Best days ever’ over and over again..

Nothing better than great food, a beer and talk story after a day like this. The evenings are a bit cooler and it’s cosy to sit together with blankets and hoodies. To bring some socks and beanies along is highly recommended as the windy season spreads over winter from autumn to spring. It was great to listen to Martin and Marc’s stories from back when they both have been involved in the early days of kiteboarding. Now 15 years later foiling and winging is a big topic and it is nice to see how they are still so passionate about it and will put their marks into this “new” trend.

Besides the water action, Martin took us with his truck for some sightseeing further inland and up to the lighthouse overlooking the sea-lions where there is a monument in memory of Wawa. So nice to see Martin and Ana take care of this magic place entirely in the spirit of him.

It's a truly special combo of world-class wave spot with being out there in the reserve at that great house, just us – no one else around, the waves, the animals, the stars at night.

Time flies when you are having fun and the last day has arrived. For the last evening, we were having a barbeque under the moonlight telling tales and looking back at a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. Perfect wind and waves, every day treated with delicious meals, surrounded by a group of nice like-minded people in the middle of the Illescas National Park in Northern Peru. We are grateful for having been part of this amazing adventure and we all agree it was a dream come true. 

Thanks to Martin and Ana with crew from Punta Luna and Marc Ramseier from KitesurfWaveClinic to make this happen.

(In memory of Wawa the founder of Punta Luna 11-05-1969 / 06-10-2012)

 

By Bea Wüthrich

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