other athletes take their games up a notch. I’ve twice attended her Rippin’ Chix Steep Camps in challenging destinations like Crested Butte and Silverton, Colorado. Her camps don’t cater to mushy intermediates who want to ski a bumprun here or there; all the women in my group were great skiers who wanted to be even better— they were climbing guides and former racers and all-around rippers. We worked on catching bigger air and skiing steep, technical chutes without falling back on bad habits, and I came away with a number of technical pointers that I’ve carried with me in terrain easy and difficult—a wristtweak here, a hip-tilt there—all explained in a way that we detail-oriented women like to learn. If tips like that could improve my skiing, I figured, imagine what I could learn on a surfboard!
“After a decade of vague pointers, I was parched for guidance of the specific variety.”
process of catching waves in the same methodical way she explains the nuances of skiing. Mexicobased photographer, pro surfer, and veteran surf instructor Kemi Vernon and Mary Osborne, longboard champion and Patagonia surf ambassador, worked with more advanced surfers. Each student received group lessons each day, along with one private session. My lesson started on the beach, where Kemi—a trim, fearless and aggressive surfer who has traveled all over the world riding waves—schooled me in the basics. Then we headed out to the break.
So I went. Last December, we set up camp in the Casa De Mar hotel, where each spacious room had a magnificent view of the right-hand point break just a couple hundred yards in front of us, and where there was a burly, benevolent gatekeeper to take our surfboards when we came in from the beach and wrap us in a warm-towel bear hug. When we weren’t in the water we could sit in the shaded, breezy outdoor restaurant next to the pool, sip licuados, watch people ride the waves, and discuss surfing technique, form, and etiquette.
“Because you’re picking shitty waves. That was just a little hump. You need to look down the wave and see a shoulder holding up all the way across.”
Out in the water, Alison focused first on the beginners and never-evers, breaking down the
“Oh.” And, on my next wave, I rode it down the line for 30 seconds.
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WAM • SUMMER | 2012
Here’s how it went: “So Kemi, why wasn’t I able to ride that wave through?”
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