Bodyboarders raise funds to reconstruct Puerto Escondido Thursday, 28 June 2012 08:28

Bodyboarders raise funds to reconstruct Puerto Escondido

Thursday, 28 June 2012 08:28

Puerto Escondido, one of the best bodyboarding waves in the world, is severely threatened. The local Mexican town was devastated by Hurricane Carlotta on the 15th June, 2012. Two children died when their house was taken by a mudslide, and one 56-year-old woman passed away when the wind from the category 2 hurricane flipped her car. The beach side town has been severely damaged and is in need of urgent assistance to rebuild this community that thrives on tourism. The Puerto Escondido lifeguards are in need of help due to all damage cause by the hurricane. They used to have eight towers along the beach at Playa Zicatela and now there’s not a single one of them. This is just one example of what is required to help rebuild the local community. Another is to promote tourism back to the area to stimulate the local economy. The International Bodyboarding Association (IBA) is looking to raise US$100,000 for the base funding to stage the IBA Zicatella Pro, at Puerto Escondido, from August 8 – August 18, 2012. The event will be used as a platform to achieve the primary objectives of driving tourism to the town of Puerto Escondido, to promote the area as a safe tourist destination and to rebuild eight lifeguard towers. The core campaign is to sell 5000 "Salvemos Puerto" T-Shirts at $30 each to raise the required funding to achieve the above objectives. The bodyboard industry has also donated over $150,000 of merchandise at no cost.