On June 15, Hurricane Carlotta slammed into Puerto Escondido on the Pacific coast of Mexico, located directly south of Oaxaca. “Puerto” is regarded as Mexico’s primary surf destination with 12-foot waves in summer and an annual influx of surfers from all over the Americas. In a combined effort to rebuild the town’s damaged infrastructure, a group of locals, frequent visitors and various surf groups are raising funds through online crowdsourcing and surf competitions.
Michelle Rozzen is a photographer, surf massage therapist and frequent visitor to Puerto based in Agoura Hills, California. She is also the Coordinator for the Salvemos Puerto Campaign run by the International Bodyboarding Association (IBA), which hosts an annual surf competition in Puerto Escondido. Rozzen reached out to me and asked if I could spread the word about the various initiatives in development to help bring the “Mexican Pipeline” back to life.
I surfed these shores about 25 years ago during a pilgrimage in a VW van from Vancouver to Belize. After traveling those 3,000+ miles of Mexican shoreline, that week in Puerto was by far the most memorable. The funky surf vibe and colonial streets, at the time anyway, stood in stark contrast to the more well known and developed tourist hotel zones from Cabo to Cancun.
Here’s a video detailing the damage from Carlotta last month:
I asked Rozzen a few questions about the storm, her participation in the rebuilding effort, and how people can assist.
Greg Oates: What is your past relationship with Puerto?
Michelle Rozzen: I have been going to Puerto the past three years. The first year I went with a couple professional bodyboarders and went down as a photographer. The past two years I went down as a Massage Therapist to work for the International Bodyboarding Association (IBA) World Tour event. I now have friends there and love it like my second home.
What is the overall extent of damage and fatalities caused by Carlotta?
Puerto Escondido in general is damaged pretty bad, but not like the mountain areas. The mountains I hear are much worse. The wind speed was around 150-180 km/h…. One 56 year-old woman passed away when the wind hit her car, and two children died when their house was taken by a mudslide. So sad! The mountains where they grow crops were destroyed, and the farmers lost most of their crops including corn, beans, bananas and peanuts. Many houses are without roof tops, roads are destroyed and there is no food or water.
This beautiful beachside town is impaired and definitely in need of urgent assistance. The community will be needing to reconstruct itself and needs the help of increased tourism.
Michelle Rozzen
Are there any major relief organizations presently involved?
The Red Cross is helping, as well as the Oaxaca Government. I am also working closely with the International Bodyboarding Association, and we have recently launched a global campaign to “Salvemos Puerto” (Save Puerto). We are looking to raise US$100,000 for the base funding to stage the IBA Zicatela Pro bodyboard competition at Puerto Escondido this fall.
This 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 drive the local economy.
- Raise funds and mobilize resources to rebuild the eight lifeguard towers at Playa Zicatela.
How can people donate to the cause?
There’s also artwork from talented surf artist Erik Abel, a metal sculpture of an empty wave by designer Sean Tuttle, and surfboards with painted artwork by pro surfers. To view a complete list of auction items, please visit: ebay.com/sch/cah20girl.
Can you tell us more about the proposed surf event?
The proposed event is the Zicatela Pro (GSS) September 27-October 6, 2012 and we will be running a bodyboarding world tour contest (IBA), along with an expression session with top professional surfers in attendance. The amazing venue has high expectations after last years action at the event! In 2011 there was a significant boost to the town and this year Puerto Escondido needs our help even more due to the hurricane.
To see the devastation Carlotta left, please watch one of the campaign promo videos:
And here’s a video from last year’s Zicatela Pro contest:
