It is officially official: Barra is on the CT. It’s been a long time since the last event there. While the 2006 contest is in the history books, it’s worth quickly revisiting. It was the second Rip Curl Search event — the first was held the year prior at St. Leu, Reunion Island — and the location was simply billed as “somewhere in Mexico.”
But that Search event was Barra de la Cruz, the tiny village less than a hundred miles southeast of Puerto Escondido, and the funneling right hander put on a wave display with a quality seldom seen in a pro surfing. Andy Irons won, Mick Fanning compared it to Kirra, Kelly Slater said it was better than Snapper, and Barra officially landed on every surfer’s bucket list.
Since then, times have changed. The wave has been discovered, but its perfection hasn’t changed. And since the World Surf League has sent its crews there, Owen Wright, Morgan Cibilic, and Luke Swanson decided to head down a little early for a pre-game warmup. Best. Pre-game. Ever.
Watch the Corona Open Mexico at Barra de la Cruz on Worldsurfleague.com.
