“Peru World Contest: Pomar – Wild Bull of Punta Rocas,” SURFER, May 1965, by John Severson

“Magnifico” was the word for unstylish but toro-strong Felipe Pomar’s victory in the World Championships at Peru. The fiercely fought competition off the bleak and barren cliffs of Punta Rocas, or Point of Rocks, had everything a top international tourney could ask for: big, powerful waves; a field for surfing’s best from the four comers of the world; lavish hospitality by the Peruvians and, of course, Pomar’s go-for-broke performance in the Men’s finals that was a battle down to the last crushing wave.

Only two points separated the top three finishers: Pomar had a total score of 343 points for his best five waves; Australia’s agile Nat Young, a point behind at 342 and Paul Strauch of Hawaii was third with 341. But it was no hometown decision for the handsome 21-year-old Peruvian who has been honing his surfing skill for the past 18 months on Hawaii’s big waves. Commented defending World Champion Midget Farrelly, who incidentally, didn’t make the finals: “Felipe did a better job of riding the wave the way the judges wanted.”

Pomar had a few modest words after upsetting surfdom’s most brilliant performers: “If you had told me a Peruvian was going to be World Champion a week ago, it would have been hard for me to believe. I guess this proves that if some guy has a good day—and the other guys don’t—he can still be in the meet.”

Nat Young, the curly-haired Aussie hot-dog expert, said: “The contest was run on the biggest waves and the fastest rides in the most dangerous part of the wave. As far as I’m concerned, Felipe Pomar was the best surfer in the world at that time under those conditions.”

This second World Contest was definitely a big-wave competition with sets of 10- to 12-feet consistently rolling through for the two-day tourney February 20 and 21. And on hand to meet the challenge were surfing’s best big-wave experts: Makaha-winner Fred Hemmings, George Downing, Mickey Munoz, Mike Doyle, Ken Adler, Steve Bigler, Joey Cabell, Paul Strauch and Bobby Cloutier, to name a few in the 54-man field.

Thus the victory of unheralded Pomar was a smashing upset, a classic tale of the underdog battling to a World Championship before a screaming hometown audience. Pomar, a quiet, smiling Latin gentleman on the beach, was the Wild Bull of Punta Rocas in the big, tricky surf off the rocky Peruvian promontory. He bowled his way through the finals, taking off on wave after wave and driving to the bottom, turning, and powering across the wall under the soup—or through the soup, if necessary. The partisan crowd of 2,000 fans lining the cliffs shouted their “Oles” as Felipe battled the big, hard-breaking walls. The handsome Peruvian champion mastered all the tricky elements of Punta Rocas, one of the most challenging surf spots in the world.

Merely paddling through the relentless lines of whitewater that kept at least three contestants on the beach was a stiff test. Hawaii’s George Downing, paddling out during a preliminary heat, looked up at eight feet of white water pounding toward him and said to a nearby paddler, “Geez, Makaha was never like this.” Once outside, surfers faced large waves—often with bumpy faces and sections of soup dropping unexpectedly. A surfer who lost his board had a long, rough swim to rocks armed with spike-like 

 (clams)—then there was the battle out through the soup again.

Punta Rocas certainly was more than expected by the world surfers, and far different from what most were used to—weird, almost unreal. Huge patches of thick foam covered the water near the break and surfers sat in them as in patches of snow. Large formations of pelicans dipped low across the break while flocks of other birds circled and buzzed the surfers sitting in the lineup. A huge sea-lion popped his grizzly head out of the water to bark at a practicing surfer a few days before the meet. Occasionally porpoises leaped from the water near the lineup—and there were the usual ugly jellyfish floating to add another mental hazard to the already harried surfers.

This year the contest was switched from Kon Tiki beach because Punta Rocas is directly in front of a high cliff—easy to see the break, easy to judge, as well as providing a steeper, more spectacular ride. There were disadvantages, however: the tricky, 

-covered rocks dinged many a board; but the Peruvians provided beach boys who waded over the rocks and retrieved loose boards.

The Peruvians insisted on a big-wave contest—and that’s what they got. Meet Director Eduardo Arena had asked the Peruvian Navy to recommend the best time for big surf at Punta Rocas. The Navy did—and it was right.

The judging stressed that a surfer, to get the most points, should slide at the greatest speed, the longest possible distance, in the most dangerous part of the longest and highest wave. In other words, the judges wanted the best possible performance in the biggest and most critical surf.

Contestants began drifting into Lima as early as two weeks before the meet. The United States had two teams—Hawaiia, and everybody else, meaning just about all Californians. Australia had a seasoned group, and there were representatives from South Africa and France, as well as Peru and Ecuador.

California, with its 22-man team, was an early favorite to place a few men high, if only because of numbers. Hawaii’s big-wave experts were given a good chance in the Punta Rocas boomers, and the Aussies were strong with such stars as defending champion Farrelly, Nat Young, Queensland Champ Ken Adler and Peter Troy, who had been living in Peru and surfing Punta Rocas for two months.

Downing, twice a Makaha champion, took one look at the big Punta Rocas waves and said his chances were “great, because this is my kind of surf.” He added: “Everybody will get the same chance on the same type of wave because the waves at Punta Rocas are very consistent. At Makaha or other contests a lot of luck enters into it when a contestant happens to pick up a much better wave—here, consistency is the equalizer.”

The Peruvians ran a perfect contest—from the event itself, to the nightly cocktail parties, a luau, and even a special reception with Peruvian Presidente Fernando Belaunde, at his ornate palace.

On the morning of the men’s prelims, a group of sleepy-eyed contestants climbed into a battered bus at six o’clock for the hour ride to Punta Rocas, 30 miles south of Lima. The break was covered by a heavy fog, but the surfers knew it was big by listening to the boom of the waves out in the mist. There were a few stomach knots as the fog lifted and many of the contestants got their first glimpse of what many later described as a junior Sunset Beach. Few in the group had ever surfed Punta Rocas at this size. The big surf definitely switched the emphasis from hot-doggers to big-wave surfers.

Getting some of the better rides of the day were Buffalo Keaulana, veteran Hawaiian big-wave specialist and former Makaha champ, and Hector Velarde, surfing in home waters. Mike Doyle gave the contestants a graphic example of one of Punta Rocas’ dangers when he was caught by a cleanup set that sent his board bouncing in on the whitewater toward the rocks. Watching from the beach, Hemmings commented: “A contest like this eliminates the men who make mistakes.”

But Doyle, a savage competitor, wasn’t out as he turned in a superhuman performance to recover. He said: “After I lost my board, I didn’t have much strategy. I caught about five bodysurfs and just ate it over the falls, so I could get in as fast as I could.” Mike got his board, paddled back through the break and placed second place in the heat, advancing to the semifinals.

France was the only country knocked out—literally—in the prelims. Biarritz-trained Joel de Rosnay got clobbered by his board. The plucky Frenchman said later: “Unfortunately, I received my board in my head. It was the biggest wave I ever had in my life and I was not lucky. I tried to paddle out again, but was completely dizzy.”

California had the lion’s share of contestants moving into the 18-man semifinals, placing six surfers. Hawaii had five, Peru three, Australia three and South Africa one. The semi-final field was: Nat Young, Buffalo Keaulana, Mike Doyle, Bobby Cloutier, Richard Chew, Felipe Pomar, Paul Strauch, Danny Lenahan, Roberto Tode, Midget Farrelly, George Downing, Robert August, Ken Adler, Fred Hemmings, Hector Velarde, Anthony van den Heuvel, Joey Cabell and Mickey Munoz.

The waves continued to roll in, causing Meet Director Arena to comment, “We couldn’t have asked for better surf.” Nat Young was one of the hotter contestants, and certainly the busiest, catching 22 waves during his hour-long heat. He didn’t wait for any particular wave, but took off on any peak that came along. “I just can’t resist a wave,” said Nat.

A number of top surfers got the ax in the semis. Most notable was defending champ Farrelly. When the horn sounded ending the heat, there were eight surfers left: Pomar, Young, Strauch, Munoz, Hemmings, Doyle, Downing and Adler. Out they went, into the still-heavy surf: three Hawaiians, two Australians, two Californians and the lone Peruvian.

The waves were large and smooth, and the tide had dropped, causing the surf to break harder and perhaps just a little bigger. Hemmings, favored because of his December Makaha victory, had a problem faced by many contestants—he had brought the wrong type of board for the heavy surf. He borrowed Cabell’s board for the finals, but exchanged it back for his own after doing poorly in the first half-hour of the 90-minute final. Hemmings rode angrily to the beach, took his board and plunged back into a big set in his eagerness to get back to the lineup. Downing and Adler lost their boards and took the long swim. Young kept his fast pace, taking every wave he saw.

Munoz turned in a great performance, as he concentrated on getting the bigger waves that meant more points if correctly ridden under the Peruvian judging system. An unfortunate wipeout at the end of a beautiful wall cut his drive short.

Strauch was one of the few finalists to effectively use the lefts in the finals. He said, “I noticed that rights were being used more than the lefts and I thought in order to perhaps get a few higher points, I’d go left a few times—especially on a bigger wave.”

Pomar paddled in wearing a big grin. He knew he had done well. Felipe later commented: “I liked the waves. I knew when I came out that I had done well. Something that helped me a lot was that the other surfers had big reputations to live up to—a lot was expected of them. In my case, just making the finals and being there with the others was good. So I went into the finals with the idea that I had nothing to lose—I could go all out. I already had done more than expected of me.”

Meet Director Arena milked the last bit of suspense in announcing the winner. He started with eighth-place Adler and by the time that only Pomar and Young were left uncounted, the pro-Peruvian crowd was ready to explode. And explode they did when Arena announced Young’s second-place score—leaving no doubt as to the new World Champion. “Felipe! Felipe! Felipe!” they shouted. Pomar was hoisted into the air and carried to the judges’ stand—a magnificent victory for the popular surfer in the country of Peru. The win had all the more prestige because of the international flavor of the five judges: One Australian, a Hawaiian, a Californian and two Peruvians.

1965 World Surfing Championships

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