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There’s always some sort of racket with car and truck rentals abroad. On my last trip to Zihuatanejo and Guerrero, Mexico, I rented a car through Orbitz and Thrifty for $200 for days. It was supposedly their full size car, Orbitz even offered third party insurance through Access America for $99 for the entire trip. 10 day car rental and insurance for $299 for ten days. Yes, too good to be true. We arrived, the car was a wreck (even though it was Thrifty), and they claimed they didn’t accept third party insurance. We drove the car off reluctantly after buying their insurance, hit one speed bump and the muffler came off. Somehow we were able to return it later that day and exchange for a truck without them realizing that the muffler was ruined.

What happens often in Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and all these surf destinations that never happens here with rentals is bargaining, even with the big name brand companies like Thrifty, Avis, etc. Which is why I would recommend not reserving a car in advance. First off, you never really know what you’re getting, and secondly, you won’t be able to bargain and they’ll likely charge you extra for insurance claiming it wasn’t included. In most major destinations, they’ll have plenty of cars and trucks. By not reserving, in advance you’ll be able to check different vendors (more destinations also have non-brand label rentals also, cheaper and a bit sketchier) and work out the best deal.

Here’s a list of suggestions for dealing with rentals on surf trips:

1. Check to see if you need an international driver’s license for the destination (you can get one through the AAA office, they’re around $20). You don’t for Mexico and most of Central America.
2. Figure out in advance in you need a 4×4 or not. For lots of destinations, you don’t need one and they’re often more than twice as much.
3. Make sure to bring soft racks and straps with you on the trip.
4. Don’t book in advance unless it’s high season and likely to be busy at the destination. (Also, check into booking and then canceling the rental if you find a better deal).
5. Get prices from a couple different rental agencies at the airport, make sure they include full insurance coverage. Get prices also from third party rentals, often in pick-up area of airport.
6. Agree on price and contract. Also, make sure you get the best exchange rate or better yet, negotiate the price in local currency instead of dollars. On my last trip, I negotiated a better rate with the agent only to find out he gave me a 10% higher exchange rate.
7. Go over their insurance policy. Many agencies will have tiered levels of “full coverage” some of which have very high deductibles. Check the papers and make sure they’re in order, local police often will use any mistakes, etc to bribe you.
8. Visually inspect the car or truck very closely including the windshield and undercarriage. Make sure they have a spare and jack. Don’t rent car or trucks that look like they’re in bad shape.
9. Keep the paperwork in the car in a safe place.
10. Get contact numbers from the office in case of problem. Lots can and will go wrong. It’s a lot easier if you can contact their office directly.

I just got back from my 10 day trip to Guerrero (North of Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa) and Michoacan. We scored two solid swells down there and great waves all around. It was an easy trip from the West Coast (Alaska has direct flights from LAX to Zihuatanejo and last minute fares were cheap ($450). There’s plenty of good breaks down there (favoring the goofy foot though) with good swell exposure. Winds generally picked up late morning, but did not always blow out the surf and many afternoons were still surfable. Don’t expect to partying until dawn every night (or any night), but Zihuatanejo has an old-town charm and there’s incredible fishing up and down the coast. North of Zihuatenajo there’s hardly anything on the coast at all except a few fishing villages. Overall, the area is a great area to plan a trip or to score last minute waves.

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Red Bull teamed up with the world’s best barrel riders (Jamie O’Brien, Jamie Sterling, Ian Walsh, and Raimana Van Bastolear) to film the world’s heaviest barrel in the that’s never been done before. Using a 360 cam (I’d never heard of one either) strapped to their backs, they film the barrel from all angles. The resulting footage allows you to see the barrel from the surfer’s perspective and actually move the camera around the barrel for 360 degree views! Incredible stuff. You can actually pause the camera at any point and move the camera around and see the barrel from all angles. Since most of us won’t probably ever be dropping into 10 ft. Teahupoo, it’s a good as we can get for now. Here’s the link to the Red Bull site on the project with videos. Check out the photos below.

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We’ve blamed pretty much everything else on global warming, why not increased shark attacks? The Guardian UK published an article linking the recent shark attacks to global warming. There’s been an increase on shark attacks in the last couple of years (especially in Florida). US has suffered the worst with 70% of the worldwide sharks attacks in 2007 occurring in US waters. The author suggests more people visiting the coast (due to higher general population), increased seal populations, and warmer sea temps potentially causing sharks into areas they haven’t been in the past. All the evidence seems anecdotal, and the scientists seem to be postulating rather than having any real evidence. Here’s a graph from the International Shark Attack File that shows how much shark attacks have increased in the past century. (more after the jump)

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After such a bad couple weeks of shark news, I figured it was probably time to add a little humor with Whitey.

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It’s April, which means the surf sucks everywhere in the North Hemisphere… Well, that is except for Scotland?!

Thurso, Scotland is host of the ASP O’Neill Highland Open (link), which wouldn’t have normally raised anyone’s eyebrows especially in April, except that they managed to score some epic pounding waves. Continue reading for more photos.

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San Francisco surfer Adrian Ruiz, 24, was attacked by a shark while surfing at Troncones in the state of Guerrero, Mexico on Monday afternoon. He died later from blood loss. Troncones is a small town 45 minutes north of Zihuatenajo and Ixtapa. Ruiz was bitten on the right thigh and brought to the beach. A bstander took Ruiz to a local Naval hospital, after waiting for an ambulance. Ruiz did at the hospital from blood loss. Ralph Collier, a Los Angeles-area shark expert, assisted with the autopsy. He said the fragments indicate the shark was a great white 15 to 16 feet long. Shark attacks are rare in mainland Mexico. In 2006, only one was reported. (link)

I returned from my surf trip to Troncones on Sunday. For the first 5 days of the swell we surfed the point at Manzanillo Bay (in Troncones). From reports, this sounds like the wave Ruiz had been surfing (Troncones only really has one point wave and a beachbreak). The point is a left that seems to come up from deep water and break over a rocky shelf. There’s a steep take-off and the wave quickly mushes out and the shelf apparently dives back to deep water. There’s rarely a crowd at the point. It’s sad to hear about this tragedy. It’s also spooky to know we were surfing the same wave only days earlier. Pictured below is Manzanillo Bay with Troncones Point on the far right.

Surf and art never seem to far apart. The beauty of surfing translates well to the artistic experience. Here’s a link to Ed Fladung’s blog Quality Peoples with links to art and surf and Ed’s random musing. “On a perpetual Mexican surfari,” something we’re all wishing for.

Some friends of mine are on a road trip South from California to Costa Rica. They’re surfing in Mexico and Nicaragua on the way down before hanging in Costa Rica for a few months. Check out their blog to follow them down (Surfari Collin).

The trials for the WCT’s third stop at Teahupoo got under way over the weekend. They had to halt the trials because a huge west swell. So Jamie O’Brien, Garrett McNamara, Dylan Longbottom, and a few dozen others traded their paddle boards for tow boards and pulled into some monster barrels. Here’s a link to photographer, Tim McKenna’s photo site (link). Teahupoo never ceases to amaze.