Interviews.Kew Intro.Ryan Richardson In 2005, Pelagic Charters purchased The Aleutian Rover, a 125 ft. Alaskan king crab fishing boat. After fifteen months of construction on the vessel, the Royal Pelagic was born and provides surfers with the ultimate West Coast boat charter experience. Up to twelve lucky guests can enjoy luxury amenities including 5 star cuisine, a 70” Plasma TV with insane surround sound, six state rooms with private bathrooms, and most importantly a never-ending ice cold keg of Corona. Two 21 foot Greenough skiffs, a tender, and two jet skis allow for easy access to uncharted Mexican surf. A handful of West Coast rippers recently caught up with the Royal Pelagic at the southern extent of the West Coast to sample some of Huatulco’s sick rights. Here’s what they had to say about the surf and hospitality.

WCSM: Did you have any idea about how plush the Royal Pelagic was going to be? What did you think when you first stepped aboard?

MIKE LOSNESS: I really had no idea how sick the boat was going to be. I checked it out online, so I knew it looked nice from the photos, and I gathered that it was a huge boat, but when I stepped foot on the thing I realized how big it really was. There were two smaller boats on the back deck and two jet skis on the upper deck. There was a crane in the corner to lift everything in the water. The crew was so good with the crane; they would lift everything in and out of the water each day. It was amazing.

KILLIAN GARLAND: The boat was insane—I could not believe we were allowed to take that charter. Our crew was not by any means bad, but surfers in general usually storm right through everything and tend to destroy even the nicest items. I was completely shocked when I went onboard, and that was my first boat trip.

JOHNNY CRAFT: I thought it was going to be some random little shitty Indo boat, but a Mexican version. I didn’t expect it be this huge crab-fishing boat all pimped-out and way nice. It was so big and luxurious.

WCSM: Tell us about the remote zones you went to down there. What was the terrain like? The people? The waves?

LOSNESS: The remote areas we went to were south of Huatulco. The terrain was beautiful—rolling mountains and steep cliffs forming headlands, with points littering the coastline. At one spot, there was a giant sand dune, the largest I’ve ever seen. It formed a huge mountain, and the base of it went right into the ocean. I tried climbing up it—well, part of it—although I knew I could never make it to the top. Plus, it was so hot up there that the sand literally burned a hole in the bottom of my foot.

GARLAND: It was very nice down there, and the time of year we went was kind of dry, so I can only imagine what it looks like after the rainy season. The waves were so cool, a lot of harbor mouths and rocky points. Everyone was very polite and entertaining, even the locals, but we ran into a couple of kooks.

CRAFT: They were all pretty much just right pointbreaks—every wave is pretty identical, perfect right-hand sand pointbreaks, one after the other. There were some of the most rippable waves in the world. It’s better than Indo, I think. Every wave is a right, and you do whatever you want and not have to worry about hitting a reef. We got to surf a lot of the waves by ourselves. I thought we were just going be surfing Barra and stuff, and that we were going to go to some random places on the boat, but I didn’t know that the boat had Jet Skis and Greenough skiffs and that we would be going to all these other little different spots that you can only get to by boat. I thought that every pointbreak down there was accessible by road.

WCSM: What are your best and worst memories of the trip?

LOSNESS: My best memory is when I walked down into the lounge room of the boat, where the TVs and couches were, to find Desi wrapped up in the comforter from his bed, curled up with a pillow watching TV. It was so hot there during the daylight hours. Desi knew right where the comfort zone was before anyone had time to realize where he was. The AC blows at frigid temps down therein the lounge. It was really funny at the time, one of those stories that I guess you had to be there. Also, the right pointbreaks were amazing. We had a mini version of Sandspit all to ourselves for two days.

GARLAND: Everyone surfed so good—ah, it was fun. No bad memories besides Mexico City, smelling secondhand smoke and going through a bunch of little earthquakes (I think?).

CRAFT: The keg. After every surf session in the evenings, we’d all get a beer off the tap and sit in the hot tub. Then we’d all go watch a movie downstairs. It was insane.

WCSM: What is so great about surfing in Mexico?

LOSNESS: The best thing is that there are almost always waves in the summer. South swells roll through almost weekly, so you can pretty much always score. Also, the food in Mexico is so good; tacos are my favorite, so that’s a bonus. The only bummer about surfing down there is that it can get incredibly hot—the sun is scorching and sunburns are off the charts.

GARLAND: The water is warm, and usually no one is out there to hinder your session or get in your way. The waves barrel, but one I thing I don’t like are the rashes and sunburns I received. I was also very upset when I started to get stung over and over by the notorious sea lice.

CRAFT: I like it because it’s only a three-hour flight from home, and you score waves that you think you’d have to fly across the world to find. Some of the best waves in the world exist down there.

INTERESTED IN BOOKING A TRIP ON THE ROYAL PELAGIC? Click Here!