SURFING INTO EL SALVADOR

So far twenty-eight boats have come into Bahia Del Sol this season. The other day six boats wanted to come in but the surf across the bar was too large and the wave period was too short so the boats had to anchor out for the night. The next morning we saw that the surf was a little smaller and occassionaly there were some long periods (relatively speaking) so the pilot decided that we could bring the boats over the bar. Sail boats are slow so the technique is to bring them close to the bar behind the breaking waves then, when the set passes, the sailboat goes full speed over the bar before the next wave set comes in. It works most of the time but, as you can see from this sequence of pictures, the 45-foot catamaran, Yachtman's Dream, had an extra exciting entrance. The first picture is from the pilot boat and the remaining were taken by Paradise Bound who was waiting outside to cross the bar. The surf was at least six-feet and moving quickly. It took us 1 1/2 hours to get all six boats safely over the bar. The pilot and I got pretty beat up in the rough surf but we still had a good time.