Disrupting the Mexican Pipeline

When humans tinker with or modify Mother Nature, sometimes the results are irreversible; sometimes they’re not. If anything is true, though, every cause has an effect, and as surfers, we’ve seen our fair share of incredible surf breaks perish after messing with the coastline or adding a pile of rocks into the mix. We take a look at this cause and effect on some of our favorite past (and present day) surf spots in a series we call “Unintended Consequences.”

Unintended Consequences

A lot of hollow waves on Earth get the Pipeline tag attached to their “aka”—but don’t realistically size up with the Banzai. Oaxaca’s Puerto Escondido, also known as the “Mexican Pipeline,” however, has always lived up to the hype. One of the most recognizable beach breaks on the planet, Puerto has thrilled, terrified, and attracted both surfers and spectators alike for decades, one of the few beach breaks on earth that can accomodate an XXL-swell.

Lately, though, Puerto’s legacy is in trouble. In 1998, a jetty was constructed at the north end of Playa Zicatela beach. While the intent was to create a safer anchorage for local fishing boats—which it did—the structure also came with a price.

Now, the jetty catches sand that would otherwise exit the natural sand system, causing the beach to fill in behind the jetty and expand the main beaches to the south. In conjunction with Puerto’s offshore deep water canyon, this natural sand flow was crucial for the wave's formation.

The clear effects of all this extra sand has been two-fold. If you just want to hang out on the beach, then sure, you’ll enjoy the extra real estate. But its effect on the world-famous surf break has been negative and unanimously evident.

As local Mexican Pipeline specialist, Coco Nogales plainly puts it: “The wave used to break way out there—but now it breaks on the sand.”

Thus, over time since the jetty’s construction, the waves break much closer to the shoreline. Many locals claim that this results in more closeouts at the break. Some even suggest it makes the wave more dangerous. In either case, everyone agrees there is less wiggle room given the proximity to the beach. No bueno.

Beyond that jetty construction, other developmental and environmental impacts along the coastline further threaten the wave, which local communities and organizations are currently fighting against. One glimmer of hope in the fight is that Puerto Escondido has recently been designated as a World Surfing Reserve, the 14th one on Earth, through the non-profit Save the Waves Coalition, a program that works to protect and preserve key surf zones.