Chicama

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Chicama is a port and small coastal town in northwestern Peru, north of the city of Trujillo. It's also a famous surf break, with the wave reckoned the longest in the world, or certainly the longest left.

The wave is in four sections, called the point, the cape, the man and the pier. The exact distance the wave travels is unclear, Peruvian surf photographer Gonzalo Barandiaran describes it as a 3 minute ride and somewhere over 1.6 kilometres from point to pier. Other sources like Tracks magazine put it at 3 or 4 kilometres. In any case it's a very long way and it's normal to walk back up the beach to rather than try to paddle back. (Local motorcycle taxis can be hired for that too in fact.)

Winds at Chicama are consistently offshore, but the swell is notoriously inconsistent. It needs a good swell to break, and days above head high are rare. The water is cold, like much of Peru, due to cold currents from the south.

The wave was first seen in 1967 by Hawaiian surfer Chuck Shipman, from the window of a plane when returning home from a trip in Peru. He asked the pilot where it was and back home writing to Peruvian friends figured its possible location. Carlos Barreda (brother of noted Peruvian surfer Sergio Barreda) and a small group of surfers were the first to surf it.