A pinch of salt

Still in Pilchilemu so not much to report, other than me catching up on some reading: 15 battles that changed the world. Very interesting as they are not necessarily the battles you would think.

I did go for a ride up the coast on a recommendation to see a couple of things.

Punta Lobos where there is some serious surfing going on. They clamber down the cliff, swim across to a rock, walk around that and then throw themselves in (what looks like the Sargasso sea, there is so much seaweed in there). They then surf some big, fast waves.If you look closely you can see a guy with his board taking "the" route. Was never this hard at Praas Sands.

The waves break along way from the beach so they get a long run in if they want it. The good guys peel off the wave after it has lost some of its height.

All very impressive, especially knowing how cold the water is.

After that I headed a bit further to Chilumi where they extract sea salt from water beds. they lie all the way up this estuary. .

I have no idea how long it takes them to get a pile of salt this big. It wasn't exactly a spectator sport so I took my pictures and wandered back to my book

Although I did spot these signs along the road. Not sure how much they will help in the event of one but it is the thought that counts.

Got back to the battle of Chalons (no I hadn't heard of it either) basically the last major victory of Imperial  Rome (with Goth allies) defeated Attila the Hun and stopped him destroying Western Europe. The date in case you are interested AD451. Where would you be without me?

Whilst reading of Attila stacking his loot in a pile so the enemy couldn't take it or him alive, 2 Kitesurfers appeared on the beach.. I was very impressed as it is monumental surf to clear before getting to the open sea. One did it and flew (literally) over the waves. The other guy didn't get 20 feet before he was dumped off his board. His kite landed in the water and was turned inside out by the waves.
The beach was all but deserted and was I pretty sure no one knew what danger he was in. I did the honourable thing, put my beer down and ran down the beach. There was no where for him to go but onto the large, sharp rocks downwind. The kite hit the rocks first with him at the end of the lines still 20 or 30 meters out to sea. Another guy came and helped me but the kite was being washed in and out on every wave They are about 12 sq meters of material and full of water, impossible to move. The thing was shredded but we managed to get it on to the beach and pull him in by the wires. It was bloody cold too, up to your unmentionables in that water!

That was the most expensive 2 minutes he had kitesurfing - probably £1,000 worth of kite trashed.Worse than that he looked rather shame faced as he watched his mate having a great time.

I think I will wait until the water is warmer and there are no rocks! Sounds like Brazil then..