Playero & Puerto Rico

The Playero shop in Rincon

In late February I traveled to the Bonzer Vortex point in the Caribbean. This was at the invitation of Tony Yordan and his wife Gigi, the owners of Playero. I spent ten enlightening days there shaping, surfing a bit, meeting some great people, eating wonderful food, prepared by Gigi, and generally just relaxing my aching brain. The brain r&r came in the form of, no watching TV, no radio, and no reading the news paper. For the news junkie that I am, this was like ten days in rehab. As one can see by the length of time it has taken me to post this, I slipped right back into the manic hustle bustle zone when I returned.

Tony contacted me for years about carrying Bonzers in Playero. Through his knowledge of surfing, surfboards, and a keen eye for detail, he has created an impressive Bonzer presence in Puerto Rico. Every board I shaped while I was there was a custom, and I was fortunate enough to meet many of the guys who were getting boards. It is especially gratifying to meet the people who are riding our boards in foreign places. There definitely seems to be a common thread that runs through those who venture into the Bonzer Experience.

The boards are being built at Pelicano, owned by Nestor Ramirez. Nestor graciously gave up his shaping room for a week, so we could have free reign to get all the boards shaped at our convenience. The glassing work is being done by Nestor, his son Guali (GR Glass), and Che’ is helping out as well putting on the fins. Che’ is also a talented shaper, and is now doing the in-house Playero boards. I spoke with Tony last week, and he said that the first batch of Bonzers came out fantastic. This was great news, because it’s very important for Duncan and I to be able to have our boards produced locally for people when possible. This provides some work for the local guys and makes the boards more affordable. It’s that old ‘reciprocal maintenance’ thing that we are always yammering on about. This was my first trip to Puerto Rico, and it was truly a ‘working holiday’. Much thanks to Tony, Gigi and all the guys who ordered boards.

-MC

*more pictures after the jump…

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Tres Palmas