Punta de Lobos.

Punta de Lobos sits 6 km outside Pichilemu in Chile’s O’Higgins region, ~200 km south of Valparaíso. The headline is the long left-hand point peeling past two iconic sea-stacks (Los Morros) under 50 m sandstone cliffs. The wave breaks in three sections: Outside for the outer-reef takeoff that holds size into big-wave territory, Middle for 180 m wall rides on a solid swell, and Inside for the sand-bottomed end where groms surf El Diamante. Punta de Lobos was named the 7th World Surfing Reserve in 2013, and is the venue for the WSL Big Wave Tour’s Quiksilver Ceremonial.

April through September is the swell window. Southern Ocean lows fire south-west swell at the entire central Chilean coast, and the bigger pulses through May to August wake up the outside takeoff. The point switches on head-high and is rideable to 6 m, with ceremonial-day paddle sessions stacking past that. Prevailing wind is south to south-east, offshore. The cliffs themselves shelter the lineup from the daily south-westerly that scrapes most of the rest of the Chilean coast.

Water sits at 13 to 16 °C year-round, cold from the Humboldt Current. A 4/3 is the workhorse, with booties on the coldest winter sessions. The point is the second most-crowded lineup in Chile after Reñaca, but the three takeoff zones spread the pressure. The hazards are honest: cold water, a long paddle around the point, rocks at the takeoff, and outside sets that don’t negotiate. Ramón Navarro, the local big-wave figurehead, has fronted the Save the Waves and #LobosPorSiempre campaigns to keep the headland from development. On a soft day, head into Pichilemu town and surf La Puntilla instead, a long peeling left for intermediates that’s never empty but rarely heavy.