Secret surf spot in Ensenada

Name: Alfredo Ramirez

Age: 44

From: Mission Valley

Location: Ocean Beach

Occupation: Mortgage advisor

Alfredo Ramirez was surfing out at Avalanche in Ocean Beach riding his 5’9″ Sub-Driver performance board made by Lost/Mayhem Surfboards. “It’s good for the small waves that we have in California most of the year and it generates good speed.” The waves were only two-footers but they were glassy.

“I started surfing when I was 11 years old at the beach breaks in Ensenada," he said, "and I slowly graduated to California Beach (also known as La Barra), then Cannery Stacks and 3Ms.

Ramirez, a dual citizen, started competing on both sides of the border. “I was surfing at the state championships in Ensenada, and my shoulder popped out after I landed a floater,” he said. “I put it back in the socket while surfing the wave and finished my heat. Then I went to the doctor after, and I ended up having a shoulder surgery.”

After he healed up, he caught his biggest wave at Black’s. “The sets were triple overhead and I remember I took a really hollow one,” he said, “and barely made the drop — that’s when I figured how big it was looking up and seeing the lip coming down.”

In 2011, Ramirez and his buddy flew out to to Bali, Indonesia. “It was one of the best waves I’ve ever surfed,” he said, “I am a goofy foot and surfing all lefts in warm water there was a dream that came true.”

His Sub-Driver surfboard has a slightly wider than average nose, that provides stability for landing airs and a noticeable hip/bump at the fins, that gives him a pivot point to crank tight and powerful turns. “I like to hit the lip vertical on my back hand,” he said, “making a nice bottom turn off the bottom and off the back throwing the fins out.”

Ramirez still competes, and now manages and coaches the Mexico Jr. National Surf Team. “Last year we went to Hyuga, Japan, for the ISA World Jr. Championships."

Though Ramirez has been residing in Mission Valley since 2000, his two favorite surf spots are back home in Ensenada. San Miguel is one spot and there’s a secret place only known by his eight-year-old daughter who surfs, his wife, and their six-year-old. “Two weeks ago I had it all to myself,” he said. “It was a nice peeling left, that is similar to Trestles.”