IN CONVERSATION WITH HUDSON RITCHIE

 

 

Our long-time friend of the brand, Hudson Ritchie brought smooth style and effortless flow along with his 5’5” fish to the tropical coast of Oaxaca. The green walls of Huatulco primed his natural ability for smooth highlines and sneaky tubes, but when the swell faded it was time to get a longboard under his feet. It was a joy to watch Hudson drop hanging heels in the empty lines of Mexico and leave our tribe of travellers in awe of his alternate surf estilo.



 

 

 

Tell us about how you got to ride a longboard in Mexico?

Well, I went down to Mexico without a longboard so finding one was the mission once the swell dropped. Nick, the photographer had a huge quiver him and his fellow RV rats acquired while living on the road down in Mexico and happen to have a nice log to borrow. But once we got to the boys in the RV they told us it sold to a local surfer about 15 minutes prior. So, the natural thing to do down in Mexico is offer some money to the newly owner of the longboard to rent the board for a few hours. So, I went over to the guy’s “apartment” which was really just a hut, offered him $20 and using my broken (more like shattered) Spanish we worked out a deal and I got to use the longboard for a few hours and had a blast. Was not expecting to longboard on that trip. Happy I did.

 

What were some highlights of the trip?

Highlights of the trip would be, waking up day after day being more exhausted than the day prior but knowing that all you were going to do that day was surf, hang with the crew, have beers, and eat delicious food. That’s a great feeling to wake up to and have on your mind. Life is pretty simply down in Mexico. Also hiking over a mountain crest to see an empty pointbreak about 3-4 foot with zero people was like a dream and that happened daily.




 

 

What does Mexico mean to you?

Mexico means adventure to me. Every trip down south of the border brings on its own adventure. Even when it goes perfectly planned it still feels like you are on an unexpected surf adventure. Life is simple and easy down there and the longer you stay the more you fall in love with the simplicity. I really do love it.

 

 

What were your favourite trunks?

They were all great, but I loved the olive green heritage trunks. They were so rad.