OP shoot was harrowing for columnist

LAGUNA LIFE

When OP told me that I would be flying to Puerto Vallarta last

fall to shoot the 2003 ad campaign for them along with the rest of

the team -- Tim Curran, Holly Beck, Sean Taylor, Greg Long, Matt

Beachum, Erica Hosseini and Bron Huesenstamm -- I couldn’t help but

laugh. After all, I had only been with OP for maybe two weeks, and

they were already sending me on a trip.

Obviously, I was pretty stoked, but there was something else. ...

I had a strange feeling about this trip? Nervous? Anxious? I couldn’t

put my finger on it. I just remember remarking to my girlfriend,

Dominique, “I have a strange feeling about this trip,” and left it at

that.

When I arrived in Puerto Vallarta, it was different from what I

had imagined, actually it would be days before I saw my first fancy

hotel on the beach. That was the vision I had. Puerto Vallarta --

Fancy beachfront hotels complemented by palm trees and warm water,

topped off with a sunset mai tai or two, with umbrellas.

However, this vision was only in my head and never proved worthy

enough to become my reality. Our first couple of days were spent in

Punta Mita, at the home of Sean Taylor’s parents, Debbie and Dave.

They had a nice spread up on the hill that overlooked the little

village below. They even had a swimming pool. The funny thing is, I

never actually went in that pool, as strange as that sounds now.

Each day would start at around 7 a.m. I would walk into the

Taylors’ living room and laugh, thinking to myself that this was good

living. I looked at the table of food that was prepared each day by

our two chefs. One night a local guy (who owned his own restaurant,

cleverly called “Fish Taco”) cooked dinner for us: shrimp tacos, fish

burritos, rice and beans. It was a heavenly dinner to match the first

couple of days.

We would get a surf in every day as we doubled as models. My

second day in Punta Mita, the day before the rest of the crew

arrived, we surfed in water so warm and fluffy you could bath in it

for hours. I rode a six-five single fin that worked small carving

miracles in those head-high waves. Everything was real smooth.

Even on the glassiest days, the wind can come up real quick and go

from smooth to rough in a matter of minutes. The first news of

hurricane Kenna came Wednesday morning. I can’t remember much except

hearing a few people talking about Kenna throughout the day. They had

been keeping track of it on the weather channel. No one was too

concerned about it. After all, a hurricane had never hit Puerto

Vallarta in its history, and we were certain this one would miss as

well.

The next day, Timmy, Bron, Matt and myself stayed behind at the

house while the others went out and did their shoots for the day. We

watched the weather channel all day in between everything else that

was on. For most of that day, we were kind of laughing about it,

until we noticed that Kenna had been upgraded from a Category 4

hurricane to a Category 5 and was headed right for us. So right for

us that the weatherman was drawing arrows on the screen that were

pointing directly at us.

Someone remarked, “the only thing missing is the address of this

house.” I was laughing my butt off when I heard that, and it still

sounds funny now. In the middle of all this, we lost our two chefs

and Jennifer Lightfoot of OP. They had opted to get out of town

before Kenna came calling.

That night, we had made the decision to get out of Punta Mita and

get closer to the airport instead of staying and perhaps getting cut

off by flooding or falling debris. There was only one road leading to

and from Puerto Vallarta and that was not a risk worth taking.

We pulled out of town at around 9:30 p.m. and arrived in Puerto

Vallarta at about 11 p.m. at the Sheraton. At that time, we all went

out to celebrate Sean Taylor’s 18th birthday. Up to this point, no

one was too concerned. Some were more stressed than others, but I

don’t think anyone could envision what was about to happen.

I awoke the next morning to the sound of wind blowing and looked

out the glass door. It was dark gray and raining, and our hotel sat

right on the beach. Bron was sleeping in the bed next to me and I

began throwing stuff at him as was typical. He didn’t really respond,

so I went downstairs, got a cup of coffee and walked out on the

beach.

The wind was blowing sideways -- an eerie sideways. Kenna was on

his way. It was now just a matter of time. People were actually

eating in the hotel’s beachfront bungalow restaurant as though it

were just another day, with no sign or hint of a hurricane coming our

way.

* This is the first of a two-part story of columnist James

Pribram’s adventure in Puerto Vallarta through hurricane Kenna. JAMES

PRIBRAM is a Laguna Beach resident, professional surfer and

co-founder of “They Will Surf Again,” a nonprofit foundation

assisting people with spinal cord injuries. He was also a member of

the Water Quality Advisory Committee.