Heard on an alt.surfing thread, "Off road in the Baja Bug [was Re: Photos of Dave Blake surfing Swamis]" [2001-11-15]:

"Is that Terry Hendricks, Phd , you refer to?  He did a some articles on hydrodynamics for Surfer Mag.  The issue mark spoke of recently (10-2) has the third part of that series."  OXO (el_roca)

"Yes, that Terry.  He drove up in his jacked up, tricked out baja buggy."  Joanne VanMeter

Dan King continues:  It is tricked out, but for functionality rather than luxury.  It has been completely customized for Baja off-road racing.  All of the interior has been stripped out (to make way for the tubular steel roll cage), so there's no sound insulation.  It's really, really loud, and hearing protection is required.  Terry installed the cockpit intercom system that was salvaged from an airplane that he use to own and pilot.  The headsets provide hearing protection and voice-activated communications, without having to shout at the top of your lungs.  He can't wear the headset on this side of the border, so he wears earplugs until he crosses the border.  He plans to connect a CD player into the system, and maybe the CB radio.
 

The Baja Bug	Photographer: Rod Rodgers  Date: July 4, 2000

The thing really hauls ass offroad.  I got a demonstration of that a few months ago.  After several false starts over the course of the summer, the swell we were waiting for showed up in the models in late August, and Terry and I headed for a point break in Baja.  We took a little side trip to check out a possible short cut, and also to reconnoiter a section of the coast, for which little information seems to be available.  It turned out to be not a very good shortcut.  He said it was the second roughest trail 
he had ever driven in his 30+ years of Baja offroading.  Terry negotiated it at a high rate of speed! 

There's a tubular steel "oh-shit" bar welded into the roll cage on the passenger side, and I was extremely happy to use it.  In addition to helping me keep myself firmly in my seat, it allowed me to use my elbows to lock his protable computer into my lap, as it recorded the GPS data history of our travels.  It was very difficult to make my written entries in the road log, though.
 

Baja Bug: Terry Hendricks and Alex Rodgers	Photographer: Rod Rodgers  Date: July 4, 2000

We made it to the coast with no problems, and explored along the coastal 4wd track for a few miles of until our progress was halted by the mother of all washouts.  We didn't find anything enticing enough to get us into the water, but we did note some potential, perhaps with more favorable swell 
directions. 

So we turned around and made our way along the coast to our original destination, a series of right point breaks interspersed with reefs and ledges.  There were a few groups already camped out atop the cliff when we arrived. 

We stayed for two nights, surfing one long session on the first afternoon, two the second day, and 1 on the third morning.  It stayed glassy or slightly offshore the entire time we were there.  We got some fog (which is reported to be unusual at this spot), and the usual howling offshore winds were absent. 

We each got the opportunity to be the only person in the water for miles around for several hours, and the only person on a peak for longer than that.  It never got more crowded than 5 people at any given spot the entire time we where there.  Usually it was 2 to 3 people sharing a peak. 

The surf was smaller than we had hoped to find, given the swell size and direction that the models had shown before we left.  It was mostly shoulder high, with infrequent head high sets.  The afternoon on the second day was the biggest and most consistent, with frequent head to overhead sets.

All of the breaks there are fast and hollow, and give mostly rights.  There's a left on one of the peaks that mostly closes out, but a small percentage of the time gives a lined up rocket-ride left with a very fun inside bowl.   The right off the same peak is much more reliable, giving a long fast ride with multiple tube sections.  It usually died when it hit a channel, but a few times it was possible to connect through the next peak, making for a very long ride.  I'm sure that connecting all the way through is the norm on a bigger swell.

Each of the breaks has it's own set of hazards. The most commonly surfed reef is very shallow, with irregular rock knobs and holes on the inside, and thick kelp and seagrass everywhere.  Thankfully, there's a paddling channel which provides an alternative to the knuckle-scraping duckdives over the reef. 

The point features very steep and hairy takeoffs just yards away from the sheer cliffs, then barrels and peels along just feet away from (and sometimes over) the large jumble of boulders that has accumulated at the base of the cliff.  On the third day the tide and swell were just right, and I admired the shape of the wave as it exploded at the top of the point and barrelled right along the edge of the cliff.  But I only worked up the courage to ride it after I saw it being ridden by someone else.  It was 
definitely the hairiest spot I have yet ridden. I was rewarded by some incredible rights. I was able to get covered, but even though I got some long rides, I never managed to connect it all the way through into the cove.  I was just stoked to have made the drop and avoid getting mangled!

While I was waiting for sets at the point, I watched the next point up, which was more exposed to the swell, and breaking bigger and more consistently.  That one is truly gnarly, just insane: the tube of the wave actually undercuts the cliff.  Blowing the drop and getting sucked over the falls on that wave could have very dire consequences.  A couple of fearless (and shredding) groms made the very long paddle over, and charged it.  Amazing. 

It was a great trip.  I think Terry may have been a bit disappointed.    He had visited the same spot a few weeks earlier, and said it was much better on that trip. My perspective was that it would've been great if it was bigger and more consistent, but I was very stoked to score clean, uncrowded surf.

I  was was pretty impressed with the Baja Bug, and I am looking forward to co-piloting it again in the near future.

Dan
"Get in the pit and try to love someone!" - Kid Rock

Camping in Deep Baja	Photographer: Mrs. George Barnes.  Date: 12/28/01 to 1/02/02
(L-R) Dan King, George Barnes, Terry Hendricks