MESINAS Lucca

Preferred stance
Regular (surfertoday.com, 02 Apr 2018)

General
BREAKING RIGHT
In early 2020 he said he is still learning to master surfing waves that break to the right, as the waves he grew up riding in Mancora, Peru, break to the left. "The waves in Mancora are from the left, and all my life I have become accustomed to surfing to the left. In [some] competitions I have to turn to the right and you cannot imagine how much effort it has cost me to improve my surfing to this side. So far [January 2020] I am still not at the level surfing to the right as I am to the left. I train with waves from the right to try to even things out - it is the challenge of my life." (peru21.pe, 07 Jan 2020)

PAN AM REBIRTH
He described 2018 as his best year as a professional surfer, but in 2019 his performances dipped, leading him to consider withdrawing from the World Tour in order to focus on training. But he went on to win gold at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, which gave him motivation to continue. "In 2018 I had my best season as a professional. [In 2019] I had very high expectations, however, I started on the World Tour and got a big shock, it wasn't even close to my performances in the previous year. I knew I was doing things well, but I got stressed, I wanted to quit the tour and dedicate myself to training. But then the Pan American Games came up. I was having a bad time, but I always had faith that something good would come and I ended up as Pan American champion. It made all the setbacks worth enduring. You could say that [it's a rebirth of sorts]. It was a boost that gave me motivation to continue. I learned that you must never give up. If things go wrong, you have to come back stronger than ever." (elcomerico.pe, 17 Aug 2019)

QUARANTINE IN HAWAII
In 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown he was unable to return to Peru from the United States of America due to borders closing down, so he went to Hawaii with his girlfriend, Bailey Nagy. "I was returning from Australia, from the [WSL] Qualifying Series. The New Zealand date was cancelled and I returned to Los Angeles where I would stay for two nights before entering Peru. But at the time the borders were closing and I was with my girlfriend who offered me to go to Hawaii to stay at her parents' place. I thought that in Peru we would not be allowed to surf and I would surely be locked at home, so I decided to come to Hawaii. Shortly afterwards I realised it was one of the best decisions because the quarantine was long and here [in Hawaii] everything was almost as normal. I can surf and at the same time I'm training on waves you need to spend more time on in order to get used to them. Those are difficult waves to surf [so] I'm very happy with my decision." (dukesurf.com, 08 Apr 2020)