SURF TRIPPING IN COSTA RICA

PURA VIDA- SURF TRIPPING IN TAMARINDO, COSTA RICA 2012

Sitting on top of my shorty 6’8” board with a pitchy, crushing 7-foot wave coming at me, decision time was quickly approaching, the only problem, I had not surfed a shortboard in 30 years….help!

SUNSET VIEW FROM THE POOL

MIKE, SCOTT AND JOSH AT THE BAR

VIEW OUT MY WINDOW AT CASITAS SURF SPOT

Last year my surf buddy of 30 years, Mike Friedman, and his son Zach invited me to come down and enjoy a surf camp down in Costa Rica. So this March we arrived at Witch’s Rock Surf Camp in Tamarindo, a very cool little hotel that specializes in bringing the art of surfing to people from around the world.  For a $1,100 you get 1 week in the hotel with a beach view, airport pickup from Liberia, breakfast, surf guide, and transport by van or boat to local breaks. Located right by the Tamarindo river channel, the hotel bar (the most important place) looks out to the surf break and volleyball courts. We head straight for the bar and meet 2 really insightful fishermen Josh and Harlan, and Scott a Stanford physicist down for a break. After a few beers with these guys ….the stories start to come.

The first night starts off with a bang….there standing in the door is that…. Yes it is, Robert August the star of the two famous movies  Endless Summer 1 and 2. So me being my shy self, I wait a whole 2 minutes before I introduced myself. What a cooool dude!  At 67 years old he is still as animated as ever talking about the latest shaped boards, and how this business has shaped his life.  He says he has shaped 35,000 boards during his lifetime, now that is quite a number. He has a little shop next door to Witch’s Rock and he gives seminars at 2pm on certain days.  My friend Mike was so excited he bought his latest 4 fin fish, and Robert discusses how this shape with the 4 fin arrangement and channels brings about a more stable ride for the surfer.

  

The surf camp has everything pretty well figured out.  The night before the staff puts the schedule up on the board so you can see who is going in what group, along with what beach, and the guides. 

Marbella surf break-30-40 min. away

Our first day was at Marbella beach a day I won’t forget for a long time.  A great beach break with waves coming in with lefts and rights. The peaks, well, get ready if you can’t turn fast and you’re scared of the drop, might as well set on the beach. And I didn’t come to sit on the beach.  For me the learning curve was do or die, so after a quick assessment I charged the wave with my 9 foot board only to miss it, again, and again, I’m just afraid this big sucker isn’t going to turn quick enough.  So I paddle hard and over the falls I go. This sucks. Mike and his friend Scott are screaming down the faces all over the place, Josh a kneeboader and Harlan are ripping too, but what I am doing wrong.  Little chicken for sure, but I did manage to catch a couple of short rides.

View from the bar at Avellanas

Mike and Scott relaxing

The next beach we went to was Avellanas,   another shorebreak. I switched boards and now I have a really short board 6’ 8” 4 fin fish.  I’m not going to let those 6 foot peaks scare me. Avellanas is absolutely one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. The beach has a great bar and restaurant right next to it with some super smoothies.  Our guide-David took us down the beach to a nice peak.  And we’re having a great time, I mean Mike and Scott are for sure—and Zach catches a few, but crashes pretty quick.  In the mean time I’m still having problems, I paddle hard but the board is just too much work and I can’t seem to drop in. Still frustrated!

ZACH HAMMING IT ON THE BEACH

Josh the Fisherman and our guide David

Making new friends back at camp.  I met some great people while surfing with Mike, Zach and Scott. Along the way I met an amazing person…..Josh Churchman. I love characters but he is the most compassionate one I’ve ever met.  I loved all his fish stories, and what an incredible naturalist. After talking to him I have a new understanding how much fisherman love the sea and how little our society, including scientists, give them their due respect.  Just one fact he shared with me… the Atlantic Cod will produce 3 million babies at 40” but at 50” the female will produce 9 million. So size does matter!! and that says a lot about how we should be running our fishing industry.  Harlan the other fisherman runs a sustainable tuna fishing boat, still using fishing lines and his back—my hat is off to both of these two. Josh gave me the book the LIFE OF PIE can't wait to read it.

ON THE BOAT TO OLLIES AND WITCHES ROCK

AWESOME DAY AT OLLIE'S

Time for the big tourist day…. Ollies and Witches Rock we leave at 5 am take the van to Cocos beach and catch a boat for a 45 min. ride to Ollie’s. Ollie’s name comes from our friend Olliver North under the Reagan years when he was running guns at this point to Nicaragua. The waves are pretty good size- 4- 6 feet and they are perfectly formed and our holding up, and guess what they are long board wave—Yahoo!!!…What a day even though it was a right break. I had the time of my life catching wave after wave until I couldn't paddle anymore—I almost couldn’t paddle back to the boat. 

Witch's Rock

Then a 20 min. ride to the famous Witch’s Rock made famous in the Endless Summer movie. The wind is offshore and they are looking good with 5-6 feet faces, Harlan is off like shot—he knows the wind can change at any time, I didn’t realize this, so when I finally get in the onshore has started to change, I still manage to catch a few.

Mike ready to tackle the Witch

BACK SIDE OF WITCH'S ROCK--YAHOO!

PLAYA GRANDE--WHAT A WAVE DAY

EPIC DAY:   Oh yeah, the big swell we had heard about came in on our last day. I have what is now my 5^th board I’m trying, and asking myself do I use this on the biggest waves yet?  We head over to south facing Playa Grande beach and the waves, yes, are peeling off like you see in the movies- 7 to  8 footers with faces that are holding up. The wind is right, my adrenaline is pumping, I have a 7’6” NPR round tail with 3 fins. Will this be the right  board?  David guides us thru the surf, the waves are going right, left  you name it and the current is really strong.  After sizing up the waves for a few minutes and psyching myself up I’m off on a huge wave….only to miss it again. Dam, but here comes another one, I reposition myself more towards the peak and go for it ….wow, make the drop take a few turns and I’m elated as can be. Zach, Scott, and Mike are all catching waves, Scott must have had 100 yard left he screamed across, and Zach, my man---best wave I’ve ever seen him catch, and he adds a few good carving turns.  I was exhausted after a few of those waves and headed in to the beach to watch everybody, when these 2 girls came by with a bucket…. I asked them what they were doing? They were part of the turtle project and they had the 3 cutest little Leatherback turtles you have ever seen. These can grow to 2000 lbs. They needed help getting to the ocean, so they dug them up from the nest and was going to release them that night—What a day The sun was painting the sky with a brilliant sunset and the end was drawing to a close to a perfect day.

Baby leatherbacks- they have no shell 

What I learned…. If the wind is offshore run as fast as you can to get your surfboard. In Costa Rica the wind can change up to 4 or 5 times in one day, and of course the tide level and the direction of the beach makes a difference. What else…. We live on a unique planet, and when surrounded by your friends, the wind and tide are right and the swell is there, as Josh would say,” how can you not want to be part of  the celebration”!

PURA VIDA-Jerry