Posted by Rick Civelli | 02.06.2012 | Adult Surf Camps

Costa Rica Surf Camp- Pura Vida Files vol. 4

Every day gets better and better, and harder to want to leave. With hours of surf time  and plenty of nightlife to go all night, this week has been full on pedal to the floor! With the everyone’s stoke meter on maximum, we have come to the end of yet another incredible learn to surf adventure in paradise.

Just when you think it can’t get any better, what do you know? It does! We had a great week of waves last week, perfect conditions for both teaching and learning. This week we saw a touch more. Being that Costa Rica is very tide dependant, meaning the waves typically only get good on the low to incoming tides, the 10’ of tidal ebb pushes out of Tamarindo Bay and off the beaches and most swell is prevented from making it to the sandbars and reefs.

The adrenalin filled excitement of the first day eventually gave way to salty, sunburned, smiles, and noodle arms for everyone by the end. With a touch more swell in the water this week, we surfed a good variety breaks. With us, as always, were our talented and amiable local hosts, Cairo and Rafa, instructor and photographer respectively. Ever so friendly and helpful all along the way, these guys lead us and documented the momentous adventure.  With a healthy dose of Costa Rican culture at the beginning of the week, we spent the latter half extending our reach south to a couple of our favorite breaks away from the crowds and deeper into paradise. We watched each camper reach daily and weekly goals with every session.

Jenn had one of most advanced backside styles I’ve seen in a beginner from day one. By the end of the week she was pumping down the line frontside. Charlie was pushing himself into bigger and bigger sets as the waves got bigger and the week progressed, making most some harrowing drops.

Turello was “feeling it!” more and more with each session as his piroette stance turned into a magnificent, solid wide footing that took him to the sand on multiple occasions. Robert, though quiet, had that bright spark in his eye that gave off an excited intensity after every long ride down the line. He more than anyone, made use of every waking hour to be in the water.

Alysia, our own in-house WB Surf Camp reservations specialist, took her surfing to a whole new level, pulling from the expertise of our local surfing guide Cairo and myself, soaking up every bit of advanced knowledge as she could. Even Brendan, who strained his side towards the end of the trip put in just as much water time on the last day to accomplish his ultimate goal for the trip of getting barreled…which he did, TWICE!! Talk about being stoked!

If the past two weeks had been an episode of Survivor, no one would have been booted, and we could have set up our own little community to just stay here forever. Many talents, circus acts, acts of ingenuity, brainstorming, and plotting to make our stand here permanently were revealed. But in the end, we all boot ourselves back to reality. It’s a difficult transition after being in paradise for a week so no one wants to go. We all return, but not before paddling for “JUST ONE MORE!”

Pura Vida,
Jason