FEATURED VACATIONS

By Erika Rojas Rodríguez for Vuelta en U and translated by SurfVoucher.com

A year ago our dream came true. Those who were from July 31st to August 8th, 2009 in Playa Hermosa, Jaco understand specially if they are real surfers.

The history of surfing in Costa Rica was marked by a before and an after, following a competition such as the Billabong ISA Wolrd Surfing Games, hosted in Playa Hermosa, which reunited 35 countries with their respective surfing national teams showing the best surf Costa Rica has ever seen.

Billabong ISA World Surfing Games in Costa Rica

Added to that, the Costa Rica national team performed excellently, finishing seventh in the 35 participating countries. It has been almost a year and the results achieved in such a competition are still showing.

Jose Ureña, president of the Costa Rica surfing federation and coach of the Costa Rica surfing national team; Diego Naranjo, one of the participates in the event  plus one of the more experienced surfers in Costa Rica, talked to us about what is still being collected after the Costa Rica Billabong ISA Wolrd Surfing Games.

Costa Rica is surfing paradise and as anywhere else the proper surfing etiquette is a must to make the most out of your vacation. Being in the water, enjoying a surf session with friends is one of the best feelings there is. Surfing is an individual sport, there is you, your board and the force of the ocean flowing under your feet, it is simply magical. Nevertheless is a social sport, where you meet all kinds of persons from all over, and you get to share that happy moment with lots of persons that you could only have met in the water.
There are some basic rules that every surfer knows that are just common sense of good behavior and being polite. Please, try always to put them in practice.

Who gets the wave?

• Furthest out: the surfer that is furthest out or that been waiting the longest
• Furthest inside: the closet surfer to the peak of the breaking wave
• First to feet: the first to feet or first onto the wave
• Communication: the call of “Left” or “Right” if the wave is a dual-peaking

Surfing Etiquette Costa Rica

Don`t Drop In

Cutting in front of another surfer who is surfing the wave is a quick way to get in trouble with the locals and other surfers. In case you do not notice that other guy is getting onto the wave, get out and then apologize, and be sure not to drop in again.

All though surfing is considered as an extreme water sport it is also the sport with the lowest rate of reported injuries. Surfing is such a low impact and safe sport that surfers will continue riding waves for as long as they can walk and every day from young kids to the elderly become addicted to it.

Costa Rica is the surfers Mecca in Latin America and as in any other part of the world there are some dangers that you should avoid.

Marine Life

Several movies and reports on sharks have been filmed in Costa Rica but it is more common the find yourself in the vicinity of a crocodile, when surfing near a river mouth, than to be hunted by Jaws. The simple reason is that in Costa Rica there are no seals or any other form of maritime life big enough near the coasts that could interest a shark, it is highly improbable to be confused with the shark´s lunch in Costa Rica as it happens in many of the surfing spots in the Pacific. In the last 15 years there have been reports of only 2 shark attacks and in both cases the surfers were advised on the shark presence by locals, if you are told that Jaws is in the vicinity choose another surfing spot for a couple of days!

crocodile vs shark