PHLOGGING: WINTER WONDERLAND Photo Blogging Early 2012 From Costa Rica With Tom Dugan By Tom Dugan
The January Surf Expo in Orlando, FL, marks the
end of ESM’s publishing cycle for the
year. We print our eighth and final issue of the year and huck it around the
Expo floor, dropping it off at advertisers’ booths and handing copies out to
all the attendees. When the show is over, ESM takes a short break before starting the new year of publishing putting out a
mag every six weeks. This year was no different, signaling the time to take a
surf vacation — and my destination of choice is Costa Rica. Their dry
season falls during our winter months, and the thing you can always be sure of
is it will be 80 degrees out with 80-degree water, and that there will be
glassy, head-high waves every morning with light winds most of the day.
So far this trip has started off with the
usual, but the difference this year is that the ocean went almost flat the
first week. The waves were the smallest I have seen here since 1986 when I was
on a trip with surfers Rich Rudolph and Lewis Graves. We were at the same
breaks, same time of year, before there was any way to forecast the surf, and
since it was flat on the Pacific side we just headed over to the Caribbean side
and scored six- to eight-foot waves, but nothing in the Jaco Beach area. For the
first time in 26 years Costa Rica is just about flat. There are still some knee-high
waves, and we’ve gone longboarding just to have some fun, but the surf dropped
off to nearly nothing for days and I have not seen that in Costa Rica like I
said for almost 26 years.
We went to the Saturday surf contest at the
Backyard Bar and the locals-only event had the smallest waves yet, but they
still made the best of it for the crowd on hand and there were plenty of chicas to
keep thing interesting for the eyes. But with the bad comes some good, and I
decided to go out and fool around with my water housing one morning to make
sure all was working and to shoot some little barrel shots. I was the only
person in the water as far as I could see in either direction, before I saw one
lone surfer walking down the beach to give it a go. The guy paddled out and caught
a small two-foot wave and pumped down the line gaining speed before hitting the
end section and popping a huge air. “Wow,” I wondered, “who the hell was that?”
I walked through the waist-deep water and asked
if I could photograph him, and his response was, “Sure, no problem.” He spent
the next few waves surfing for my camera, and although we never really
connected to get a great shot the one you will see here is OK. Being such a
small wave for the talent this guy had, he told me it was his first surf in 45
days because he was out of the water with injuries and that the small waves
were perfect for him to get back into rhythm. Turns out he was ASP World Tour #5-ranked
surfer Adriana De Souza from Brazil. He said he comes to Costa Rica for a month
this time of the year, and I told him that indeed I’ve seen him here the last
two years and it was good to finally meet him. Thus with the bad comes the
good.
Like many surfers, pro or not, Costa is their go-to place away from the
cold East Coast winters. Central Florida’s Kyle Garson has a long relationship
here with his camps and developments, and New Jersey’s Mike Gleason is here
staying at his brother’s camp in Esterillos. Shaper Regis Jupinko is here for
six months avoiding the South Carolina nor’easters, and I even heard that CJ
Hobgood, Balaram Stack, Evan Geiselman, and DJ Struntz were on the Caribbean side.
We ran into East Coast transplant photographer from Virginia Beach by way of
Hawaii Nathan Carl and his new bride here on their honeymoon.
But the biggest surprise was when we were having lunch one day at the
famous Hook Up Bar and I noticed a guy and his wife wearing WRV shirts. I
pointed them out to my life partner Mimi Herger and her response was, “There’s
Les right there!” Lo and behold, there he was, bigger than life, WRV owner and
head guy Les Shaw in Costa Rica for his very first time, long-sleeved black
shirt, long black pants, and a cool drink on the way. Mimi and I went over to
greet him and asked if he got the e-mail on dress attire for the tropics. Turns out he did not but was sure a cool drink would help. He then
introduced us to his new Costa Rica sales rep, Chris Clarke, who will be
handling all things WRV here. Chris and his wife Rachel have been living in Costa
Rica for three years. Originally from 16th Street in Virginia Beach and having
worked for Les at WRV in the past, Chris is now ready to distribute their
surfboards and wares here, and invited Les to see the country for himself. Les
did grumble a bit about the small surf, but Chris and I assured him it would
not last for long. That’s something about Costa, and all the people I know here
and people I run into each year are always optimistic about that one thing that
we all agree on: YES, the waves will come.
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