I must have done something really nice to Continental Airlines, as practically every time I fly I’m getting these mysto upgrades to 1st class. I’m a cheapskate by nature, literally buying Imperials over mixed drinks when I go out in town and haggling over a couple bucks when buying trinkets for my kids from the local vendors in town. I’d haggle if it was or 0 or 00, I guess thats how one gets ahead in business, or at least one way to do it. I found a 0 ticket to California and somehow I’m sitting in seat 1B somewhere over Belize or Mexico and I’m thinking about how I’ve just embarked on another surf adventure and how I’m truly stoked. My staff think its funny that I plan trips but wait until the last minute to actually buy my ticket and go. To me it makes no sense to leave Tamarindo when the waves are going off and while California is windy and lacking swell. Last Thursday the surf started to drop in Tamarindo and the swell models started forecasting the waves to arrive to Cali from the big storms that have been formed in the north pac for the last week or so. Me, with my commitment issues, finally bought a ticket on Friday and here I am, on my way to surf big waves in cold water, the endless winter. The decent sized NW swell should be coming in tonight. My buddy John Alexander will be picking me up in LA in Uncle Rico’s van and we’re hitting the road for a week of California surf. I had a thousand Witch’s Rock Surf Camp stickers sent to my parent’s house, my dad sent them, a couple of boards, my 4/3 suit w/ booties and hood, a cell phone and some other random necessities with Justin McCabe back to LA, I’ll be seeing him in Venice Beach this afternoon and then heading north after perhaps a PM surf if theres waves or just chilling out with old friends for a couple of hours. I’m not quite sure where we’re going first, I need to check the surf report once I get to LA, but it looks like we’ll go north to Big Sur or perhaps even Santa Cruz and then follow the swell as it travels south back to San Diego. I’m getting amped and making sure to listen to plenty of punk music to get me in the mood for surfing in FREEZING NorCal water more…
Tag-Archive for "Guanacaste"
Word is that Magnum Martinez will be at the Witchs Rock Surf Camp on Friday the 13th! I do not think Costa Ricans have any delusions about the day Friday the 13th but I sure hope all goes well for them.
It seems Joe Walsh is promoting the Magnum Martinez autograph session during a boozefest of Happy Hour specials from 5-9pm. For those of you who do not know about him, Magnum was born in Caracas Venezuela but according to Quiksilver he now hails out of Carlsbad, CA. His bio on the site reads “Magnum is a soulful, spiritual surfer from Venezuela who is an Alas Tour champ known for his powerful style. He’s well traveled and his intelligent, easy-going nature has made him a ton of friends around the world” Happy Hour at WRSC doesn’t sound like the ideal environment for autograph signing for this spiritual warrior.
Maybe we can persuade Magnum to come on down to Jaco and Hermosa so he can check out the diggs prior to the 2009 Billabong ISA World Surfing Games in Hermosa this August. Plus, I don’t think any host here will disrespect him by presenting him for autographs during a chemical intoxication session for this great athlete and surfer. In addition, this past weekends CNS Nosara Surf Contest winner Jairo Perez who is another spiritual warrior and a major up and coming star in the Latin surf world will be in attendance with Magnum Martinez according to the flyer posted on Joe Walshs’ blog.
I still love loud music, especially punk, probably because I grew up watching Taylor Steele surf videos. Pennywise, Bad Religion and Unwritten Law were great back then. Now I’m finding myself listening to the Hives, Rocket from the Crypt and Iggy Pop among other bands. I’m also stoked on Sufjan Stevens and Andrew Bird when I want to slow it down a bit, just not the last couple of days…
If Costa Rica had better programming on Direct TV I wouldn’t just play classic rock in the restaurant like I do. They used to have an awesome reggae channel that was overtaken by show tunes. Ugh. Internet radio would be great, but the internet here in CR can suck and is overall unreliable in town. At least playlist.com exists and the internet has been working well lately. more…
I finally break radio silence. Not sure really why I haven’t popped my head up to see whats been going on around me. I think what has happened is that for the first time in my adult life I’ve fallen into a routine. My life currently consists of my family (wife and 2 boys), my job (mostly the surf camp), surfing as much as I can (4 hours/day?), a couple of close friends I hang with a bit (before falling asleep at the sad hour of 9pm) and a bunch of friends and family I never have the time to write back to on facebook or call up on a Sunday night just to catch up.
We have had a niñera named Rosie for the last three months or so, she is awesome. She works Monday – Friday and half days on Saturday. It really helps to have the help, she definitely helps Holly so incredibly much and she allows me to focus on surfing so I can improve. Plus its easier to bring the entire family to the beach and for Holly and I to surf together. Or Rosie, since she is now surfing too. Is it me or is everyone surfing these days? I love it, reminds me of all of those surf movies and Malibu before I was even born, as though I may have missed out on it the first time around but not this time.
Normal day: I wake up at 6am, perhaps a little earlier or later depending on when Happy or Otis want to get up, but pretty much the crack of dawn as far as I’m concerned. We watch Discovery Kids, eat Cheerio’s, sometimes hang out in the surf camp restaurant or on the beach for an early morning low tide cruise.
7AM or 8AM or so: go surf. Surf Casitas, surf the rivermouth, surf Avellanas, surf the reefs. Surf a lot if its good and surf less if it sucks. It always seems to be pretty good somewhere fortunately. more…
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